Kentucky singer and songwriter Leah Blevins has released “All Dressed Up,” the lead single from her Dan Auerbach-produced Easy Eye Sound debut. The album ‘All Dressed Up’ arrives March 20th. Drawing on the sultry Southern gothic sensibility of Bobbie Gentry and the torchy whisper of Dusty Springfield’s ‘Dusty in Memphis’, the Sandy Hook native crafts a soul-searching ballad that confronts the collision between desire and devastation. The track blends exquisite electric guitars with a slow shuffle, creating space for acoustic strums and an elegant rhythmic sweep that carries the song with quiet dignity.
“You turned my world upside down/ I heard them talk, word got around,” Blevins opens, before landing on the gut punch: “It was all just a game, and I went up in flames.” The chorus sharpens the recognition with brutal clarity: “I got all dressed up to be let down/ when you dragged my heart on the muddy ground.” “There are all kinds of emotions in this world,” Blevins explains, “and the best songs are a tangle of sometimes opposite feelings. ‘All Dressed Up’ is that hopeful, wonderful feeling of being completely in love – and how wrecking it can be when you realize how far from that reality you are. When you realize you’re a fool, well, that’s what the chorus is all about.”
Raised on the bluegrass-stained country of Loretta Lynn, Patty Loveless, Dwight Yoakam and fellow Sandy Hook native Keith Whitley, Blevins writes with unflinching emotional honesty. “I write what I feel, what I think other people feel, too,” she says. “Dan is someone who gets there’s more to a song than what’s on the surface. He’s not afraid to leave room on the tracks for the emotions to spread out and really color the recording. As a co-writer and producer, he creates something that is almost beyond honest, which I love.” The accompanying video, produced by Ford Fairchild, delivers the same timeless quality that defines the recording itself.