Hot on the heels of recent single “Helpless”, Robbie Cavanagh is debuting hard-hitting new track “Thinkin’ of Leaving”.
This is the second release off his forthcoming album Tough Love, due 26 May.
Fans will also have the chance to watch Robbie perform tracks from the album live with his full band ahead of the release, with two launch shows announced for this month, the first at Manchester’s Band On The Wall on Thursday 18th May and the second at Nashville Meets London at Pizza Express Live (Holborn) on Wednesday 24th May – tickets available here.
“It’s about seeing the signs of someone losing their passion and telling them not to wait around and to call it quits. It’s not easy to leave someone. It’s much easier to stay and change nothing. But in the long term it’s a very slow, painful heartbreak. Thinkin’ Of Leaving is begging someone to pull the plug…if you’re thinking of leaving, get up and go.”
Whereas Robbie’s previous record To Leave/To Be Left (2017) grappled with emotions of loss and self-pity from leaving or being left behind, ‘Tough Love’ comes as an invigorating reality check. It’s a grittier and stronger-minded letter to himself and to anybody else who may be in need of a heavy dose of tough love.
Written over the course of the past 5 years, each track explores a new perspective on the record’s overarching theme and documents Robbie’s own journey of self-reflection and maturity, both as a person and as a songwriter. The idea of tough love takes many forms through the journey of the record, from the tough love faced at the end of a relationship on songs like “Thinkin’ of Leaving” or the more bluesy “Helpless”; to the tough love that comes with the clarity of hindsight on “Another Dead End”. It’s finding the strength to be cruel to be kind with the Tom Petty-inspired rock sounds of “Hang Up”, and the cinematic soundscape of closing track “Look Out Below”. Yet it’s perhaps the most sincere when Robbie reflects his own tough love back onto himself, most profoundly in moments of vulnerability and soul-search on tracks like “Feels Good” and “I Call My Home”.
A self-confessed devotee of ‘real music’, Robbie Cavanagh is not defined by genres. His only rules are good musicians, real instruments, great microphones and performance with emotion. Capturing sound, not producing it. Believing we live in a world where music is produced and consumed like fast food, to fill a hole where speed and value for money is prioritised over quality, Robbie is in the game for what he coins “fine dining music”.
2023 LIVE DATES:
18 May – Band On The Wall, Manchester
24 May – Nashville Meets London
25 Aug – The Long Road Festival, Lutterworth
3 Sep – The British Country Music Festival, Blackpool
Plus more UK live dates to be announced for autumn 2023.
Full Dates and tickets available at robbiecavanagh.co.uk/live
When it came to capturing these songs in the studio, Robbie knew he wanted to record the album live with the musicians he has toured and worked closely with over the past year. Having developed a magnetic connection on stage, they play with instinct and heart. Together with Thomas Dibb, Dan Wiebe, Roberto Ruiz, Joe Harvey Whyte plus guest vocals from Abby Gundersen, the band recorded at StudiOwz in Pembrokeshire, Wales. ‘Tough Love’ hits a sweet spot between slick production and authenticity with an immersive live band feel.
“Sonically, Tough Love feels like more of a commitment than my previous records. It’s stepped out into whatever it needs to be. The songs that needed to be soulful and groove, do exactly that without hiding away from it, and the slow, sad songs hit hard and powerfully. I made a decision not to water anything down, and just lean into what feels right. It’s unapologetic.”
Robbie’s releases have been championed by Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 and supported by BBC Radio Manchester, Absolute Country Radio and Chris Country Radio. He and his band have made their way onto many UK festival stages including Black Deer, Kendal Calling, Cornbury, Wilderness, Silverstone Woodlands, Americana Fest UK & USA, British Country Music Festival, Maverick, and Buckle & Boots, and have performed in the UK, Europe and USA alongside such artists as The Shires, Us The Duo, Charlie Winston, Wildwood Kin, Ferris & Sylvester, The Wandering Hearts, Mary Gauthier, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Fiona Bevan, Cale Tyson, Aaron Lee Tasjan.
Tracklist:
I Call My Home
Thinkin Of Leaving
Another Dead End
Drove
Hungover
Helpless
Feels Good
Hang Up
Fare Thee Well Letter
Dancing Darkness
Hey, It’s Alright
Look Out Below