Part-time Charlestonian and singer-songwriter Avi Jacob was highlighted last week in American Songwriter, which premiered his new single, “Pickup Truck.” OK, sure, you’re thinking, “great, more pop-country crap,” but that’s not at all how Jacob rolls.
The beautifully crafted folk song is a personal, emotional one — a letter to his father, who died several years ago. Jacob grieves with palpable regret as he sings, “I let you down to die in Tennessee … sincerely, your disgrace of an only son.”
Jacob told American Songwriter: “I was laying in bed when I got the call that my father had died in Nashville. I wrote this song for my father. It’s about my guilt for not being around more when he was sick. It’s about my guilt over him having to struggle and sell his truck to help me out of trouble many years ago. It’s about my guilt over leaving my sister and stepmother to grieve alone because I was on drugs and only concerned with my next high. It’s about my guilt over not being a better son. It is a plea for forgiveness from a place none can ever come.”
The single is the first off Jacob’s new EP Surrender, out Fri. March 23 on Skate Mountain Records. And you can catch him live at Eclectic Cafe & Vinyl on Thurs. March 1.
We urge you to listen to “Pickup Truck” more than once at americansongwriter.com.
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