The idea for the video for Midland‘s latest single, “Mr. Lonely,” was originally thought up by band member Cameron Duddy, who initially dismissed the idea – a womanizer who gets his just dues by several women he has wronged – as too expensive. But thanks to a couple generous offers, the trio, which also includes Mark Wystrach and Jess Carson, saw the idea for the comedic video come to life.
“My brother and I conceived this video, outlandish as it was,” Duddy told their record label, Big Machine. “It seemed like it was going to be too expensive, and we didn’t have somebody to play the lead in it. We knew we wanted to get somebody outside of the band, and we also knew that we probably weren’t gonna be able to afford the concept as it was. We were gonna have to make concessions. And then miraculously both those things ended up falling into place.
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“Dennis Quaid heard through a friend of a friend that we were looking for somebody and volunteered himself, which was really unique because music videos don’t pay, No. 1,” he continued. “It’s typically like 16 hour days. You’re not sitting around in an air conditioned trailer getting massaged. You’re in it. And then The Ranch, a show on Netflix, stepped in and let us borrow their set, which is a bar set. So it was this impossible scenario that came together and allowed us to pretty much just do whatever we wanted for a whole day.”
“Mr. Lonely” is the debut single from Midland’s upcoming sophomore Let It Roll album, out on Aug. 23. The record is a reflection of what the trio has learned while spending most of the last few years on the road, after the success of their freshman project.
“Everything we’ve learned out on the road touring On The Rocks is all right here on this album,” Wystrach said of the new set of tunes. “These songs are deeply personal and from the heart.”
Midland also relied on the influence of one of their good friends, Chris Stapleton, in writing and recording songs for Let It Roll.
“I think what we’re tapping into with a lot of the bro country or the more pop country is that, what happened with Chris Stapleton, people couldn’t quite put their finger on it,” Wystrach remarked. “But Chris Stapleton’s tapping into the blues and into soul, and it’s really in that performance where you hear that coming through. And that’s a big influence for us, is on the soul and on the blues side.”
“There’s an authenticity to all those lyrics and the way that we sing and the way that we present it,” he added, “and it is different from a lot of that stuff, I guess.”
Midland will also kick off their Let It Roll Tour on Sept. 17. Find dates and pre-order Let It Roll at MidlandOfficial.com.
Photo Credit: Getty/John Shearer
