Kameron Marlowe released his new album, Sad Songs For The Soul. Out now via Sony Music Nashville, the well-thought-out set, produced by Ben West, features 10 tracks that dig into some of the deepest emotions a person can go through while experiencing heartbreak.
Kameron Marlowe Talks New Concept Album, Sad Songs For The Soul
Marlowe detailed his latest album in a new interview with Music Mayhem, saying that while the record centers around pain and sadness, it isn’t necessarily the feelings he was experiencing in the recording studio. His hopes for releasing the project was that it could be “a home for the broken, and hopefully they can find it, and they can attach themselves to it.”
“This isn’t a Me project, it’s a concept record,” Marlowe explained. “It’s based around this guy’s kind of a diary of what he’s going through.”
“Highway Song” Sparked The Idea For The Concept Album
“Highway Song,” which stands at No. 7 on Sad Songs For The Soul is what jump-started the idea for making his next project a concept album, opening up a new space for Marlowe to be creative. However, at the time, he says he hadn’t yet figured out what the concept was going to be.
“The wheels started rolling towards a project,” he recalled. “‘’Highway Song’ was something that I needed to just get out because I was writing a lot of songs that were just kind of down the middle.”
“I was like, ‘You know what? I’m tired of not feeling creative anymore.’ I needed to just kind of open that box… open my mind creatively,” the North Carolina native continued. “This song allowed me to put myself in somebody else’s shoes and open the door of what sad songs could be.”
Writing With One Of His All-Time Heroes, Vince Gill
“How’s The Leaving Going,” written with Vince Gill and Lee Thomas Miller, helped Marlowe decide the concept for his project, while the outside cut Wyatt McCubbin’s “The Basement” proved a fitting addition to the body of work.
Of writing with Gill on “How’s The Leaving Going,” Marlowe shared, “He’s like one of my all-time heroes as far as the way that he is. He is a musician, but I think he’s a songwriter first. When I got the chance to write with him — it’s very different to go in [the writing room] with somebody that you idolized and then have to do what you do and show that side to somebody that’s in a different league than you are — I was very appreciative that he took the time to write with me and I love what we got. I think he contributes a lot to the melody of this song and why it feels so classic and almost timeless.”
Marlowe didn’t have to pen a ton of tunes for Sad Songs For The Soul. He shared that he had been sitting on unreleased material for a while. And ultimately those songs ended up making sense for the passion project.
“I’ve had a lot of these songs for a while and I had no idea what they were going to live on or if they were ever going to be big, if they were ever going to come out or get cut,” he shared.
Recreated “Burning House By Cam
One track that Marlowe didn’t write but was drawn to adding to his collection was his cover of Cam’s “Burning House” — a song that found success on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in 2015. Marlowe’s version offers a more stripped-back take with intimate acoustics that make listeners feel like they’re in the room with him.
Sharing his reason for cutting the track, Marlowe said, “‘Burning House’ is so amazingly written. It’s something that is so visual, and you can attach yourself to it. I fell in love with the song. But I kept having that same problem over and over again. I was like, ‘I love this song, but what is this going to live on?’ And the whole idea and the whole passion behind this record is, it’s a concept record about a guy who is really going through it. It’s not meant to be listened to from top to bottom. I think it’s more meant to be listened to from bottom to top.”
Shows Fans A Whole New Side Of Him With The Project
Sad Songs For The Soul, as a whole, finds Marlowe going in a different direction, letting listeners explore a new side of him that he says, may not be understood. But with that, he’s Ok knowing the tracks may not hit country radio, but he hopes fans will get to experience a healing feeling.
“I know. I figured this out about myself, where I will do something that is so drastically different that it’s just maybe fans won’t be able to connect themselves to,” he said. “And to be honest, I don’t know if this project is going to be something for everyone. It’s definitely not a commercial radio project by any means. This is just something that I needed to do for myself, and I’m just hoping and am glad to see now that some people are attaching themselves to it.”
“I hope they enjoy the sounds because it was such a freeing space for me to get in there and dive into the production side and open my mind up to something that I haven’t got to do before,” he added. “So I hope they like that.”
Follows The Release Of His Sophomore Album, Keepin’ The Lights On
Sad Songs For The Soul follows Marlowe’s previous sophomore release, Keepin’ the Lights On. And when it came down to the songs he didn’t write himself, Marlowe says he looked for tracks that aligned with the concept for his album and the story he was trying to tell through the eyes of a heartbroken man.
“The songs on Keepin’ The Lights On directly co-align with me and things that I’ve been through. These songs on Sad Songs For the Soul, I don’t feel like are my story, but I feel like people can still connect to ’em if they are going through the same feeling that this record is…..” he explained. “ This project in particular [is] different from how I would look at songs for a normal project of mine. I would say this project had to feel like it lived this guy’s story that this project’s about. Like I said, it’s a concept record, so it had to feel like it was in the moment for this guy. And I guess I only knew if it was for this person or not. So yeah, I guess that’s kind of my thought process behind it.”
Currently On Tour With Parker McCollum
Album aside, Marlowe is currently on the road as a supporting act for Parker McCollum’s What Kinda Man Tour 2025. Later this year, he will continue his Keepin’ The Lights On Tour, with $1 per ticket going to his charity, the Keepin’ The Lights On Fund.
“This tour’s been great. We truly enjoyed just honestly getting to know his team, getting to know him better and learning just how they put their show together and how they run their team,” Marlowe said of touring with McCollum. “I think it’s always important that when we’re out with different crews to learn from their crew and try and make our crew even better just from a professional standpoint behind the scenes.”
Sad Songs For The Soul Track List
- Burning House – Camaron Ochs (Cam), Jeff Bhasker, Tyler Johnson
- Friend of Mine – Kameron Marlowe, Trannie Anderson, Jonathan Smith
- Hello Whiskey – Kameron Marlowe, Kendell Marvel, Phil O’Donnell
- Here Lies The Fool – Kameron Marlowe, Laci Kaye Booth, Ben West
- Hungover You – Bryan Martin and Ben Roberts
- The Basement – Carson Chamberlain, Wyatt McCubbin/ R. Anthony Smith
- Highway Song – Kameron Marlowe
- How’s The Leaving Going – Kameron Marlowe, Vince Gill, Lee Thomas Miller
- Dear God – Kameron Marlowe, Kendell Marvel
- If You Stay – Carson Chamberlain, Wyatt McCubbin, R. Anthony Smith
