Today, acclaimed americana duo The Cactus Blossoms have shared their new video for “Is It Over.” The Cactus Blossoms, comprised of brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, will release their new album One Day on February 11th, currently available to pre-order here.
Watch: “Is It Over” on YouTube
The Cactus Blossoms write, "The song is about an old country crooner who wants to relive his glory years but wonders if his best days are in the past. It seemed fitting to start with a corny country TV style performance before breaking the 4th wall to wander through the photo studio on our way to the curtain call. When we started the band we were doing a lot of Hank Williams era stuff and wearing cowboy hats, so it’s kind of a nod to those times as well. We’ve enjoyed Joshua Shoemaker’s one shot music videos for years, so it was great to finally get a chance to work with him."
The Cactus Blossoms announced the new record along with the release of the single “Hey Baby,” which was acclaimed by Guitar World, The Boot, The Bluegrass Situation, as well as The Minneapolis Star-Tribune and more, and maintaining high placement in the AMA’s Top 200 Singles Chart. “That idea of finding a silver lining comes up a lot on this record,” says Torrey about the single. “It’s an acknowledgment that no matter how messed up things might be, people still want to believe in the world and find ways to feel lucky and joyful.”
Their next single “Everybody” (featuring Jenny Lewis) was featured on Stereogum, Under The Radar, Brooklyn Vegan and others.
While The Cactus Blossoms have drawn frequent comparisons to other musical siblings like the Everlys and Louvins over the years, One Day often suggests a more soulful, ’70s-inspired palette, hinting at times to Bobby Charles or JJ Cale with its playful Wurlitzer, breezy guitars, and lean, muscular percussion. The band’s classic country and old-school pop roots are still there, of course, but the growth and evolution underlying One Day is obvious, not only in the duo’s writing, but in their core philosophy, as well.
Lockdown hit the brothers hard. Quarantine put a sudden halt to their plans to record a new studio record, and as Minneapolis began to erupt in social and political unrest following the police killing of George Floyd, music began to seem like the least of the duo’s concerns.
“It felt like the whole world was falling apart,” says Burkum. “We had to put things on hold just so we could try to wrap our heads around everything that was happening in Minneapolis and beyond.”
As 2020 stretched on, Torrey and Burkum slowly began to regain their footing, and when it felt safe enough to get together in person, they started kicking ideas back and forth, inviting each other into their respective writing processes earlier than ever before. When it came time to record, the brothers called on longtime collaborator/engineer Alex Hall, who brought his mobile rig up from Chicago so they could cut the album quick and dirty in Burkum’s basement. They kept their circle tight for the sessions, working with their core touring band—which included both their older brother and their cousin—to capture the songs with a feel as close to the live show as possible.
“From the start, we knew we wanted to keep the instrumentation minimal and consistent across the whole album and embrace the dryness that came with recording in Page’s basement,” says Torrey. “We wanted it to sound raw.”
The Cactus Blossoms built a devoted local following in the years leading up to their first national release, 2016’s You’re Dreaming, which was produced by friend and tourmate JD McPherson. Dates with Kacey Musgraves, Jenny Lewis, and Lucius followed, as did rave reviews from NPR, who extolled “the brothers’ extraordinary singing,” and the New York Times, who praised their “tightly woven harmonies.” The band was further catapulted into the spotlight the following year, when David Lynch tapped them to perform in the highly-anticipated return of Twin Peaks, and continued to build on their success with their 2019 follow-up LP, Easy Way, which featured co-writes with Dan Auerbach and led Rolling Stone to laud the duo’s “rock-solid, freak of genetics harmonies.”
