FIRST LISTEN: Stream new track “Good” by Hayley Reardon

by Benjamin Ricci | Sep 14, 2016 | New Music and Video

Performer Magazine has the exclusive streaming premiere for “Good” from the upcoming LP of the same name by singer/songwriter Hayley Reardon.

Says Reardon of the new track:

“Good” is about being brave enough to be who you truly are rather than who you’re expected to be. My initial idea for the song came from reading East of Eden, in which John Steinbeck writes “now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” I love that.

ABOUT HAYLEY REARDON’S NEW RECORD GOOD

Hayley Reardon – “Good” album cover

You will know more, be more, feel more, see more than anyone will give you credit for” sings Boston-based singer/songwriter, Hayley Reardon, on “Fourth Grade,” from her sparkling upcoming release, “Good.”

While offering a subtle pep-talk to the listener, Reardon simultaneously sums up herself and her humble approach to songwriting with this one lyric alone. Her distinctive voice, lyrics, and unique approach to both life and song have the uncanny ability to draw the listener inward to a place of clarity and reflection.

Scheduled for release October 28, Good is a dazzling celebration of a period of immense growth and change, as lush arrangements surround the sincere rawness of Hayley’s writing. Produced by Lorne Entress (Lori McKenna, Catie Curtis, Erin McKeown), and entirely fan-funded by a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, Good is Reardon’s first fully independent release and third studio collaboration with Entress.

Hayley Reardon (Photo by Lindsay Brandt)

“This record may or may not have been the result of my reading far too many self-help books,” jokes Reardon. The music is a salute to the process of becoming, and the inner workings of movement, both geographical and emotional. “My day to day life changed so drastically during the time of writing and even the time of recording this album,” says Reardon, who parted with her previous record label, fell in love, moved to Nashville, and began college all within the time it took to create this music. “All at once, it felt like I had so many things I needed to learn to let go of, and so many things I needed to fight to hold on to.”

Mellow and vibey like much of the album, “The Going,” features this poignant lyric, “only movement will send you dancing with the magic you forgot you still need.” At its core, that’s exactly what this music does. It moves. It moves in the subtle, nuanced way life does, and reminds the listener of the unique magic that exists only in times of transition and change.

After quickly establishing a name for herself in the storied Cambridge, Massachusetts folk scene at a very young age, Reardon’s sterling debut album, 2012’s Where The Artists Go, achieved widespread acclaim in New England with feature support from the Boston Herald, NPR affiliate WBUR, and Boston Globe Magazine, who named her a ‘Bostonian of the Year (Honorable Mention),’ in celebration of not only her music but her work to use it as a vessel for empowerment. Hayley’s 2014 release Wayfindings expanded her International footprint via syndicated public radio show “Art of the Song,” and praise from Paste, Performer Magazine, Americana UK, and American Songwriter who referred to its first single, “Numb & Blue” as a “melancholy little masterpiece.”

To support Good, Reardon will play a special hometown show at Club Passim in Cambridge on Sunday, November 27. She’ll also play select dates in San Francisco, New York City, Vermont, Atlanta, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville, where she is enrolled in the music curriculum at Belmont University.