Singer-songwriter Kevin Daniel has released a music video for “Happy For A While” after a premiere by AmericanaUK. The song — from his Organic Records debut album, The Life and Adventures of Kevin Daniel — is a horn-driven excursion that finds him wrestling with the sacrifices and uncertainties of devoting a life to music.
Yet while the song’s unmistakably personal lyric might justifiably be called confessional, “Happy For A While,” co-written with Skylar Gregg, is no mopey plea for sympathy, much less pity. Instead, Daniel and the mostly North Carolina crew he and co-producer Jon Weisberger assembled serve up a leisurely paced but muscular reading, surrounding his rangy voice with rhythm & blues trappings that include a solid rhythm section (including co-producer Jeremy Darrow of The Steel Wheels on bass), wailing harmonies, a deliciously retro-flavored horn arrangement and a steady build from a solo vocal opening to a full-throated final verse and brassy coda.
As Daniel observes, “I think loneliness is an inherent part of being on the road and being an artist in general. You’re in your head a lot. I moved to Nashville but haven’t spent much time here because I’m always playing shows. You meet people at shows but knowing you’re in the van again the next morning on your way to the next town makes those relationships fleeting.”
Testifying to Daniel’s songwriting and performance chops, the song gains power by contrasting the long, meditative lines of the verses, offered in the singer’s lower register, to the pithy, anguished, upper register plea of the chorus:
I need a nice fine woman
I need a good ol’ woman
For this old man
The two elements come together in the final verse, delivered in the higher pitch of the chorus over strong harmonies and full-force backing before the horns take over from the singer to deliver the final chorus without him. The result is a performance that weds recollections of the classic Stax-Volt sound to a thoroughly modern narrative by a compelling voice.
“This song is sad as hell, and I get a few laughs when people hear it because it’s so straightforward about what I’m feeling,” says Daniel. “I really am scared the way I live my life in pursuit of music is getting in the way of me making a different kind of life I always wanted — a family, a partner, and stability. I know you can have both, and I’ve seen it work with others, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about constantly going against the grain. That being said, at this point in my life, nothing is more important to me than making music, and I make all kinds of sacrifices for it.”
Watch the music video for “Happy For A While” above and listen to it on your favorite streaming platform HERE. The song is available in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL.