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Mar 30, 2022 By Joey Arnone Photography by Chantal Anderson

Kevin Morby has shared a video for his new single, “Rock Bottom.” It is the latest release from his forthcoming album, This Is a Photograph, which will be out on May 13 via Dead Oceans. View the Johnny Eastlund-directed video below.

In a press release, Morby states: “I’d often pass a mural of the late James Lee Lindsey Jr. on Main Street (in Memphis) which eventually led me down a rabbit hole to revisiting his body of wor,k including watching the 2009 documentary filmed during his last days, Better Than Something. I was taken by how similar his story was to that of many other American icons that were ahead of their time and too-quickly rose from the bottom to the top, inevitably burning out.

“I read that his stage name, Jay Reatard, was worn as a badge of honor after years of being picked on in grade school—which may or may not be why on the cover of his seminal album Blood Visions he’s covered in blood as a nod to Sissy Spacek’s character in Carrie. Because of this I chose to begin the song by repeating ‘they’re all gonna laugh at you!’ When in the studio I pointed at the last Reatard album, Grown Up, Fucked Up, as a reference for what I was trying to achieve sonically.

“For the video, director Johnny Eastlund and I decided we wanted to make an Ice Cream themed Nunchucking Western so I tagged in one of my Instagram nunchuck idols, Ariel Kellog, to help me battle an evil talent show judge, played by Tim Heidecker, who is taunting his contestants, most notably a little girl in a bumble bee costume. The video also features comedian Caleb Heron, my bandmate Cyrus Gengras, Azniv Korkejian (aka Bedouine), Jess Wolfe (who is 1/2 of Lucius), and more.”

Upon announcement of the new album last month, Morby shared the song “This Is a Photograph,” which was one of our Songs of the Week

Morby’s previous studio album, Sundowner, came out in 2020 via Dead Oceans.

Read our interview with Morby on his 2017 album City Music, along with our City Music Track-by-Track interview with him..

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