Indie-folk trio the Accidentals worked with an incredible list of artists on their forthcoming EP: Kim Richey, Mary Gauthier and more. “Night Train,” premiering exclusively on The Boot, is a songwriting collaboration with Dar Williams.
“Night Train,” the Accidentals tell The Boot, hopes for healing and a better future. It “became an anthem … for the work we have to do, for the hope and light that exists … It’s the rally call,” the band explains.
The story told in “Night Train” is one from Williams’ own life: During a Zoom songwriting session, the legendary folk singer-songwriter shared with the Accidentals’ Savannah “Sav” Buist, Katie Larson and Michael Dause about a train trip she took just before the COVID-19 pandemic largely shut the world.
“She wove a tale about the towns she passed through, the people she met, the landscape, the possibilities. It was so healing to listen to another musician talk about travelling and the power of community,” the Accidentals share. “We know the kind of magic you experience in meeting strangers, finding common ground, becoming friends in one conversation, and coming to the realization that we are more alike than not, and there is more goodness in the world than we might believe.”
The Accidentals reached out to Williams for a virtual co-writing session years after opening for her early on in their career. That first night, she asked Buist and Larsen to play strings for her at the end of her set; still, they admit, “we were absolutely blown away when she said yes” to the co-write.
“Night Train” is one of five songs on the Accidentals’ Time Out (Session 1) EP, written and recorded during the pandemic. In addition to Williams, Richey and Gauthier, the trio’s co-writers for the project include Maia Sharp, Tom Paxton and Jaimee Harris.
The Accidentals released their debut album in 2018. Buist and Larson are classically trained musicians who have arranged strings for projects by K-pop sensations BTS, singer-songwriter Keller Williams and others; Dause is a multi-instrumentalist who turned the duo into a trio.
“Night Train” will be widely available on Friday (March 26), with Time Out (Session 1) due out on May 7. Visit TheAccidentalsMusic.com for more information.
Listen to the Accidentals’ “Night Train”:
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