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PRODUCED BY TONY BERG (PHOEBE BRIDGERS, ANDREW BIRD), ALBUM FEATURES CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BRITTANY HOWARD, BLAKE MILLS, CHRIS DAVE, MATT CHAMBERLAIN, ETHAN GRUSKA
AND IAN FITCHUK
HEAR FIRST SINGLE “SWINGIN” HERE
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(Toronto, ON – April 21, 2020) – Thad Cockrell will release his ATO Records debut If in Case You Feel the Same on June 26th. Produced mainly by Tony Berg (an industry veteran who’s worked with everyone from Phoebe Bridgers to the Replacements), If in Case You Feel the Same taps into the tremendous depth of expression Thad has brought to co-writing for such artists as Joy Williams (on her GRAMMY-nominated 2019 album Front Porch), Joseph, Devon Gilfillian and Mathew Caws of Nada Surf, as well as his much-beloved band LEAGUES. Buoyed by the support of Brittany Howard, whom he first met over a 4 a.m. pitcher of homemade margaritas, Cockrell set to work on his first solo effort in over a decade: an album that exposes his deepest insecurities and weaknesses, all for the sake of creating a transcendent connection with the audience.
Mixed and engineered by Shawn Everett (Vampire Weekend, Beck, The War on Drugs), the album features an all-star backing band appearing on various songs throughout – Howard (backing vocals on album standout “Higher”), Blake Mills (guitar), Chris Dave (drums), Matt Chamberlain (drums), Ethan Gruska (piano, synths), Ian Fitchuk (multiple instruments). If in Case You Feel the Same pushes beyond the understated country of Cockrell’s earliest work to illuminate his more idiosyncratic impulses. In dreaming up the album’s thrillingly unpredictable sonic palette, Cockrell built off a batch of recordings he’d self-produced in Nashville with the help of some of his closest musician-friends. Upon heading to Berg’s L.A. studio (then to the legendary Sound City) to complete the production process, he then took care to preserve the intimacy of those original recordings, lending the album a raw vitality that exponentially magnifies its emotional power.
Throughout If in Case You Feel the Same, Cockrell reveals his rare ability to create songs that instantly hit on a visceral level, yet subtly invite intense contemplation. Cockrell even created an inadvertent anthem for our current pandemic-focused lives with the album’s heavy-hearted yet triumphant lead single “Swingin’,” which features Gruska on synths. The song swells into its wildly defiant chorus, where Cockrell sings “If I’m gonna go down/I wanna go down swingin’.” “What more fitting time than now to bring people together with a sense of feeling the same,” says Cockrell. “And we’re gonna get through this together by fighting for each other. If we’re gonna go down, let’s go down swinging.”
There’s a palpable sense of communion that infuses all of If in Case You Feel the Same, including Cockrell’s collaborations with Howard. An ardent fan of the Alabama Shakes frontwoman, Cockrell first linked up with Howard thanks to a wholly unexpected introduction from his dear friend, singer/songwriter Becca Mancari. “I never wanted Becca to feel like a pass-through, so I put it out into the universe that if I was meant to meet Britt, it would just happen someday,” says Cockrell. One very late night while hanging out with Howard, Mancari shared some recordings of Cockrell’s songs, which then prompted Howard to hijack Mancari’s phone and send Cockrell a text professing her love for his music. “Twenty minutes later they’re walking into my house, and I’m making mezcal margaritas and playing Britt songs from the new album,” says Cockrell. “At some point she said me, ‘I never like anything, but I love all of this.'” Soon enough, Howard had sent Cockrell’s demos to ATO Records general manager Jon Salter, thus paving the way for his signing to the label.
With its subtle suggestion of emotional risk and possible reward, the album’s title came to Cockrell as a sudden revelation while walking through Nashville’s Shelby Bottoms in the middle of the winter. “I was looking for a concept that was big enough to house all these different songs and ideas, and when that title struck me I got chills,” he says. “I love the inclusivity of it: how it holds space for oneself, but also holds space for others.”
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