PREMIERE | Sammy Kay, "Don't Like Surprises"

Step sitting, wishing, and dreaming with Sammy Kay; press photo courtesy of the artist.

In the midst of an unstoppable heat wave, a Northeast tunesmith can whisk us away to the places that remain etched into the stone of memories. Lost days spent soaking in the sun on the Asbury Park beach with a thermos filled discreetly to the brim with spirits, citrus and soda. Reminiscences of legacy acts seen at the Stone Pony, performances that left a lasting impression experienced with family at the old Paramount Theatre, favorite DIY heroes that played Asbury Lanes, to the wasted days idling about the Asbury Park Convention Hall. Nostalgia that rings and dings the corner pockets of the mind like the pinball machines at the Silverball Retro Arcades; every now and then a tried and true troubadour takes us back to those solar soaked solstices of yore that light up the consciousness like a barrage of bells and bulbs flashing full tilt during a competitive parlor game of chance.

All of this and more only begins to describe the new album July 1960 from New Jersey artist Sammy Kay, who presents the debut of the rustic heartland strumming song "Don't Like Surprises". Kay leads the listener to the privy places of the heart and the restless spirit on the chain smoking sentimentality and lackadaisical urgency of "How Fast to Run", the rough riding twang of "Southern Withdrawals", the wandering ways of the modern day working class nomad on "Greyhound Bus", to the candid balladry of "Lovesong". Introspection and interstate rambling reverberate all throughout Kay's new record, bristling with beauty and heartache on the homesick blues of "Another Letter to My Former Self", road tripping the rocky routes of "Jim's Ride Home", to the soul baring "Skeletons", blending into the pedtal steel tinged dreaminess of "Meet You in Mexico", right before departing down the old 78 for the greener townships, boroughs, and pastures on "A Better Way". Sammy Kay keeps the pertinent embers of the past flickering in a warm glow that burns with the high temperatures of the heat wave that is currently baking the Garden State.

"Don't Like Surprises" echoes like chords strummed in a cozy sleepy river town dive along the Delaware. Sammy frames the imagined discourse between two people with sincere strums and that trademark gravely and gruff delivery. The song centers around the likes and dislikes of others, pondering the individual fears that folks retain beneath the tough appearances of their respective exteriors. "Don't Like Surprises" is like a meet cute at a pub in a one horse town, two souls sharing their own intimate insights that extend beyond the casual chit-chat. Sammy sings about how we find one another, how we connect, how we share our feelings, how we find ways to communicate and how we each respond to those opaque fears of the unknown, what we can't describe and the things we don't plan for.

Cover art for Sammy Kay’s new album July 1960.

Sammy Kay shared some inspirational insights behind the song “Don’t Like Surprises”:

I was sitting at the bar sitting with a friend. A transplant from East Los Angeles by way of Florida. We're sitting at the bar, watching another friend of ours, on what looked to be a blind date, and we just started talking about life and what they were talking about. I was healing up from a bad hand injury and made my way home. I started writing these sonnets, 12 line songs with no repeating choruses. "Don't Like Surprises" was what I thought my friend was doing on his date.

Sammy Kay's album July 1960 arrives July 19 via Sell the Heart Records (US) & Engineer Records (UK).