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Max McNown with Hailey Whitters - 'Roses and Wolves'
Label: Fugitive Recordings
Release Date: December 5, 2024
Songwriters: Max McNown
Producer: Jamie Kenney
The Background:
Country music's latest star-on-the-rise Max McNown recently partnered with the genre's sweetheart Hailey Whitters to give us a pairing we never knew we needed and a bittersweet anthem we all could use.
‘Roses and Wolves’ arrived Dec. 5 as the latest tune from McNown's forthcoming album, Night Diving, a 10-track release due out on Jan. 24.
The song, rich with hard-earned wisdom and a heart-tugging honesty, offers difficult words but ones to live by as the two artists navigate the realities of heartache and change.
The Sound:
‘Roses and Wolves’ comes to life in a wash of warm acoustics, the crisp strings of a guitar welcoming a very different tune than the one that will eventually play out. Plucky from the jump, listeners think they're in for a chipper earworm until the lonesome pull of a fiddle soon ushers in the true number.
‘Roses and Wolves’ is a duel between bright and wailing strings, the perfect composition to paint the complexities that often mar life, love and the passing of time.
The Meaning:
"Roses will still bloom in the springtime
Wolves will sing their songs up to the moon
People fall and people love and people pass on through
Guess tomorrow won't see me and you"
There are few things in this life that are given: roses will likely bloom when they're meant to; wolves will howl at the moon; and change will come for us all.
That's the idea that ‘Roses and Wolves’ introduces. Change is a constant and not everything is meant to last forever, but there is comfort in knowing that some things, like heartbreak, are a part of life; and while it can often feel like it, a broken heart does not signal the end of the world.
As McNown sings in the song, "Well those first heartbreaks will always be the hardest / And they say that last goodbye will hurt the worst..." While he wishes for things to be different, he knows, in the end, that the loss of a relationship doesn't mean the end of him.
He understand that the roses will bloom, the wolves will howl and the world will keep on spinning.
When Whitters joins in, she lilts the same tune, remembering the good times and how difficult it is to let them be merely memories. She recalls, "All those late night winding back roads blasting 'Jackson' / All those heartfelt conversations by the fire..." It's hard to admit it's over, but she finds peace in knowing she did her best; and, at the end of the day...
"Roses will still bloom in the springtime
Wolves will sing their songs up to the moon
People fall and people love and people pass on through
Guess tomorrow won't see me and you"
What has Max McNown said about 'Roses and Wolves'?
While McNown hasn't detailed the new track in depth, he did take a moment to briefly touch on the song's message, sharing, “The privilege of hindsight helps us accept that relationships don’t always last forever. ‘Roses and Wolves’ is written from a place of comfort in the realization that the world will keep spinning and heartbreak is part of life."
Of his duet partner, the artist added, "Hailey Whitters’ beautiful vocals created a unique energy and truly brought this song to life!”
Whitters, in turn, echoed his sentiment, explaining, “I was so glad Max asked me to sing on this! He’s an incredible artist and I’m so honored he asked me to be a part of such a great song.”
For the full lyrics to Max McNown and Hailey Whitter's duet, 'Roses and Wolves', see below:
Roses will still bloom in the springtime
Wolves will sing their songs up to the moon
People fall and people love and people pass on through
Guess tomorrow won't see me and you
Well those first heartbreaks will always be the hardest
And they say that last goodbye will hurt the worst
But those tail lights started fading
Left me beat down here and waiting
Hope the sun shows up tomorrow and tells me we ain't through but
Roses will still bloom in the springtime
Wolves will sing their songs up to the moon
People fall and people love and people pass on through
Guess tomorrow won't see me and you
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
All those late night winding back roads blasting Jackson
All those heartfelt conversations by the fire
Can't admit it's really over
No more crying on my shoulder
Well what's done is done and over
I did all that I could do and
Roses will still bloom in the springtime
Wolves will sing their songs up to the moon
People fall and people love and people pass on through
Guess tomorrow won't see me and you
People fall and people love and people pass on through
But tomorrow won't see me and you
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
--
For more on Max McNown, see below:
