“Garrett Heath’s previous album, Kingdom Come, effortlessly earned a place among my top 10 albums of 2021, and the follow-up, The Losing End, presents a convincing case for making that a double.” – Mike Davies, Folk Radio UK
KNOX, PA (January 6, 2022) – Garrett Heath announces the release of his upcoming Appalachian roots album, The Losing End, on April 22. The album features a collection of stories from Heath’s own patchwork of rural rust-belt America, spanning over five decades.
The Losing End hits on themes of economic decline, loss of opportunity, socio-political abandonment, as well as the subtle beauty of daily life in rural America. It’s this feeling of loss and cultural scorn that unifies the record and helps one understand what it’s like to be on “The Losing End.”
The album features a cover of the John Hartford classic, “In Tall Buildings.” Heath says, “I think it holds a special place within the context of this particular album. Many of the other songs on this record are dealing with the darker side of rural America, while ‘In Tall Buildings’ is a reminder that there is a unique beauty about forgotten places that can’t be found anywhere else.”
The lead and self-titled track, “The Losing End” encompasses the darker tales on the album. It comes to the listener as a series of short vignettes, each focusing on a unique perspective of daily life in rural America, and each conveying a sense of what it feels like to be left behind by the modern American socio/economic/political complex. It takes on that all-too-common feeling in the rust belt that our best days are behind us, that our lives don’t really count anymore, that even our victories are somehow a loss on the national scale.
Heath also finds those touchpoints of light within the darkness. “Live for the Moment” is a call to wake up to the present and break free from the bonds of the past. “Darker Still” is a song about finding and needing one another despite the vices and traumas that keep us in isolation. The final track, “Vanity” comes full circle with the lyric “The truth is I am nothing, but the truth will set me free.” It’s the understanding that although my life may not count for a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, that’s somehow alright; in fact, this knowledge gives one the freedom to live and find the peace they’ve been unable to find in the previous tracks on the record.
The Losing End Track Listing
- West Front St.
- Live for the Moment
- In Tall Buildings
- The Losing End
- Darker Still
- Same Old Story
- Morning Light
- Camaro
- Vanity
About Garrett Heath
A proponent of Dostoevsky’s maxim that “beauty will save the world,” soulful imagery and an honest voice appear at the cornerstone of Garrett Heath’s songwriting. His debut album, Whisper in the Dark, sparked a tour of the eastern US in 2013. His music was also featured in the 2014 feature film, “Potential Inertia” (OneFishFilms). Heath lives and works outside his hometown in rural western Pennsylvania, where he recorded the upcoming album The Losing End in his recording studio (Okiejoke Sound).
Tour Dates
Praise For Garrett Heath
“Top Ten Albums of 2021” – Mike Davies, Folk Radio UK
“Shades of Springsteen surface at times, but Heath’s approach seems kinder, simpler…Given the time and space, the songs may grow with you and offer a release from a restless world.” – Americana UK
“Top Ten of the Week” – The Alternate Root
