Today marks the release of Go Get Gone, the debut album from the tenacious duo of Zoe Nicol and Rosie Jones, best known to us as Worry Dolls. While they seem to have been kicking around the London folk scene for a while, this debut more than makes up for the wait. They pulled out all stops in its creation.
The album was recorded over in Nashville and produced by Neilson Hubbard (Matthew Perryman Jones), a veteran of East Nashville’s music scene. It also features songwriting collaborations with Jeff Cohen (Teitur), Ben Glover (a recent Featured Album of the Month), Joe Doyle (Reba Mcentire) & stunning playing from Wild Ponies, Eamon McLoughlin (Ashley Monroe), Kenny Hutson (Little Big Town) & more.
The album is out today via Bread & Butter Music and is supported by an extensive UK tour (dates below). We decided to celebrate with a track-by-track excursion which you can enjoy below.
01 Endless Road (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol, Jeff Cohen)
The song is a vulnerable look at the sacrifices we’ve had to make when we chose to be touring musicians. Having spent the best part of a year on the road, It’s about the realisation that this is a life commitment – we’ll always be moving; travelling; having to say goodbye. It’s about acceptance; “I may never find a place to call mine, but maybe that’s alright”.
02 Train’s Leaving (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol, Joe Doyle)
Train’s Leaving is about overcoming the fear of doing something that may seem a little crazy, like (in our case) spending our life savings, upping sticks and travelling halfway across the world to record an album that wasn’t yet written. But sometimes you have to take the leap and hope the universe will catch you. This song also inspired the title of the album, “No what if this or what if that. Farewell, so long. Go, get gone.”
03 Miss You Already (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol)
Miss You Already is a simple country song about regret. We wrote it in our apartment in Nashville after finishing a bottle of sweet tea moonshine – which felt appropriate. We didn’t write instrumental parts for it for months, singing it a cappella at shows. In the days leading up to the recording, we went to Pigeon Forge for a few days because a couple of friends had a log cabin out there and we practised guitar and banjo parts whist sitting on rocking chairs looking out over the smoky mountains.
04 Don’t Waste Your Heart On Me (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol, Doak Turner)
This song is about admitting that you can’t be everything the other person needs. We joke that it’s a warning to never fall in love with a musician, from the perspective of the musician! We’ve both made sacrifices in our personal lives for music – but more generally this song is about walking away from something good because you know it just isn’t right.
05 She Don’t Live Here (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol, Mikael Liljeborg, Martin Lorentzson)
This song is a reflection on a breakup. Picturing what your life would be had things worked out differently – reminiscing on the good times… “it’s easy to forget the bad”. It’s about realising that you’re not the person that you were back then but still questioning the choices you made.
06 Bless Your Heart (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol, Telisha Williams, Doug Williams)
The first ever song we wrote in Nashville. We’d been in town for a couple of days and were picking up the southern slang, including “Bless You Heart” – which we were told can be used to point out to someone that they are being a complete idiot. We wrote Bless Your Heart as advice to the new girlfriend. It’s about warning her, speaking from experience, that he isn’t what he seems – but wishing her the best of luck with him.
07 Light Oh Light (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol, Ben Glover)
We wrote Light Oh Light on a day where we were feeling quite low on inspiration, like we’d lost our spark. Everyone has bad days were they feel like they’re in a hole and tired of feeling that way – but those days end. There’s always light after the dark – “I’ll hold on, the night will pass, and I know this song won’t last”.
08 Passport (Zoe Nicol)
Passport is, simply and bluntly, about being screwed over. Opening yourself up to the world can let in an awful lot of good, but we learnt the hard way to not be too trusting… not everyone has your best interest at heart.
09 Things Always Work Out (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol)
Things Always Work Out is our mantra, our cry and our prayer to the powers that be. Telling ourselves that even when it feels like things are slipping out of our control, when we work hard enough for something, and we truly believe in it – that things will work out the way they’re supposed to.
10 Someday Soon (Rosie Jones, Zoe Nicol, James Riley)
Someday Soon is about not wanting to say goodbye. It’s a song full of hope and a promise to someone that you will return. We wrote it in Nashville, where we really felt like we had found our spiritual home. It was clear this wasn’t the end, but we were overwhelmed at the thought of saying goodbye. Singing this song in the studio back in Nashville was extremely emotional. It proved that anything is possible. You can create your own dreams if you try hard enough.
Worry Doll Tour Dates
JANUARY
28 TUNBRIDGE WELLS Trinity Theatre
FEBRUARY
01 LONDON UK Americana Conference
03 STOCKPORT West Heaton Tennis Club
04 SUNDERLAND The Independent
05 PENRITH Plug N Play
08 STAMFORD Stamford Arts Centre
09 MUCH WENLOCK The Edge Arts Centre
12 CRAWLEY The Hawth
17 IPSWICH Cult Cafe
19 LIVERPOOL The Zanzibar
21 LEICESTER The Musician
22 BIRMINGHAM KGC
23 YORK Black Swan
24 BELLINGHAM All Acoustic Club
25 MILTON KEYNES The Stables
26 MAIDENHEAD Norden Farm
MARCH
01 LONDON St Pancras Old Church
02 BRIGHTON The Marwood
03 SWINDON The Beehive
04 ISLE OF WIGHT Wight Rock Bar
24 SWANAGE Square And Compass
26 TWICKENHAM Twickenham Folk Club
APRIL
28 GAINSBOROUGH Westview House
29 DURHAM Old Cinema Launderette
30 SALTAIRE The Live Room
Order Go Get Gone via Amazon
The post Track by Track: Worry Dolls talk us through Go Get Gone appeared first on Folk Radio UK.