Stream: The Cactus Blossoms, ‘Everybody’ (feat. Jenny Lewis)

S.Lo on January 9th, 2022

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The Cactus Blossoms (Photo by Aaron Rice)

Minneapolis duo the Cactus Blossoms fly dual-toned colors of folk-pop with an outlaw country flair. Harmonizing brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum were on a roll with two well-received albums, plus a spotlight appearance at the mythical Roadhouse on the third season of Twin Peaks in between, when the pandemic hit. When their city erupted in a meltdown after the police murder of George Floyd, “It felt like the whole world was falling apart,” says Burkum. “We had to put things on hold just so we could try to wrap our heads around everything that was happening in Minneapolis and beyond.”

Plans to go into the studio again were shelved and instead, after the duo felt safe to meet and develop new songs, they called upon longtime engineer and collaborator Alex Hall and their touring band to briefly pod up in Burkum’s basement. “From the start, we knew we wanted to keep the instrumentation minimal and consistent across the whole album and embrace the dryness that came with recording in Page’s basement,” says Torrey. “We wanted it to sound raw.”

They also called up Jenny Lewis for “Everybody,” the album’s second single released this past Friday. “Have you ever heard the saying ‘everyone is just doing the best they can’? I wanted to put that idea into a song,” writes Torrey. “It started out as a kind of sad one-sided story, but when I heard it in my head as a back and forth between two people and imagined Jenny singing the lines it became something different. I’m so glad she was up for it, because without her I don’t think it would have the hopefulness that I was looking for.”

Like their first single, “Hey Baby,” it’s the silver lining after a collectively dark chapter.

The Cactus Blossoms’ third album, “One Day,” releases Feb. 11 via Walkie Talkie Records.

||| Stream: “Everybody” (featuring Jenny Lewis)