Single song · from the 2012 LP

Kevin Is Far Away

A cousin. A writing partner. A song that's had two lives — one in 1986, one twenty-six years later.

Play it5:32 · 2012

Tallwood's note

I pulled this one off the shelf on its own.

Most days a song lives on its record and stays there. This one I keep taking down by itself. Matt's cousin Kevin was his writing partner growing up — they wrote songs about each other, traded them back and forth like letters.

In 1986 the song was called Kevin Is Leaving. A kid's song about a kid going away. This one — recorded in 2012, sitting on the first album — is the same song grown up. The accomplishments have accrued. The voice has aged. Kevin is no longer leaving. Kevin is far away.

That's the whole reason I keep a journal instead of just shelving records. A song like this isn't really about the album it landed on. It's about the line you can draw from 1986 to now. Hear it, and you hear both ends of the line at once.

— filed by Tallwood, shelf A

The line, 1986 → 2012

1986

Kevin Is Leaving — the original. Two kids, two guitars, one going away. Still in a box in the back.

2012

Kevin Is Far Away — the look back, recorded for the first album 3580. The version you can play above.