NEWS
Press Release via AS Written, November 2020
BRIAN’S BACK WITH A FOURTEEN CARAT HIT
In a world and a year where everything else is so uncertain, the comforting embrace of music has never been more important. And while so much around us may be unrecognisable right now, when you see a country artist releasing a GENE WATSON classic, you can breathe a little easier, knowing that not only is good music still with us, but good music still matters. And in this case, the man you can thank for that feeling of well-being is Athboy man BRIAN MULLEN and his reverential take on Watson’s hit FOURTEEN CARAT MIND.
“I’ve always been a fan of what we’d probably call classic country nowadays,” remarks Brian, “but for me, that’s the kind of music I grew up listening to. It’s what I was raised on. Great voices, and great songs that kept you listening from beginning to end, because they were telling you a story. And that story would draw you in, and you’d want to know what twist or turn might be coming up, or how the situation was going to turn out for the character or characters involved. For me, Gene Watson is one of those voices that define the kind of country music I love.”
Released by Watson in September of 1981, Fourteen Carat Mind was the first single from his Old Loves Never Die album. While it became his twelfth country hit, somewhat astoundingly, it was Watson’s only #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, holding onto the top spot for just one week, but remaining on the chart for fifteen. In total, from 1975 to 1989, Watson took twenty-one singles into the Billboard Top Ten.
The story behind how Watson came across Fourteen Carat Mind in the first place is a story well worth sharing. Going through demos on his tour bus while everyone else was asleep, he found one at the bottom of the box that was actually on an old-fashioned reel-to-reel tape. Initially tempted to just cast it aside, curiosity got the better of him, and lo and behold, when he eventually got it hooked up to an old reel-to-reel recorder, there was the voice of Dallas Frazier – one of Nashville’s most famed songsmiths – singing Fourteen Carat Mind. The story also goes that Watson knew he was going to record it after hearing just the first verse.
Fourteen Carat Mind will be the fifth release from Brian, following on from his 2016 debut single, a cover of Garth Brook’s The River,Liza Jane from the Vince Gill songbook in 2017, a Nigel Connell original in 2018 entitled St. Patrick’s Day, and last year’s take on the Foster & Allen classic, After All These Years.
Plans for a debut long-player are already well underway, with a possible release date of 2021 currently being considered.
~ FOURTEEN CARAT MIND, the brand new single from BRIAN MULLEN, is OUT NOW, available on all platforms and to request from radio. You can follow Brian on Facebook and YouTube.
On The Right TRAX 