Swamp pop legend Tommy McLain has returned today with "Somebody" from his upcoming album I Ran Down Every Dream (August 26 / Yep Roc Records), the unsung Louisiana music hero's upbeat homage to an artist's life on the road, the beauty of true love and appreciating everything you've got while you're in the moment. Jam-packed with what he refers to as "Gulf coast grease," McLain co-wrote "Somebody" with his producer CC Adcock and esteemed Sir Douglas Quintet / Texas Tornados founder Augie Meyers. McLain, a lifelong friend of Meyers' partner-in-crime Doug Sahm, penned the song partly as an homage to his legendary contemporary gone too soon. Sahm and McLain first met in the 1960s after McLain's smash hit "Sweet Dreams" catapulted into the national Billboard Top 20, and they began performing together on packaged tours across the country, which would often include Sam Cooke, Otis Redding or The Yardbirds.
Listen to Tommy McLain's "Somebody" (feat. Augie Meyers and CC Adcock) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toMBsUlE1Gc
"Doug and I shared songwriting in common," remembers McLain. "Hearing something in the wind, or that someone says, and writing a story around it. Doug and I were both big melodies singers. I like to categorize our style as 'Songer-Singwriter'! The last time I ever saw Doug he stopped by my house in Oakdale, Louisiana. He was driving a 90s Cadillac and had this old Indian preacher woman riding shotgun, reading him the bible. Maybe he knew he was about to have to leave this place. He died not but a couple months later out in New Mexico. Doug was always so wound up and full of life and 'big ideas.' The last day we visited he asked me to join The Tornados. That never happened."
Joined on "Somebody" by the organ of Augie Meyers and the Texas Tornados rhythm section of Speedy Sparks (bass) and Ernie Durawa (drums), the trio is part of an illustrious and eclectic group of McLain collaborators on I Ran Down Every Dream; among them Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Van Dyke Parks, Ivan Neville, Mickey Raphael, Steve Riley, the album's producer CC Adcock and the late swamp pop legend Warren Storm. After a slate of headlining-grabbing shows at New Orleans JazzFest earlier this year - including with Costello and Lucinda Williams - McLain and Adcock will continue their cross-country performances with Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets next month before a loaded slate of activity in Nashville for AmericanaFest this September. A list of dates is below, with more to be announced soon.