Premiere: The Slow Drag smacked in the heart by a ‘Broken Arrow’

There’s no mistaking the journey to complete self-worth to be anything but a long, winding road. For many, learning and accepting you are, truly, worth of all the love in the world is a mosh-pit of mental demons wrestling over the same air to breathe. It’s like climbing Mount Everest naked and not getting frostbite. It’s like diving into the middle of the Atlantic and hoping for the best. An outsider peering through the grimy front window, Nashville’s indie-rocker Austin Williams (aka The Slow Drag) rips open his chest, his beating heart glowing red, for an evocative slow-rollin’ stunner called “Broken Arrow,” premiering today. “You said you were screwed up / That getting close to you would be too much,” he sings, peeling back all the raw layers of emotion. He confronts his lover with nothing but compassion, even if his earnest pleading is laced with subtle distress.

“You said you didn’t believe me / That you could not be what I see / You don’t have to see it to trust me / I wouldn’t lie to a friend,” he pulls his lover into an honest embrace, picking apart the facade that’s long risen as a stoney castle wall. Williams remains calm during the storm, drawing it out for as long as necessary, his demeanor never wavering or vanishing. “One of the most frustrating experiences in life is falling for someone with no self-worth and trying to love someone who doesn’t think they deserve love,” writes Williams to B-Sides & Badlands over email. “Once you’ve fallen, you’re in, and you have to fight for your feels with all you’ve got before you realize it’s not going to happen. It’s a lot like a conversation I tried to have a couple of times. Some of the lyrics in this song are direct quotes from real conversations.”

As is his way, the song leans into his hearty blend of smokey and smooth classic rock and indie packed around lyrics as lush and vibrant as the cover art. “I finally found someone I want to love me / Making me forget how I feel ugly,” he sends up his own flares into the sky, owning up to his previous struggle through the blackness. In doing so, you begin to fully understand Williams himself and what it means to value your whole being. “You say you want it but you won’t stop running / I still don’t wanna let go / But Cupid hit me with a broken arrow.”

“Broken Arrow” officially drops May 6 and is now up for pre-save via Spotify.

Listen below:

https://soundcloud.com/the-slow-drag/broken-arrow/s-iWQr0

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