The Northville singer-songwriter discusses his new acoustic folk release, which was recorded in a cabin in northern Michigan. Plus, listen to tracks from the album.
New Album and Upcoming Ann Arbor Performance: Ryan Racine (Photo/Corey Snyder)
Ryan Racine admits he wouldn’t mind having a Viking funeral.
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The Northville singer-songwriter told his wife just that while writing “Don’t Bury Me,” a song from his new folk album, “Valhalla Afternoon.”
“I was on that thought, too, of what I want my funeral to be like,” Racine said. “I had an aunt who had passed away right at that time, so I think that was just on my mind.”
“Don’t Bury Me” takes inspiration from Racine’s Scandinavian heritage—his mother’s side of the family is Swedish—and celebrates the Viking funeral tradition often portrayed in movies.
He sings, “Don’t bury me beneath the rocks and clay / Just set me on a raft of pine and let me float away / Just light a single arrow, let it fly off in the dawn, and let the river take my ashes when I’m gone.”
“Around that time I was writing that, I was doing some research just for any other details or thoughts, and realized that the whole thing is just totally made up of pushing [someone] out to sea and shooting an arrow at [them],” Racine said. “It was basically invented for this [1958] movie called The Vikings.”
While that type of funeral is reserved for movies, Racine’s version includes “a pint of whiskey,” “an old six-string guitar,” “boots and rhinestones,” and “a stage and lights.”
“I was trying to be a little silly, but it does deal with some dark and serious topics,” he said. “The second verse talks about how I know that’s not actually going to happen, but I’d rather have a big to-do than be thrown in a hole in the ground.”
“Don’t Bury Me” is one of eight songs featured on Racine’s new acoustic album, whose title comes from a lyric in the song.
LISTEN: Ryan Racine, “Don’t Bury Me”
RECORDED OVER THREE DAYS IN A PLACE THAT ‘FEELS LIKE HEAVEN’
Using just an acoustic guitar and six microphones, Racine recorded the album over three days in October at his family’s cabin in Northern Michigan.
“I’ve been going up there every summer since my first birthday, and it feels like heaven,” he said. “I thought ‘Valhalla Afternoon’ was the perfect name for going to sit up there and record songs all day.”
Racine had stockpiled several songs for the album and selected the ones that would fit best on an intimate release. He also had written a couple of new songs for “Valhalla Afternoon,” which is filled with anecdotal lyrics.
“It was more stuff that wasn’t gonna be on the full-band record,” said Racine, who performs and records with The Little Victories. “This is something that I could do fairly quickly, and I thought, ‘These fit well enough; they’re going to sound good in this solo acoustic vibe.’”
As part of that vibe, Racine features three songs on the album — “If You Want,” “Love Song 43” and “Shiny Things” — that explore themes related to love and commitment.
Collectively, they tell stories about people pursuing relationships at different life stages.
“I find myself writing a lot more from the perspective of somebody who’s in their late 40s, so it’s writing about long-term relationships,” he said.
The New Album: ‘Valhalla Afternoon’
Two other songs, “Just Your Luck” and “Boston Corbett,” tell the stories of men who have taken darker turns in life and struggled to overcome their pasts.
Written by Ann Arbor singer-songwriter David Rossiter, “Just Your Luck” chronicles the tragic tale of three brothers and their lives of crime and murder on the run.
Racine had decided to cover that song for “Valhalla Afternoon” after performing it with Rossiter several years ago and in his solo sets.
“He’s just such a phenomenal writer, and I did some shows with him,” he said. “I learned that song because we did a duo show together one time, and it reminded me of a Darrell Scott song. When I first heard it, I said, ‘This is the kind of stuff I wish I could write.’”
Meanwhile, “Boston Corbett” examines the life and struggles of Thomas “Boston” Corbett, a soldier and hatter who killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
Racine sings, “My celebrity was fleeting as I made my hero’s stint / I was hated by the South and hated by the government / So I set my mind to Kansas, and I dug myself a hole / But my nemesis pursued me everywhere I’d go.”
“I came across it somewhere online … and said, ‘This has to be a song. Nobody’s ever written a song about this guy,’” he said. “It came to me super-fast. I probably had the lyrics, at least the first draft written, in 10 to 15 minutes.”
Racine will share “Boston Corbett” and other tracks from Valhalla Afternoon during a May 23 show at North Star Lounge in Ann Arbor. He said the intimate listening room is one of his favorite places to play in his hometown.
“I’ll play the entire record and then some other stuff that’s coming out on the full-band record,” Racine said.
After the show, Racine will continue working on a new album with The Little Victories, which will come out this fall.
“I’ve got a few other guitar parts to cut on a couple of tunes, but other than that, it’s pretty much tracked,” he said. “We’re going to start mixing some of it and then see from there if there are other things that come up.”
LISTEN: Ryan Racine, “Boston Corbett”
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