Article Contributed by Mike
Published on 2026-06-11
With their latest single for Mountain Home Music Company, Balsam Range serves up something old and something new, wrapped together in a moody take on the traditional bluegrass sound that has become one of the award-winning ensemble’s distinctive hallmarks.
On the new side, “Life I Left Behind” features the first appearance in the studio of Stephen Hudson, who takes on the role he’s already been filling on stage, adding atmospheric fiddle and strong tenor vocals to complement guitarist and singer Caleb Smith’s mournful lead vocal.
On the old side is the song’s complex portrait of a man reviewing his life choices and the vehicle songwriter Andrew Scott Corbin chose for the tale. “There has always been a connection between Bluegrass and trains,” notes Tim Surrett, who pulls triple duty as bass player, resonator guitarist and baritone vocalist. “It’s personal for me because my dad worked nights for 30 years on the Norfolk Southern Railroad. Sometimes he would take me to work with him so I could ride the trains all night. There is a mysterious romantic quality about the freedom of the rails, and I think this new song has a bit of that. There’s a conflict between the freedom of going, and the life left behind.”
Indeed, with its melancholic chords, haunting melody, insistent rhythm and virtuosic solo turns by Smith and mandolinist Alan Bibey, “Life I Left Behind” is perfectly suited to convey the conflict embodied in its vivid, yet mysterious lyric:
I can hear freedom whisper through this wind
Where tracks stretch further than the road can bend
Every mile that I gain I leave a piece of me behind
I still can’t run from my troubled mind
…no roots can grow on moving steel
I see the world, but I lose myself
These whistle screams are haunting me
About the life I left behind in Tennessee
Blending contributions from a new instrumental and vocal presence with a durable bluegrass theme and their signature, song-centered approach to performance, Balsam Range’s “Life I Left Behind” is a masterful reminder of why the group remains in the front ranks of the genre.
"Life I Left Behind" is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.
