Ain't My Daddy's Town

Album: Until My Voice Goes Out (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This Jaren Johnston and Rodney Clawson penned song, sung from the perspective of a man who had just lost his father, was originally pitched to Josh Abbott on February 3, 2017. The very same day the songwriters sent Abbott their demo via email the singer's father's health began to take a turn for the worse. However Abbott was unaware of this at the time. He recalled to Taste of Country:

    "I listened to it and I loved it, and so my reply to them was, 'Man it's a really touching song … but our albums have always been so autobiographical that I don't know that I can put a song out about my father dying, because he hasn't died.'"

    Six days later Charles Abbott suffered a fatal stroke, and within a month he'd passed away. Abbott kept listening to the track and after a few months he decided to record it, tweaking a couple of lines in the second verse to make the lyrics more autobiographical.
  • The song's music video was filmed in early June 2017, the night that the Josh Abbott Band recorded the song. As Abbott sings, he's holding his father's favorite hat.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.