Frank Maroney - Scarecrow (2020)

On the peaks of the Colorado mountains, blanketed by a foot of snow, Frank Maroney set up a makeshift studio, constructing a place where he could “fall in love with music” again. In a cabin with the company of producer Ed Williams, the duo added the final touches to Maroney’s debut Scarecrow, a project footed in early jam sessions, nurtured by their partnership.

“The process of making this record really helped me fall in love with music again. Everything about it was the most fun I’ve ever had making music,” said Maroney. “Before we went into the studio, Ed Williams, my producer, and I would get together twice a week in his living room and just play songs. They were songs I’d been playing for four or five years, but Ed helped breathe new life into them. Those jam sessions really became the cornerstone for what the record was going to turn into.”

“Scarecrow” is the first single released from the record, feeding anticipation for the complete debut on February 7. “Scarecrow” leads with lovely hooks and a stirring chorus. The bittersweet tone of country twang played through an acoustic is bridged by swift electric guitar solos- taking its rightful seat as the best suited title track.

“The inspiration for ‘Scarecrow’ came from the idea of being there for someone no matter what. No matter how what darkness they’ve faced in the past or will be in the future, you’ll be there to help them through it,” explained Maroney. “It’s a big atmospheric tune that almost sounds like the different stages of a thunderstorm rolling across the plains.”

In the early phases of the recording process, cluttered with day-to-day nonsense, Maroney found his surroundings to be a hindrance. He sought a rebirth of influence, a new setting to look upon and charge his inspiration. Maroney found it in the final phases of the project when he began recording his vocals.

“Probably my favorite part of the whole process was when Ed and I set up a makeshift studio in a cabin in the mountains of Colorado,” Maroney said. “After we tracked all the songs with a band in Nashville, we held up in that cabin for a week at the beginning of January to record overdubs and all the vocals.”

He adds, “I wanted to get out of Nashville and all the distractions of day to day life. And I also wanted the inspiration that came with waking up every day and looking at snow covered mountains and being immersed in that environment. I mean, I sang the vocals for Scarecrow while a crazy snowstorm was dropping a foot of snow outside, it was pretty damn cool.”

“Scarecrow,” laid the foundation for what represented Maroney as a writer. It served both parts of him as a songwriter and equally as a person. Maroney said this quality is what he aimed for with each song from the ten-track album.