In 2019, Ama native Will Dempsey was celebrating his recent success after going viral from singing and playing guitar with his son Weston. The next year looked a little different as he was suffering a great loss. After his close childhood friend, Audrey Maria Higgins unexpectedly passed away, Dempsey expressed his feelings in the best way, through music. The day Higgins died Dempsey began writing his latest release, “Beat You There” and today (Jan. 21) he finally released it.
His passion for music turned into a career soon after a video his wife posted on Facebook went viral, making him an internet sensation. One of the biggest supporters of the new path he had taken in life was Higgins who he said, “came to every one of my shows and even set up one of the biggest shows I had at the time.”
This song truly came from the heart. Dempsey wrote, produced and mixed the song by himself in his home studio for his late friend whom he had grown closer to in recent years.
“After she passed, I wanted to do something special for her and her family. So I wrote this song in her honor,” he added.
As a result of the tragic boating accident on July 4, 2020, a close group of Dempsey’s friends sustained serious injuries, but Higgins was the only one who did not recover and unfortunately passed away. This song is a tribute to her, and also another close friend of Dempsey’s named Caleb Bergeron, who died from COVID complications last week. Dempsey is keeping both of his late friends and their memories together in his thoughts as he sings this song.
“Just hold onto those moments and the memories we shared/We’re both headed for the same place anyway/I just beat you there,” he sings in the chorus of his soulful track.
“It’s not just meant to be a sad song about loss,” Dempsey began. “It’s meant to give people hope as well, hope that they will see this person again one day.”
He first shared a teaser of “Beat You There” at the beginning of last year, not long after writing the song. After he received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback and responses, he knew he had to release it.
“I got tons of messages and comments, not only from people who knew her, but from people all over the country and other parts of the world who felt a connection with a song,” he wrote in a recent post on social media. “I can’t describe the feeling you get when someone tells you that your song helped them to deal with the pain of losing someone close to them, and helped them to remember they will see them again one day.”
Luckily, he kept his promise and has finally released this emotion-filled track to keep Higgins’ memory alive and to help anyone who might relate to the song.
His previous single, “Best Parts of Me” quickly climbed the iTunes charts, reaching No. 1 on the country chart and No. 5 on the all-genre chart. Just hours after its release, “Beat You There” is already rising in popularity and currently sits at No. 18 on the iTunes Country charts.
Dempsey is encouraging his fans to share his song with those around them who could benefit from hearing it.
Additionally, the Louisiana native is set to share a visually stunning music video for the track on Monday (Jan. 24).
