Nanaimo singer-songwriter Ryan Newton has just released a song that’s been “laying around” for the past five years.
On May 28 Newton unveiled Lay with Me (If Only for the Night).
“I suppose it is a love song of sorts,” he said. “I leave it up to the listener to decide if the two make it out of their situation or not. I don’t want to give it away.”
Newton said the Americana-inspired track is a departure from his last record, which he describes as more of an alt-country release. It’s also his first song to feature the mandolin, courtesy of Gabriolan Brad Shipley.
“He came into the session and just blew us all away,” Newton said. “He had all these ideas and he’s a fantastic player and he just took the song and basically really elevated it to another level.”
Newton said he decided to finally get around to finishing writing and recording the song last year, as 2020 left him feeling restless.
“I was getting itchy so a friend of mine helped me finish it in my basement,” he said. “We were social distancing and trying to make it work and we mixed it ourselves, which was something that I’ve never done before so a little bit more of a DIY.”
Newton said the track was originally going to appear on an EP, but that project got scrapped, and it didn’t fit on his last album. He said it’s gratifying to finally be releasing it as a single.
“I wanted to put the song out for a long time and friends of mine that have heard it, they’re like, ‘You’ve got to put this out, you’ve got to finish this,'” he said. “So I’m like, ‘Fine, I’m finally going to finish it.’ So it does feel good to finally have it out and just to show a different side of me.”
Lay with Me (If Only for the Night) is available here.
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