Please join us on Wednesday, July 13th at 5:00 PM for an in-store performance & signing with Arlo McKinley to celebrate the release of his new album, This Mess We’re In on Oh Boy Records! McKinley will play a short set and then hang out and sign album for attendees. We love the whole Oh Boy Records crew and can’t wait to help them welcome McKinley’s new record into the world. This is a free & all ages affair, so come one, come all.
In 2019, McKinley played a show at the High Watt in Nashville. While he had years of such gigs on the DIY singer-songwriter circuit behind him, this night was different. In the audience was one of his musical heroes, John Prine. When they met briefly beforehand, Prine, who never gave praise lightly, told Arlo he was a fan. McKinley recalls, “Just that moment, if that's where it ended, it would've been one of the coolest things that ever happened to me, something I remembered forever.”
But it didn't end there. Shortly after, he was signed to Oh Boy Records, Prine's indie label. McKinley came into 2020 with the momentum of a new album on deck -his first with a producer and a street team -and an international tour booked. Then things took a strange turn. “Right before the record came out, my mother passed away,” he says. “She had always supported me and she didn't get to see this stuff happen for me. Then one of my best friends died shortly after. And I lost two other friends to drug addiction. I was trying to navigate through all the emotions of that.” And of course, like all musicians that year, he couldn't tour.
A soft-spoken introvert who's open about his past drink and drug addictions, McKinley had to look to himself to find comfort. And in the process, he wrote the songs for what's become his latest release, the aptly-titled This Mess We're In. “I'm kind of private with a lot of things I go through, but in my songs, I'm honest about everything,” he says with a smile. “So I started to write as a way of getting stuff out. To me, this is a growth record. I was navigating through a pretty bad time, but also there was therealization that it's time to really change, find a better way of life. My last album was me figuring out whether to stay or go from a very confused spot in my life. This one is trying to better myself -as a musician, as a human being, as a friend.”
You can preorder copies of This Mess We’re In on limited edition yellow colored vinyl, standard black vinyl and on CD from our webstore or in the record shop. McKinley is going to autograph all of our preorders so even if you aren’t able to make it to Grimey’s for his performance, your preordered album will be signed for you nonetheless. Read more about our signed preorder promotion on our webstore here. **Please note we have temporarily sold out of our online preorders, however we will have copies available for purchase in the record store at our event on 7/13.
IMPORTANT PARKING INFORMATION! Our parking lot is shared with other rad businesses and it is a finite space, so parking is limited. In addition to our lot, there is an inexpensive paid parking lot behind Elegy Coffee and Mickey's on Gallatin Road that is a short walk from the shop. Please use EXTREME CAUTION if parking on the nearby, narrow neighborhood streets. Too many cars make these roads impassable and result in angry neighbors, the police being called, and cars being towed. (This is no fun at all.) If possible, please consider carpooling, ride-sharing, walking, biking, scooting, roller skating, or taking the bus to come see Arlo McKinley perform in the record shop.