Exclusive: 3 Pairs of Boots deliver track-by-track for new ‘Boot Scootin'” album

3 Pairs of Boots stretch their legs on their new record, Boot Scootin’. From the soft flutter of “Tempt My Fate” to the gentle trickle in “Lost & Found,” the album arrives with decorative, stylistic flourishes and deeply heart-bleeding lyrics about taking risks, the necessity of change, and seeking adventure. The duo (comprised of Andrew Stern and Laura Arias) pepper in songs about love and despair, dotting their words beneath rustic, amber-radiating varnish.

Boot Scootin’ sees the band weaving in and out of their creativity to uncover deeper, more honest layers to their craft. In burrowing further into their lives, Stern and Arias arrive upon a project, boasting 10 songs, that reaches higher than they’ve ever soared. But it was never easy, not for a moment. “As with our previous three albums, [this album] was a long journey,” Arias and Stern tell B-Sides & Badlands over email.

“Runaway,” among their finest compositions, reaches down into their pulsing life matter for an evocative performance. Bookending the album, it leaves the listener aching and longing for more. It’s within these moments (see also: “Long Rider” and “Dark Sun Rising”) that 3 Pairs of Boots unlock a long-buried greatness that seems to take refuge in their bone marrow. And now, it all oozes from their bodies and onto this recording. Stitched with love and care, Boot Scootin’ appears with well-sketched portraits of fleeting human existence. It measures out each emotion with a sense that it could all vanish in the blink of an eye. It’s very of the moment and bottles up where they are in 2024.

That’s just the way of their work – underscoring the creative process that saw Arias and Stern whittling songs all their days and all their nights. That’s real commitment to the work.

Boot Scootin’ encompasses literally everything an artist could possibly wrestle with. The album process became about “not knowing where we’d end up, twists and turns and discovery, experimenting, forcing ourselves into trying new approaches in the hopes of creating better songs,” the duo elaborates, “slowly coming into view, trying to dig deep into our lives and influences, trying to inspire with songs of joy and reflection and personal views, struggles and then success, start and stop and start and stop, taking time to back off and get perspective, while also intensely working long hours days in a row, creating, erasing, editing, changing, and then fulfillment and happiness of another song finished, another brick in the album wall… and eventually, finally, the finish line.”

“We didn’t know what we had when we finished until many months later,” they add. “Only now can we allow ourselves to relax and be happy with this achievement, and see the whole picture of what we were trying to express.”

Boot Scootin’ is out now on all digital and streaming platforms.

Below, the duo give us an exclusive track-by-track. Check it out!

“Boot Scootin’“

(written by Andrew Stern)

The joy of being able to escape from the daily responsibilities when playing music, knowing that you didn’t have to be anywhere else at that time. That feeling, that escape inspired me to write a song about finding this joy. On the surface, this song seems to be about dancing. But dancing was just the example used to express this feeling when one can escape into the other world, the place where joy and peace and happiness live, without being weighed down by reality. 

“Tempt My Fate“

written by Andrew Stern)

Change can be very scary; you never know where those changes can lead you to. Much easier to stay put, to not take chances. But if you take the risk, it can lead to endless possibilities and experiences, maybe even the love of your life. Playing music is one of the great unknowns; you never know where it will lead; every gig is a new adventure; every band is a new experience with new people. It led me to us meeting each other, and now we have created music together for years.

“Please Tell Me”

(written by Andrew Stern)

A love song, asking someone to trust, to take a chance, to realize there’s a connection that cannot be ignored despite the initial misgivings and caution. Sometimes, it takes a little persistence to convince someone to step outside their comfort zone and let you in. I have experienced this, I bet a lot of others have, as well.

“Upon A High Horse”

(written by Laura Arias)

I think people can experience a last bastion of hope before descending into complete despair and that is, I think, fertile ground for magic and miracles; it’s an offshoot of a reality moment where anything from spiritual redemption to material manifestations can inexplicably emerge from invisible heavens and be planted into an otherwise dense, cynical, pragmatic world. ‘Upon A High Horse’ is a song about that moment of majesty, where we can venture to take a detour and manifest our heart’s desire — before losing all hope, giving up on ourselves, on our circumstances, or on others.

“Long Rider”

(written by Andrew Stern)

Inspired by Bernice Ende, the long rider – her journey documented in her book and subsequent documentary, who, at age 50, resurrected her life after it had fallen apart. The journey is one that we really identified with; losing a love, learning to love the sense of adventure, of taking risks, the love of the outdoors, of a long journey not knowing what’s in store, the excitement of going where you had never ventured before, struggling thru hard times to reach amazing heights, to feeling the unconditional love of your best friends, for many people it might be your pet dog, for Bernice it was her horses. We’ve all felt that love, and at times, the loss of an animal. 

“Reno”

(written by Laura Arias and Andrew Stern)

Arias: I accidentally wrote an allegory about the hazards of compromising one’s own principles. It’s not an original topic, but it sure is timely, or maybe it’s just a topic that never goes out of style with human nature being what it is. Originally, I think I had a bridge in there that took a little bypass, or very brief digression into a playful exultation, but Andrew changed it and made the song more of an unrelenting dirge right down the line. I think that was a genius, out of the blue move.

“Lost and Found”

(written by Andrew Stern)

Reading thru a book of best travel stories of 2020, I came upon a beautiful story about the life of a hobo. The hobo may no longer really exist like they did in the past two centuries, but the themes resonated, loved the idea of making the choice not be tied down, taking time off, to create space in one’s life. Perhaps a little jealous and envious of people who did. They were, for the most part, not what we would call “homeless” today, they had just found a more balanced way to live. Many of them actually had jobs during the year, had permanent homes, but still chose to leave for a life on the road, whether for a long weekend or months at a time.

“Dark Sun Rising”

(written by Laura Arias)

Arias: This song is flat out about a loved one (NOT Andrew!), and it virtually wrote itself because I was going through something profound with this person, and they in turn were going through something profound and uncharted in their life. I already know this one’s gonna be difficult to sing live without extreme waterworks and tissue being involved. 

“My American Boy”

(written by Laura Arias)

Arias: This one’s a livelong, need I say more? I think it speaks for itself, except I want to say that I love the banjo part that Andrew recorded for it, and I also love that our friend Greg Perkins came back on this record to sing with me on a few tracks. Greg always gives me Johnny Mathis-level goosebumps when he sings, and this song is no different. When he belts out the choruses with me, it elevates everything.

“Runaway”

(written by Laura Arias)

Arias: This was a very different song when I wrote the original words and chord changes, but Andrew imagined something very different and completely rearranged it to make it painfully intimate. I say that because his production made it seem foreign to me, and so different in feel that I almost didn’t know how to sing it. But after climbing inside his new arrangement, I slowly began to feel comfortable with where he was taking me. Suffice it to say, Andrew is VERY patient with me in the vocal booth. [laughs]

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