Exploring life, love, and ambition by way of poetry in movement, singer/songwriter Madison Hughes’ debut album ‘All That I Am’ is a musical {photograph} of all that she is on this second.
‘All That I Am’ – Madison Hughes
You wouldn’t be unsuitable once you first hear Madison Hughes to assume you’re listening to Lee Ann Womack.
Their vocals sensibilities are hand in glove. Understated, mild, restrained but you’ll be able to hear an anger simmering under the floor. Like Womack earlier than her, it’s what Hughes’ doesn’t say that sticks to you. There’s a literary aspect to Hughes’ songwriting. Her songs may simply be quick tales. Every character in every music has their very own journey, which I prefer to assume continues lengthy after the monitor fades out.
Hughes doesn’t sound like a brand new artist. Her music and voice feels prefer it’s been residing in your audio system for a very long time. It feels settled, worn in, like an excellent ebook you haven’t learn for years however you bear in mind the texture of the pages.
Her debut album, All That I Am (launched April 11) is co-produced by Hughes, Lera Lynn (True Detective, Roseanne Money, Misty Boyce) and Todd Lombardo (Kacey Musgraves, Submit Malone, Ella Langley).
Chances are you’ll know Hughes from The Voice and performing rock & roll hits to viral covers of modern-day nation singles. Raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Hughes grew up attending her mom’s native music competition, the place she performed a few of her first reveals as a teen. On the invoice have been acts like Shovels & Rope, Drew Holcomb, and Lera Lynn. Hughes truly reconnected with Lynn in Nashville, who agreed to co-produce Hughes’ full-length debut album. Hughes later studied digital movie manufacturing in school earlier than transferring to Nashville in her twenties.
“I bought my begin in music in a really DIY manner – making songs on my pc and self-producing in my very own little world,” Hughes tells Atwood Journal. “This was additionally the primary time I labored with producers, and I cherished the collaborative expertise—they actually introduced out one of the best in me.”
Hughes attracts on southern Gothic Nation, which reminds one in all Lindi Ortega and Lynn herself. The album sits firmly within the Americana custom, however don’t let that deceive you into considering the report is style particular. All That I Am could be very a lot an ever evolving report as you return and maintain hitting play. The thread that runs by way of the ten tracks is a push and pull. It’s not all the time pressure or a ache; it’s additionally a dance between two folks or two emotions.
All That I Am opens with the title monitor, co-written with Hughes, Lynn and Lombardo. It begins as a haunting Appalachian melody, accompanied by Hughes’ understated vocals. The music then switches up within the refrain and turns into a hovering and stomping pop music. The music is a push and pull, not solely within the storytelling, but additionally within the music itself.
He lives for the night time
And I’m the solar
I wanna shine my love mild on him
However he’s all the time on the run
Oh there’s something about
the way in which that he turns away makes my fireplace burn
All that I’m gonna take all that I bought to stroll away
From the again of his lovely head
His hair waving goodbye makes me keep
– “All That I Am,” Madison Hughes
“All That I Am” additionally occurs to be Hughes’ favorite from the album.
“It’s my favourite music on the report,” She shares. “‘All That I Am’ is a real story about how my anxious attachment fashion affected my relationships – the push and pull of wanting one thing actual however struggling to stroll away from somebody emotionally unavailable.”
“No person Is aware of Your Love” is a duet between Hughes and Brent Cobb. It’s a meandering, dreamy love music. Hughes and Cobb’s voices weave out and in of one another, when one goes in a single route, the opposite shouldn’t be far behind it, pulling it in shut after which pushing it away. Their voices dance round one another.
At any time when I lose sight of you
It doesn’t matter what the miles
I’ll all the time hear the music
that my thoughts makes once you smile
Trigger you might be my sunshine, my pink wine,
My midnight storm
And what I’m livin for
Duets are straightforward and laborious . Simple, as a result of anybody can sing collectively, even when they’re miles aside know-how could make them appear as if their in the identical vocal sales space. Arduous, as a result of not all duets are equal. Not all duets do what Hughes and Cobb do. Listening to the phrases and their voices bleeding collectively, you imagine the music, you imagine the sensation, you imagine the characters, one thing that’s uncommon to perform.
“This album felt like my very own model of grad college, a deep dive into creating not simply songs, however an entire world that felt cohesive,” says Hughes. “Ten tracks would possibly seem to be a breeze, however crafting one thing that actually appears like one physique of labor took plenty of work.”
Within the penultimate tracks “So Shut To Ceaselessly,” Hughes is left grappling with the top of a relationship and attempting to know how, peeling again every reminiscence to attempt to make it make sense.
You have been the sand and I used to be the ocean washing the shore
So I can’t perceive how we can’t be anymore
A easy strummed acoustic guitar begins “Ready On You.” Hughes vocals smooth and understated sings of the particular person she is and the particular person she is turning into, “My standpoint is fading, Gettin smaller in mirror, The additional that I am going, I’m chasing one thing I can hear it, What it appears to be like like I could by no means know.” The music then opens up, with the refrain rolling out like a panorama unfolding in entrance of you.
Wild is the wanderer
Wandering on her personal
I don’t wish to be ready round
Ready for the suitable phrases
For the suitable sound
Possibly it’s inexperienced i left you blue
However I can’t maintain ready ready on you
These last tracks are concerning the finish. The tip of a love, the breaking of a promise, or the top of a manner of being? Hughes’ writing is obvious in some respects however she leaves sufficient of the main points as much as your creativeness.
She explains, “This course of (of constructing the report) all started proper after The Voice, in January 2023, and I had little or no songwriting expertise. I wrote with as many individuals as I may and the themes all naturally wove collectively – primarily reflecting my relationship life on the time. I grew up listening and watching Lera Lynn’s journey since I used to be 14, so that is the best full circle second for me to have her produce and write songs for this report along with her husband Todd (Lombardo).”
All That I Am closes with “Gypsy Wings,” an ode to Hughes herself. The music is about embracing herself as a inventive. Within the opening verse, Hughes tells us, “Should you bought a hearth that’s burning, This city will solely kill that flame, Take heed to the freeway callin’, in case you hear it name your title,” phrases of knowledge maybe Hughes needs she had been given, or her personal knowledge she nonetheless leans on. The difficulty with being a inventive is self-doubt walks its muddy footprints throughout you after everybody else has taken a bit out of you.
Roll like a river
Trip on the wind
Chase that capturing star thus far
That you simply’ll by no means come again once more
Set your sights on the heavens
And sing the music you sing
Say goodbye, discover the sky
Unfold these gypsy wings
Let em fly, fly away
Hughes admitted to having little or no songwriting expertise, however as was stated initially, Madison Hughes doesn’t sound like a brand new artist; she sounds established, assured, as if her music has been sitting in your vinyl shelf for years.
This report is a musical {photograph} of all that Madison Hughes is on this second.
“It’s vital to discover ways to belief your self, and that’s the place this album got here from,” she smiles. “It got here from me. I’m so glad I didn’t attempt to be like another person, as a result of that wouldn’t be sincere. I can solely be all that I’m.”
— —
:: stream/buy All That I Am right here ::
:: join with Madison Hughes right here ::
— —
— — — —
Hook up with Madison Hughes on
Fb, 𝕏, TikTok, Instagram
Uncover new music on Atwood Journal
© Libby Danforth
All That I Am
an album by Madison Hughes
