Every month, NPR Music asks public radio personalities around this country to name a new favorite song and, this month, KOSU featured Norman band Beau Jennings and the Tigers.
Beau Jennings and the Tigers, 'Back In Town' The new single from Beau Jennings and the Tigers captures what it's like to feel lost in a familiar place. Released on cassette by the Oklahoma tape club OBNEAC, "Back In Town" features hard-charging guitars, big drums and tasteful piano licks — a sound that's reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The song centers around Jennings' move back to Oklahoma after leaving for New York City seven years earlier. When he returns home to start a family, things have undoubtedly changed: Ex-bandmates have formed new bands and local bars are showing basketball games on TV (a not-so-common occurrence in pre-Oklahoma City Thunder days). By the song's breakdown, Jennings seems to have come to terms with and even embrace this strange land, offering the incredibly honest line "The Empty Bottles are playing tonight / I think I'm gonna get a sitter." It's a sentiment any parent can relate to. —Ryan LaCroix, KOSU's The Spy
Heavy Rotation is a monthly sampler of public radio hosts' favorite songs. Listen to new music from Beau Jennings and the Tigers, Obongjayar, Jim James, Mandolin Orange, and more at NPR.org.
