Jessica Smucker beautifully captures feelings of isolation on the delicately crafted tune, ‘Stones to Throw’. A folk-pop ballad, the Lancaster artist flexes her muscles as a singer-songwriter with music that feels like it’s just enough. Production is never overbearing; if anything, it’s deliberately stripped back—captivating by design, but especially in its cadence. Smucker builds up a story of romantic isolation with such deep attention to tone that once the song hits its crescendo on the bridge, the instrumental payoff feels incredibly moving. She sneaks slight movements of organ and trumpet into the mix, accentuating the song’s emotional melody at just the right moments.
Smucker tells For Folk’s Sake, “This is a song about loneliness – the kind of loneliness that can exist inside a relationship when two people come up against the limits of how well they can know or understand each other. It’s easy to cast blame when there’s a failure to connect, but no relationship is ever going to meet every need, and it’s up to us as individuals to determine what is enough.”
The lyric video was created by Haley Monson. The song was produced by Chad Kinsey, mixed by Peter Rydberg at Studio 1935 and mastered by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio. It features pianist Trixi Greiner, bassist Mike Bitts, drummer Paul Murr, organist Steve Sauer and trumpeter Todd Fulginiti.
Words by: Jonathan Frahm