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"You say it best when you say nothing at all," Keith Whitley once sang, and it's something that definitely holds true with Johnny Delaware's latest single 'Incógnita.'
For anyone who regularly finds comfort in Holler's Best Country Instrumentals playlist, listening to 'Incógnita' will feel like a warm light flickering gently in the darkness.
Close your eyes and you can imagine you're cycling down a quiet country lane with an early morning breeze blowing over you as the sun slowly begins to rise. It feels like the kind of simple, reassuring song we need more than ever right now to transport us away from all the worries of the world.
Inspired by Johnny's love for Latin America and his time spent in Mexico City, 'Incognita' (which translates in English to "unknown") unfolds as a breathtakingly beautiful Southwestern instrumental.
Best known as the co-founder of The Artisanals and SUSTO, the song is the third to be taken from his upcoming third solo album, Para Llevar, out in November on Normaltown Records via New West and follows the singles' Never Let Go' and 'Running.'
Self-produced and recorded between Latin America and the US, Para Llevar (which translates to “to go” or “to take”) is a deeply personal exploration of human nature through the eyes of a nomadic observer.
Blending elements of Laurel Canyon and Latin America with dreamy, psychedelic production, he draws inspiration from his years of journeying, both physically around the world and internally, to find himself on this new record.
“This is a very nomadic album,” says Johnny Delaware. “I recorded it in studios in Mexico and the United States and in hotel rooms all across Latin America, and if you listen closely, you can hear bits and pieces
“‘Incógnita’ was recorded on the beach in the hotel my girlfriend operates in Mexico," Johnny told us. "I placed the mic on a table in the hostel area and did my thing with the nylon guitar sitting around. It was a fun song to track! There was no metronome or anything to this, which gives the push-and-pull, natural feeling. I later overdubbed the bass and slide guitar parts in Mexico City. It's a mysterious-sounding song, so I thought the title ‘Incógnita’ was fitting.”
Watch the video for 'Incógnita' shot by: Lorena Castañeda exclusively on Holler below.
Born and raised in South Dakota, Delaware felt the pull of the road from a young age, and after dropping out of college, he spent his twenties drifting between Nashville, Albuquerque, and Austin, making music and picking up odd jobs to get by.
“I went through a particularly dark patch in Texas,” he explains, “but music got me through it. That was the first time I realized just how powerful a song could be, how it could heal you and change your life. That’s when I knew I needed to make my own records so I could do the same thing for other people.”
When a tree fell on his car and the insurance company paid out the exact amount he needed to record his first album, Delaware headed east to Charleston, SC, where he teamed up with producer Wolfgang Zimmerman for his 2013 debut, Secret Wave. Fate would soon intervene again, though, putting the brakes on Delaware’s solo career as another Charleston project he helped co-found, Susto, began taking off.
Over the course of the next decade, the band would go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed names in indie roots music, touring with the likes of The Lumineers, Band of Horses, and The Head and the Heart.
“While I was on a break from touring with Susto, an archaeologist friend of mine invited me to come down to Mexico,” Delaware recalls. “I figured I’d just be there a couple of months, but then life happened.”
Delaware fell for the culture and the food and the people and the art in Mexico City. He met his girlfriend, adopted a dog, and bought land. He recorded a second solo album, 2022’s similarly well-received Energy of Light, and continued bouncing back and forth across the border for tour dates with Susto while working on the songs that would become Para Llevar.
Delaware embraces love over fear on the album, allowing himself to sit still long enough to appreciate the little moments of perfection that dot our decidedly imperfect lives.
“You don’t have to pretend everything’s wonderful all the time,” Delaware reflects, “but if you don’t seek out the light sometimes, if you don’t make the room to let it into your life, the darkness will consume you.”
Para Llevar is out on 1st November on Normaltown Records via New West.
