Brian Raleigh reminisces about a special moment in the not-too-distant past.
The Television City frontman reflects on a chance encounter with a woman in the U.P. and relishes that random connection on the band’s latest alt-country-rock single, “Lost in Arkansas.”
“It was a very innocent sort of meeting where we talked, we got to know each other, and we felt a very strong connection. That’s all there was,” said Raleigh, the Detroit band’s vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist.
Backed by nostalgic electric guitar, pedal steel, and drums, Raleigh sings, “And in the blink of an eye / She was gone as quick as she came / Back to the wind, the Great Lakes / The trees and the rain / And I don’t think I’m ever gonna be the same again / As I was before / But I can remember when.”
“It’s about being lost in that moment,” he said. “It was a few years ago [when I met her] … and we’ve kept in touch a little bit.”
Raleigh wrote the track shortly after that encounter and shared it with his Television City bandmates.
“I might have written the song the day after that occurred or not too long after. And I put it away, and I thought, ‘I don’t even know if this song is any good or not,’” he said.
“And then I brought it out when we were looking for songs to record this next batch, and [guitarist] Garret [Bielaniec] said, ‘That’s the one.’”
Now, Raleigh is celebrating the release of “Lost in Arkansas” with Television City during a September 28 show with Jim Roll, Mike Galbraith, and Courtney Hurley at Ghost Light in Hamtramck, Michigan.
To learn more, I spoke with Raleigh about the band and single ahead of the show.
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