Kevin Driscoll's conversational single "The Maine Thing" sensationalises stillness of a life that's meant to be beautiful

Kevin Driscoll was born on the coast of Maine and later moved to Jacksonville, Florida, to make a name for himself and to create his life's purpose. Driscoll delves deep into the style of the great folk musicians of the past and also brings a twist of modernity to the mix. The glory of a folk song is that it can't really be blueprinted and yet it feels accessible and reachable. It helps craft stories, to form a conversation with the listener, to wear masks of characters you otherwise wouldn't dare to, speak directly or as indirectly as you possibly can and Driscoll seems to have a really good hold of these abilities possessed by the folk genre. With this single, he brings the best out of himself as he continues to move the standards of his discography up.

Kevin Driscoll

His new single "The Maine Thing" is a clever wordplay for the insistence of informing about the important things in one's life as in saying, "This right here, is the main thing". In a conversational, Bob Dylanesque tone, Driscoll speaks to the listener or a character who seems to have drifted away. There's also a hint of Tom Waits somewhere in there, some pretty beautiful sounding hums and speeches from the likes of Mule Variations and some personal, tragic yet humorous ballads from Rain Dogs or Frank's wild years. The talking-singing style works really well for this song and it reminds one of his own home.

The main message of the song seems to linger over the importance of your roots, how the "main thing" is always the "maine thing" -- Maine, being the place where Driscoll himself comes from. There's a sophomore touch to the entire thing, but it also doesn't shy away from sounding mature. One can also, yet again, compare this piece to another Tom Waits' piece, -- that also happens to be my favourite among many others -- Martha.

The main message of the song seems to linger over the importance of your roots, how the "main thing" is always the "Maine thing" -- Maine, being the place where Driscoll himself comes from.

The way he inculcates percussion is also extremely pure and pretty modernist. It's an acceptance of a peculiar yet important feeling of assurance deep within oneself. It's a great testament to how many different diasporas Driscoll has the ability to speak to with only one single.

Test this melody for yourself here -

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