If Brett Eldridge‘s wistful “Sunday Drive” isn’t enough to make listeners weep, its visual counterpart should do the trick. Eldridge himself even cried after he watched his new music video for the first time.
The black-and-white clip deftly illustrates the song’s sentimental thrust, portraying weekend cruises that hold more importance as time goes on. In both the song and the video, life’s linear flow serves as the emotional catalyst. When watching, it’s hard to keep a dry eye, even if you’re the performer.
“Oh, I bawled,” Eldredge tells People. “I bawled when I first watched [the video]. I was drinking a smoothie, sitting in my car, watching it on my phone, and I completely lost it. … I’ve shot a lot of music videos, but nothing has ever come close to the emotion of this.”
The Reid Long-directed music video was filmed in the country singer’s small hometown of Paris, Ill. It even features a period-specific station wagon to properly evoke the teary sense of nostalgia conveyed in the song written by Barry Dean, Don Mescall and Steve Robson.
“I wanted to show a glimpse of a kid from the middle of nowhere in the heart of the heartland,” Eldredge explains. “I’ve just seen it in my mind a million times. My grandfather had a station wagon growing up, and I remember riding in the back, so I wanted one in the video.”
In the clip, as in the song’s lyrics, looking back on a mundane drive with one’s parents reveals the little details that imbue life with the most meaning. Fast forward a few years, and the kid in the backseat has become the driver, escorting his parents around town as they themselves reminisce.
Performing the tune was actually on Eldredge’s bucket list before he earned fame in the music industry. He found the song when he was interning at a Nashville publisher before he signed his first record deal.
“Sunday Drive” comes from the album of the same name, released in July.
Check Out Country Music’s Best Albums of 2020: