“a dusty, sad slow waltz rust belt ballad in the Springsteen, Earle and Mellencamp vein” – Folking
FOR RELEASE JANUARY 21
KNOX, PA (January 7, 2022) – Garrett Heath announces the release of his Appalachian roots single, “The Losing End,” on January 21. The lead and self-titled track, “The Losing End,” encompasses the darker tales on the album due out April 22.
The single comes to the listener as a series of short vignettes, each focusing on a unique perspective of daily life in rural America. Each conveys 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.
“We’re all coming out on the losing end.”
The closing line represents an entire shared mentality across a whole swath of people in rustbelt America, whose daily grind never really amounts to any kind of victory.
The album expands on that idea, featuring 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 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
