Singles Spotlight: Lightning Stills –
“My Mama Wants a Love Song”

Hello reader,

How are you?

Today, SWT is excited to discuss another group that began in 2020 and has recently started making some great music: the Omaha-based outlaw country group Lightning Stills. From the band’s press release, vocalist/guitarist Craig Fort explains the origins of the name, saying, “The band name ‘Lightning Stills’ is a character I created – a reference to white lightning moonshine stills.” Craig sees Lightning Stills as an alter-ego, “a rhinestone cowboy in the vein of Waylon Jennings and Johnny Paycheck.” Reading that, seeing both artists listed, and getting a musical image? A collage of the two, perhaps? I know I do, and I love it. Moonshiners know Lightning Stills as corn whiskey that is unaged, and turns to clear high proof shine. Fort elaborates, “When I first started, the ‘Lightning Stills’ character was a bootlegger. I have some history of that in my family, and that lifestyle appealed to me, I guess. Even off the sauce, I feel like I’m still trying to find the right potency for my brew. Coming from a small town, I grew up with the outlaws and ‘90s popular country that I couldn’t escape. My grandpa played in a country band. So in a sense, Lightning Stills is still just me playing music with my buds. We just aren’t playing as loud.”

If you think this band only exists write and perform songs that celebrate excessive drinking, think again. Fort states, “I started this project as a way to keep me occupied and help me through getting sober. Ultimately, I got sober for my family. Once I had my first son, I started trying to stay away from the bar except for playing shows. My drinking stuck with me, though, and eventually took over. I realized I needed to get some help or my boys weren’t gonna have a father anymore.”

From the band’s upcoming album press release, “Originating in 2020, Craig (a hardcore, metal, and garage mainstay whose leads the post-rock mainstays Leafblower) first formulated the band with Omaha music icon and multi-instrumentalist Mike Friedman, who had been playing country for decades. Pulling into their magnetic orbit a ‘good-timing odd bunch’ that features guitarist Tom May, bassist Dan Maxwell, and drummer Javid Thunders, Lightning Stills was born. ‘We’re a real sundry assortment,’ he says. ‘Dan and I have been playing together in various projects for 15 years. The other fellas have played in folk, indie, garage, metal, etc. That’s one thing that’s always been nice in my experience about Omaha. You can have a bill with hip hop/metal/country, and everyone that comes out are friends and possibly play in other projects with each other as well.'”

The band has one release to its name so far, an EP from 2020 titled Sings His Songs. And their self-titled full-length album debut comes Friday, February 20th, via the Omaha-based indie label Max Trax Records. Check out the vinyl while you’re there!  In addition to the band’s usual lineup, Oliver Bates Craven played fiddle. And the album was mixed by Ian Aeillo at A Sun Room and mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering.

I was fortunate enough to listen to the album recently, and I really dig both the concept and overall sound and songwriting perspective within the song “My Mama Wants a Love Song.” Via the album’s press release, Craig Fort explained the song’s origins, “My mom called, urging me to lay off the alcohol and drug references in my lyrics and write a nice love song for my wife. As I was thinking about how unnatural and cheesy it felt to make myself that vulnerable at the time, the idea for the song came to me.”

The resulting song is as vulnerable as it gets. The narrator is contemplative about where he should begin with this love song. And along the way, the listener experiences the song’s slow tempo and pedal steel, both of which really add well to the depressed mindset of the downtrodden but not giving up narrator. This will not be a song that non-country fans can’t stand, rather I think they’ll appreciate that this song has heart, punk ethos, and persistence that you don’t find in the doldrums of some country genre songs that many despise. The song also serves as a lovely homage to not only Craig’s mom, but I think it is applicable for mothers everywhere, and Fort notes about the YouTube video for the song, “My mom was always the one taking pictures growing up, so it was harder to find ones of us together than I expected. I have a feeling that’s a common thing. Moms are great.”

One more point Fort wants the audience to know, and I think it’s good to note for those fighting a fight of recovery and addiction that never truly disappears, “The ‘beer’ I cracked was intentional for a gag, but I assure you, it was a zero alcohol beverage. I was just enjoying a barley water. As someone who’s had multiple DUIs, I don’t encourage anyone to drink and drive. Quite the opposite. It’s just not worth it, and it’s a selfish decision that can end up affecting so many people.”

Ready to check it out for yourself?  Here’s the awesome drive-around small-town Nebraska (could be many small towns in the US) video for the song “My Mama Wants A Love Song,” which also incorporates memories of the past. Featured on Lightning Still’s YouTube channel:

(All credits and rights to Lightning Stills)

The cover art for Lightning Stills:

The track list for the album Lightning Stills:

1. Gas Me Up (2:42)
2. He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Dealer (3:16)
3. Drunker Than Me (4:21)
4. Rambled Out (4:02)
5. My Mama Wants a Love Song (3:51)
6. Spirits (4:26)
7. Willie and the Ghost (3:30)
8. Closed Down The Bar (3:01)

Alex M Theel

Co-Founder, Reviewer, Content Creator, Business side, Editor at Scummy Water Tower Productions | Web

Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site: scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions!
Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com