Video: Drugdealer, ‘Madison’

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Michael Collins of Drugdealer (Photo by Shags Cahmberlain)

The wayback machine that is Michael Collins’ musical vehicle Drugdealer is refueled and ready.

And it took to the streets today with the release of “Madison,” the project’s first single since the 2019 sophomore full-length “Raw Honey” and out via Mexican Summer. Boasting an inviting, warm groove, it sounds like a piece of pop-rock history, Nick Lowe or Graham Parker-meets-Elvis Costello’s “Alison” (or maybe we’re feeling the latter because of the rhyme).

“‘Madison’ was the first song I wrote in the period after ‘Raw Honey,’” Collins says. “I hadn’t been feeling very confident about my voice for a while, when a chance encounter with an older artist, Annette Peacock, happened. She helped change my perspective, and style. She told me I wasn’t singing in my correct range, to modulate it up. She was right and it shifted my perspective on singing. ‘Madison’ is the first time I felt like I was hearing what I really sounded like, after years of defaulting more towards numerous collaborators who I knew had their own voices. It was pretty surreal and I’m really thankful for her advice.”

In the video for the song — which features backing vocals by Sasha Winn, Jordan Jones, Scott Storch and Brian D’Addario, plus a little pedal steel and saxophone — Collins tools around town in an old Mercedes with pals Bambina, Ambrea Miller and Sasha Dee.

||| Watch: The video for “Madison”

||| Live: Drugdealer performs a special in-the-round show on July 2 at the Lodge Room. Tickets.

||| Previously: “Fools,” live at the Teragram Ballroom, live at Desert Daze 2017, “Easy to Forget”