Every jam band and scene-adjacent outfit has at least a few, if not several songs like this in their repertoire, that are like "hey, if you don't like how things are going for you, have you tried, uh, not doing that??" (cf. e.g. the String Cheese Incident — "Let's Go Outside", in which the line "If all your days are the same, at some point you're to blame for playing the game" tests disturbingly high for The Audacity). Despite the fact that these kinds of songs map best onto low-stakes bugaboos, they always feel like they're trying to get you to just instantly drop major grievances and burdens girded by factors and root causes a 2-minute song could never account for. This one is at least thoughtful enough to include a caveat: "If you think you can make a difference and the fire is on your soul, go ahead and take a stand and if you can't, then let it go..." Still, it's hard to shake the feeling that even that's a little condescending: "Well, if you're so determined to make a difference, I guess I can't stop you..." 💘
category: music
subcat: bluegrass