Last Train Home

Blackbird Spyplane: “Last Train Home” is such a fun song — it flashes me back to being a kid in my parents’ living room circa ‘88, and they’ve got Dire Straits Brothers in Arms and, like, Eric Clapton Behind the Sun on the record player…

JM: “I’ve had the idea for as long as I can remember to make a new record from archival cloth. Not a reprint, but something new. With ‘Last Train Home’ there are footnotes attached to each moment — distinct musical references — but I was mindful of making sure the composition felt new: I tip my hat to the ‘80s on the execution of the song, but when I play it on the acoustic, it doesn’t sound like an ‘80s song.”

How good is Maren Morris? How good is Maren Morris? That's Maren at the end of that song.

Someone told me that that song reminded them a lot of a John Hughes soundtrack and I take that as the highest compliment. John Hughes was a brilliant director from the 80's, made some seminal films, and the music in his films were always really stirring. So I take that as a very high compliment.

The exception was "Last Train Home," which, I'm not going to play stupid, "Last Train Home'' definitely trades on some very specific musical references.

You mentioned that ''Last Train Home" is the one song where the influences are more overt. What are we hearing on that one?

That's a good question. And I have a deep dislike of dishonesty when it comes to creating, so I'll tell you: I always wished that I could have a song that was on Eric Clapton's Journeyman album. I loved him so much that I'm not afraid to go, "I just want to feel what that's like..." Like, the experience of plugging a Strat with noiseless pickups into a Soldano with a chorus pedal. And to hear that back on your own song is funny, poignant, touching, exciting, titillating. I mean, it feels a little bit wrong. But the reason I'm okay telling you this is because Eric has always been someone who turned his test around and showed you his notes. Every single time: "I got this from that person, I got this from him. I got this from her." So I'm at an age where I'm looking back and I'm really joyously reminiscing about times in my life as a listener, and as a music lover. And I'm going, "Well, why can't I just ignite that spark on this one song? And if somebody gets a kick out of it, whether they know why or not, wouldn't that be great?"