“It’s a crazy realization when you learn that once you’re an adult and you’ve lost your childhood friends, there’s no going back,” says Sarah McCombie, one half of North Carolinian Americana-folk duo Chatham Rabbits. “You cannot remake childhood friends. You cannot turn back the clock.” McCombie, alongside her duo partner and husband, Austin, set out to capture that feeling of time-compounded loss with Chatham Rabbits’ new single, “Childhood Friends,” the latest from their upcoming album Be Real With Me—a coming-of-age collection for the band and the fans who’ve grown alongside them.
Yesterday, Under The Radar premiered the track. With a driving, modern Appalachian melody, the pair approach the subject with an earnest look at how and why friends grow apart. “When that truth finally sunk into my gut, it devastated me,” Sarah says. “Don’t get me wrong, all of the friends I’ve made in music, college, and adulthood are wonderful, but they will never be able to replace the deeply intimate and fiery female friendships of my youth.” Small vignettes of Sarah’s actual friendships find their way into the song’s verses—“I wonder what they are up to / I have dreams that we’re still getting by / Now I can’t hear their names / Or the song ‘Hallelujah’ / Without wanting to cry”—but it’s the adult realization in the chorus that hits home for almost anyone, anywhere who considers themselves grown up: “Do you think they will miss me? Or dream of me like I do them? It’s hard to stomach that I won’t be making childhood friends again.”
Fans can stream or purchase “Childhood Friends” today at this link, hear Chatham Rabbits’ previously released singles, “Matador” and “Collateral Damage,” at their respective links, and pre-order or pre-save Be Real With Me ahead of its Valentine’s Day release right here. Chatham Rabbits hit the road again on February 12th for the Be Real With Me tour. A full list of dates can be found below or at chathamrabbits.com/tour.
About Be Real With Me
Due out on February 14th, 2025, Be Real With Me is more than the vows, banjos, and vintage dresses Chatham Rabbits might have been known for previously. The music can speak for itself, but Sarah is happy to share a little insight into their process and progress. “We got married so young,” she says. “We are simply not the same people we once were because playing music for a living has consumed and transformed us. This lifestyle has presented us with exhausting tour schedules, vulnerable songs that force us to talk about our marriage, difficult business decisions, and the ever-complicated dilemma of mixing art and money and friends and employees.” The result is a universal reckoning with responsibility and growth—two real people spending their lives and careers together, collectively facing the ups and downs of it all.
And fans will hear that growth in the music as well. “We’ve never been a bluegrass band, but being from NC we cannot ignore the regional influences all around us,” says Austin. “We sampled organic tones and manipulated them into synth pads and percussive elements on this record. It feels like a natural progression because the foundational components of our music are still there; we’ve just added to it.” Written post-pandemic by Sarah and Austin and recorded over a two-year period at the Studio at Small Pond Farm in Pittsboro, North Carolina, Be Real With Me was co-produced by Austin McCombie and the band's longtime collaborator, Saman Khoujinian (The Dead Tongues, Lou Hazel). On this album, fans will still hear Sarah’s banjo, but right along with it are things like a drum machine, synthesizer, and pedal steel. But it’s the self-reflective, earnest lyrics that show the most growth from the McCombies.
Be Real With Me Tracklist:
- Facing 29
- Matador
- Gas Money
- Childhood Friends
- Big Fish, Small Pond
- Did I Really Know Him
- One Little Orange
- Collateral Damage
- Pool Shark’s Table
Catch Chatham Rabbits On Tour:
For ticket information, please visit chathamrabbits.com/tour.
