Exclusive Premiere: JD McPherson Returns with the Second Single from His Forthcoming Album ‘Nite Owls’

Rock singer/songwriter JD McPherson will release Nite Owls, his first album of original material in six years, in September. Today, American Songwriter is proud to premiere the second single from the album “Shining Like Gold.” Listen to the new song below.

About the song, McPherson said, “If I had to pitch this song on a plummeting elevator, I’d say ‘It’s the Modern Lovers with Duane Eddy, you’d have liked it!’” After listening to the song, the (plummeting) elevator pitch is spot-on.

McPherson co-wrote “Shining Like Gold” with Ryan Lindsey (Broncho). The pair developed the song’s melody together. Then, for the demo, Lindsey sang nonsense words while McPherson played the melody. That night, McPherson took the demo home and penned the lyrics. At the time, he didn’t know that Lindsey did the same and plans to release his version of the song in the future. “I don’t know if there’s another example of fraternal twin songs coming from a co-write but I’m on pins and needles,” JD said of his desire to hear Ryan’s version of the song.

JD McPherson on Nite Owls

JD McPherson released his last album of original work, Undivided Heart & Soul in 2017. He followed that up with SOCKS, a holiday album. He already recorded a version of Nite Owls. However, he scrapped it completely and started over.

“I actually recorded a version of Nite Owls several years ago in L.A. but the environment with my band just wasn’t working at all,” he recalled. “It was a painful time. And then the pandemic hit and I went pretty dark,” he added. So, he decided to go back to a familiar place to make Nite Owls anew. “I went back to where I made my first record, and it was a wonderful experience,” he said of the sessions at Reliable Recorders in Chicago. He and a handful of musicians recorded the album live in a short time to capture the energy of the song.

Nite Owls will be available across digital platforms, on CD, and vinyl including limited-edition signed and color variants. Pre-order a physical copy of the album today via New West Records.

Featured Image by Joshua Black Wilkins