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Nov 07, 2022 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Nathan Rocky

Later this week, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Jack Schneider is set to share his debut album, Best Be On My Way, out everywhere on November 11th. After years as a touring guitarist for country vet Vince Gill, Schneider began stepping out on his own during the pandemic, sharing a series of ‘vanishing albums’ written with longtime collaborator Wes Langlois. These were full-length records that were only available for a week before being removed from streaming and purchase.

Best Be On My Way represents Schneider’s first permanent album, which he has been teasing this year with a pair of singles, “Josephine” and “Don’t Look Down.” Today, ahead of the full record’s release he has shared one last track, “Marietta,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Marietta” traces the threads between folk and country, delivering a track that brings forth the searching melancholy of the former alongside the sun-lit warmth and loping melodies of the latter. Like the rest of the album, the track was recorded live to tape, an element that leaves the song feeling like a vintage record lost to time and lends it a refreshing vitality. Even with the track’s downcast inspirations and cautionary tales, the clarion beauty of Schneider’s vocals and country harmonies crafts an air of effortless ease and charmingly high spirits.

Schneider says of the track, “When Wes and I sat down to write on June 14, 2020, we started with a song originally called “Henrietta.” We loved the melody and lyrics we’d come up with, but it didn’t feel right to have a character conceptually waiting “just around the bend.” Instead, I suggested changing the title to Marietta, a city just outside my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. In researching Marietta’s historical significance, we stumbled upon the fact that on the very day we were writing the song—June 14—in 1864, a confederate general, Leonidas Polk, was shot in half by a Union cannonball at the Battle of Marietta. Upon this discovery, the song became something of an anti-war piece, a cautionary tale against a “game that you can’t win.” Ultimately, it is a meditation on the impending demise we are all walking towards.”

Check out the song below. Best Be On My Way is out everywhere on November 11th.