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Dec 12, 2022 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Sadie Lynn

Richmond-based indie folk outfit Palmyra returned earlier this month with their latest release, Sill and Glad Session, an EP of idyllic and earthen acoustic folk stylings. The trio of tracks follows the band’s debut album, Shenandoah, released earlier this year. After the band’s debut performance at the Newport Folk Festival, they decamped to an isolated Blue Ridge Mountain Cabin to record their latest set of tracks, crafting the Still and Glade Sessions in intimate isolation.

Today, the band are back with a new music video for one of the EP’s highlights, “Nothing Sticks,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Nothing Sticks” is a quiet and confessional folk ballad, finding the band reflecting on the hardships of life on the road. The track begins stark and road-worn, traced only by intimate strums of acoustic guitar and solitary melodies. As the song builds, the band’s trademark three-part harmonies give it a growing resonant presence, bolstered by swelling upright bass and chiming mandolin. Like the best folk often does, the resulting track balances melancholic yearning with intimate beauty, crafting a dance of lovely harmony and unadorned instrumentation.

“We have spent the last 15 months touring most days out of the month, up and down the eastern half of the country. ‘Nothing Sticks’ came from the endless hours missing home and those that you love as you are ‘states away.’ The first two verses of the tune came about after a weekend of terrible shows in Myrtle Beach’s less desirable cousin ‘North Myrtle.’ They describe the feeling of restlessness and frustration, a familiar blend to any traveler. These feelings of angst occupied each thought as we scraped by on bar food and our unique musical ability to disappear into the corner of whatever corporate bar we might be performing in that night.

Despite the destitution that life on the road brings, and more specifically performing in North Myrtle, the moments of sunshine between the leaves that a great show can possess, makes it a life of meaning. The final verse to the song emerged after a show of pure magic; teaching us a lesson we already knew, to hold on to ‘those who care, who really care.’ The arrangement for the tune came instantly, thrown together moments before the first time we performed it. The version displayed in this video is the same as it was at its inception, simple and out of the way. Maybe an unintentional commentary on our ability to get in our own ways at times, and a playful reminder that nothing sticks.”

Check out the song and video below, out everywhere now.