JukeBox County Unveils New Folk Single ‘Can You See It?’ – A Journey of Hope and Transformation
What if a song could slip through time, bridging past and present, reality and imagination? With their latest single, “Can You See It?,” JukeBox County—the brainchild of musician and mental health advocate Rich Tyo—invites listeners on a mesmerizing sonic journey where mystery, healing, and the unknown collide.
Rooted in folk storytelling but stretching into the surreal, “Can You See It?” Is the first chapter in an unfolding immersive narrative. Inspired by a man who attempted to use JukeBox County’s previous track Wormhole as a guide to slip through time, this new single attempts to bring him back, weaving a tale of connection, resilience, and hope.
The song’s ethereal lyrics capture the tension between the seen and the unseen, the tangible and the mysterious:
Can you see it?
Can you touch it?
Can you tell me
What’s around the bend
And how much did we spend?
Sonically, “Can You See It?” draws comparisons to artists like Iron & Wine, Fleet Foxes, and The Barr Brothers—melding intricate acoustic instrumentation with atmospheric production. The track was brought to life with the help of a stellar lineup of musicians, including Hugh Christopher Brown (keys), Sarah McDermott (backing vocals), Pete Bowers (drums), Winston Vinh (bass), Kevin Bowers (lead guitar), Rocky Roberts (lap steel), and Jason Mercer (12-string acoustic).
“This song was a wake-up call,” says Tyo. “It was inspired by the deep healing and transformation I’ve seen in people navigating psychedelic experiences. I’ve witnessed the loss of hope, and I wanted to create something that could play a small role in rekindling that spark.”
Beyond its hypnotic melodies, “Can You See It?” serves as the opening scene in a larger mythos. As the story unfolds, JukeBox County’s music will chart the journey of a man trapped in a wormhole, his consciousness slipping into the 1890s as a notorious outlaw, Old Slick Sam, crosses into our present world. Through song and community, Tyo hopes to rally listeners to help bridge time, bring lost souls home, and offer a path to redemption.
Set against a backdrop of folk, psychedelia, and cosmic storytelling, “Can You See It?” is both an invitation and an experience—a musical odyssey that beckons listeners to step beyond the veil and into a universe where time, space, and human connection intertwine.
Hi Richard! Good to see you again! How’s your year going so far?
It’s been a wild year so far. Lots of interesting work I’m doing with music and crafting surreal storytelling while trying to engage different artists to join in on the project in some cool ways. I’ve been doing lots of work overseas teaching embodiment and teaching things like working with death and dying with psychedelics and things like that. So yeah, the year has been an adventure so far, which feels like a bit of a surreal thing. Being in Italy and the UK has been great because I got to connect with people there through the sounds and images that this new music is evoking and it’s inspiring to see where they take it in their minds. So a lot of my life builds inspiration for the music and then feeds back into elements in life, like some neat feedback loop of inspiration.
“Can You See It?” combines folk storytelling with psychedelic elements. What inspired you to blend these genres?
I think it just came naturally and it wasn’t really intentional, to be honest. I often don’t know what I’m combining until someone names it for me. I live in a world that bridges story and psychedelic elements in the work that I do and I guess I was trying to evoke that state and those emotions in people who might listen to the music I make. The human imagination is so powerful and I think that by engaging people in some imaginative worlds, it can help them to see a deeper layer of the consensus reality that we share. That can hopefully get them to create new ideas and new meanings that they can get inspired by to live their lives in a more embodied and creative way. I like to bring in various genres into my music so that I don’t get too boxed in. So I’ll borrow elements as needed to create a pallet that serves the story.
This song serves as the first chapter of an immersive narrative. Can you give listeners a hint about where this story might lead next?
The story is going to take listeners into a wormhole, where time merges and characters that are familiar yet unknown come into our lives and invite us to deepen our understanding of our deep interconnection. The story will invite people to spread compassion to each other and I am hoping that the story will lead to saving someone stuck in a wormhole to get out without being killed for a crime he didn’t commit. We’ll be exploring the power of creativity to channel our darkness, we’ll explore the power of community and collaboration, and overall this story will take us into surreal landscapes where imagination serves as our tool to imagine a new future together. I’m not sure if that answers the question haha but yeah, that’s a bit about where we’re going.
Musically, the song evokes comparisons to Iron & Wine and Fleet Foxes. Were there specific influences or artists that shaped the sonic identity of “Can You See It?”
Chris Brown, the producer and bandmate, had mentioned Stevie Wonder as an inspiration for the dreamy tones and some of the rhythmic elements on the recording. I also hear some Neil Young’s Silver and Gold album as an inspiration to some of the sound. I often don’t know where inspiration comes from until someone says ‘this sound like so and so’, which is helpful for me because it’s hard to know who I sound like sometimes. I’m always creating from a place of feeling and image. The words come early on as the story emerges and then the folks I play with are so great at getting a sense of what might be needed or how they might play that would support the original intention of the song. So really it’s a combined effort that ends up as the end result. The song would not be the same if I had just recorded it solo and without any awesome influence of the other players and their collective elements.
With JukeBox County building this surreal, interconnected universe through music, what’s your ultimate vision for engaging listeners with your art moving forward?
I think that there’s a real power in people being seen. I think that one hope I have is for people to see themselves in the music and in the story so that they can feel a sense of connection with others. What else are we making music and art for besides to explore our common humanity and normalizing the struggles we all have? I guess the other vision would be to create this really cool and immersive project that engages people to live from a place of compassion that can ultimately deepen our sense of community and bring hope to small pockets of our lives. I’d like to inspire others to create art to support this project by taking part in this fun and imaginative story.
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