[LEOs biweekly Sonic Breakdown column deconstructs a single song from an area musician or band.]
Danny Cash, singer and chief songwriter of the country rock outfit Hawks, understands how hard it might be in todays world to simply shrug things off.
Sometimes the only thing left to do is laugh, as hard as that might be, Cash said. Maybe its an uneasy laugh, something like the Jokers, but still, its a release. But if youre on the verge of cracking up and losing your shit, that energy has to go somewhere else so you dont absorb it. Hopefully no one else absorbs it either. But youve got to let it out.
Thats the crux of It Aint Easy, a song thats a perfected amalgamation of slick modern country production, the romp of early 70s Stones and the honesty and grit of outlaw country performers like Waylon Jennings. As it barrels along, iced with thick guitars and a driving piano backbone, It Aint Easy almost dares you not to sing along. The songs strong production value is impressive as well, something that Cash, who recorded the album himself with a bit of post-production work by La La Land is very proud of.
It was one of the earlier songs that Hawks worked on. At that time, we didnt have a lead guitarist so I would meow the lead guitar parts into the mic. Pro tip: meows tend to cut through the mix, which is really helpful. We probably have some demos of that somewhere. Fun stuff, Cash said, laughing. We recorded this song when the band had just barely come together. We didnt have a lot of shows under our belt then and things have come a long way since. We play this way faster and with more energy now. Its weird to hear the recorded version.
Cash said he was doing a lot of deep thinking about the state of the world when he wrote It Aint Easy. The themes of nationalism, racism, political polarization and the decline of definitive truth are all woven into It Aint Easy, and the other songs that make up Hawks album Truth Will Out.
My original goal was just to write a fun, energetic song, Cash said. I didnt have an agenda beyond that. I set out to make a roadhouse anthem with some honky tonk piano at the end. Thats about it. But like I said: the world tends to creep in. I guess I needed to write it because its what I was feeling. I felt like I was going nuts because every day something would happen that would make me question reality. Stuff like, how is it the 21st century and instead of flying cars there are Nazis walking around with tiki torches? Or, am I really living in a country that locks kids in cages?
But Cash, back to his original point, doesnt want his personal ideas to reflect, necessarily, on what others might mine from the song.
Whatever the song means to me, I hope that when people hear it, that it picks them up a bit, he said. Maybe theyll interpret in a more universal, Oh well, might as well have a good time sort of way. Maybe theyll just hear the music and tap their feet. Anything is fine by me. Im down for whatever.
This article appears in December 18, 2019.