Grandaddy Return to Merge Bluegrass and New Wave on New Song ‘Watercooler’
Grandaddy return from an over half-decade recording hiatus with “Watercooler,” the first single from the indie rockers’ upcoming album Blu Wav.
The album gets its name from combining the genres “bluegrass” and “new wave,” with those two sounds clashing somehow seamlessly on the introductory track, which was accompanied by a typically (for the band) lo-fi and strange karaoke video:
“Most of my relationships have involved girls who worked in office settings,” frontman Jason Lytle said of “Watercooler” in a statement. “This song is about the end of one, or perhaps a few, of those relationships. Listeners will also notice the pedal steel on this track and eventually on many others from the forthcoming new album. It’s a first for Grandaddy, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about this fact.”
The album’s origin story comes from Lytle’s drive through the Nevada desert after Patti Page’s “Tennessee Waltz” came on the radio, seeding the idea of merging bluegrass and country waltzes with Grandaddy’s synth-heavy, densely orchestrated indie rock stylings they’ve established over their 30-year career. Seven of Blu Wav’s tracks are waltzes, with Lytle promising, “There’s an inordinate amount of pedal steel.”
Blu Wav — out February 16, 2024, on Dangerbird Records and available to preorder now — marks Grandaddy’s first album since 2017’s Last Place and only their second album since 2006’s Just Like the Fambly Cat. In recent years, Lytle and company — Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Tim Dryden, and the late Kevin Garcia, who died in 2017 — have been celebrating the 20th anniversaries of their landmark albums The Sophtware Slump and Sumday with extensive deluxe reissues.
Blu Wav Track List
1. Blu Wav
2. Cabin in My Mind
3. Long as I’m Not the One
4. You’re Going to Be Fine and I’m Going to Hell
5. Watercooler
6. Let’s Put this Pinto on the Moon
7. On a Train or Bus
8. Jukebox App
9. Yeehaw Ai in the Year 2025
10. Ducky, Boris and Dart
11. East Yosemite
12. Nothin’ to Lose
13. Blu Wav Buh Bye