Paste Studio “On the Road” bounced around Nashville during AMERICANAFEST 2025, arriving at The Red Building on Music Row just in time for The Droptines to pull up in their school bus, recently acquired for $2,000 and given a complete overhaul by the band with some help from friends and family. Frontman Conner Arthur shared three new songs with us solo acoustic. Clean, simple, direct, and honest.
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The session starts with one of the few covers in The Droptines setlist, a song called “Calling All Cars” by one of the foundational figures in red dirt music, Mike McClure. Arthur describes McClure’s impact in the highest possible regard, saying, “It all kinda starts and stops with him, for me specifically. There are a lot of bands that wouldn’t exist, at least not in the way that they do, without him.”
The lyrics of both Droptines originals in this session create searing mental images of isolation and loss, tied up in romance. “Snowed In” addresses a wish to be covered in snow and frozen in time and space with a partner. It’s bleak, but there’s an undeniable poetry in coping with any situation as long as you’ve got your person by your side. The third and final song, “Take Too Much,” twists up the excitement of a budding relationship with the trauma of an overdose.
Please enjoy this performance, and stay tuned for more Paste x AMERICANAFEST ’25 sessions in the pipeline!
