Artist: Robbie Tucker
Album: The Way I Feel, Vol. 1
Release Date: November 4, 2022
Genre: Folk-Rock
Seventeen years after being diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s, Miramichi, New Brunswick-based singer-songwriter and producer Robbie Tucker can no longer perform live. But he’s far from finished creating exciting new music, and nowhere is this more apparent than on his ninth album, The Way I Feel Vol.1.
While listening through the 10-song release and searching for my two focus tracks, track four caught my attention. “Only Had Been I” has a great upbeat guitar, which accompanies Tucker’s vocals, at times overpowering them, but for the most part melding together as if meant to be. “Anytime you feel like, You don’t exist no more it isn’t true, Yeah just come find me and you’ll see, That I so do really believe in you” is a beautifully written verse, and it’s so true. Even if you lose faith yourself, always know there is someone out there who believes you can do anything!
As the album progresses, “Don’t You Know?” was the next to captivate me. With a slowed-down guitar, Robbie’s vocals are the star of the song. The lyrics, “At the top of their game and at the height of their fame, They knew you so much more than me,” carry a heavy weight and emotion, while at the same time maintaining a lightness in the music.
Robbie shares,
“‘Don’t You Know’ is partly about giving up on yourself only to be reminded by somebody close to you that they still believe in you whether you believe in yourself or not. I purchased a dulcimer in 2014 for my birthday, and when I got home, I wrote this song on it. I felt the acoustic nature was a good match for this album.”
As I am writing this, I realize the two songs I have chosen have similar backgrounds about others believing you’re more than you think. It’s just the style of song that tends to stick out for me these days, and I hope you all agree.
The album, as a whole, showcases Robbie’s songwriting and storytelling. Fans of indie folk-rock likely have heard of Tucker, as this is his ninth album to date, but if you haven’t, be sure to check him out!