Cause I Got You is such a lovely song with a sweet sentiment. It's a proper old-time Country classic. After a week or two with David Lynch synthpop it has been nice getting back to a more acoustic, traditional sound. There's a double bass and a pedal steel too. This is a simple song about family and the important things in life that calls to mind classics like Satisfied Mind. The words and the video just make you want to smile. Mose's influences are rock solid: legends such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
One of my favourite albums of the spring has been Sweet Megg's Never Been Home which I have been playing daily since I first came across it. In some ways it is no surprise that Mose Wilson co-produced that record. He just has that light touch that makes you a little bit happier, or at least a little bit less sad, than you were before listening.
I got no need to be selfish
I got no need for greed
Most people don't know what wealth is
But it ain't lost on me
The video itself features an older couple who are still deeply in love dancing around a garden that has a swinging love seat hanging from a tree. There are chickens and evening sunshine, guitars and dancing. To a British pair of eyes it looks like an idyllic Tennessee day full of simple activities, and ending in a bar with a performance by Mose and band.
This is a song about appreciating the simple things in life: his hands and other limbs still work properly; he is even relieved that he isn't rich. At the end of the day wealth brings expectations, stress, and the need to maintain a certain income. As Mose celebrates still having his hair, thankful for his small but perfectly formed house, it helps us to understand that simple can often be best.
Mose says of this song that it was an easy one to write, almost a gift from on high.
This song was written as quickly as it’s sung. Just over a year ago, I was making a solo drive from Destin, FL, back to Nashville when a melody got stuck in my head, prompting me to start thinking about lyrics. The line that popped into my mind was, “I’ve got everything ‘cause I got you.” I opened the voice memo app on my phone—something I always do when an idea strikes while I’m driving—and three minutes later, the song was complete.
Some songs take months or even years to write. Others feel like a gift or a moment of inspiration, like a radio broadcast you just have to tune into at the right time—sometimes, luck is involved. I never changed a word in this one, and musically, it’s about as simple as a song can be. But I really love it, and most folks who hear it do too.
I find it both sweet and amusing that a voice app is part of Mose Wilson's process. Everything I hear in the music and the words, everything I see in the video, says analogue. I see tradition and simple old-time American ways. And now he admits to using his iPhone!
Regular readers know that I do tend to be drawn more to the female side of the Americana story. There's something about Country women who drink, yell and swear, and fight and shoot their man's balls off with actual bullets when they misbehave. There's no messing about with them. I love those songs.
The trouble with those stories, funny as they are, is that it sometimes feels like all the men in Tennessee aren't really up to the job. Mose Wilson brings that male perspective, balancing up the seesaw. He's honest and hardworking and loves his family and his girl, and he loves playing pool and raising chickens in the yard. It just feels like a mindful, tranquil existence. Everything about this song just feels natural.
Mose is set to release his latest album, That’s Love, on July 17, followed by a nationwide tour. His latest single, Cause I Got You, is out today on streaming and as a video.
