Nashville indie folk singer/songwriter Hunter Metts opens up about “Somehow You’re Always There,” his achingly beautiful new song born from the weight grief and the warmth of love.
“Somehow You’re Always There” – Hunter Metts
Somedays it’s hard to find her, but somehow she’s always there…
Grief is a wrecking ball, but we only grieve because we love.
In fact, you might consider grief a form of love – and when we love someone so much, down to the very depths of our souls, their loss hits that much harder. Losing a loved one forever changes the makeup of our very beings as we carry them with us, cherishing their memory and embracing that everlasting piece of humanity that remains, when nothing else remains. Singer/songwriter Hunter Metts captures the weight grief and the warmth of love in his breathtaking new song: An achingly vulnerable, intimate indie folk song of loss and love’s endurance, “Somehow You’re Always There” dwells in the raw, beautiful, and brutal depths of human experience as Metts finds comfort in the pieces we leave behind.
I remember August
But you’ll be there when it’s cold
You loved me my whole life
And you’ll love me when I’m old
Losing you on that night
I’ve never hurt that way before
If you take one thing with you
Just know I’m always yours
Released February 2, 2024 via Position Music, “Somehow You’re Always There” is at once devastating and uplifting: In dwelling in his own experiences with grief, Hunter Metts has created a lilting beacon of musical light that transcends his lingering pain, coming to us as a balm – a softly soothing beacon of tenderness and cathartic connection.
A gentle, atmospheric song built on lilting guitars, glistening pianos, and Metts’ own emotive, shiver-inducing voice, “Somehow You’re Always There” is a stunning, soul-stirring serenade that stops us in our tracks. The song sees the Nashville-born and raised singer/songwriter coming into his own as an authentic artist capturing real life moments, and conveying his innermost emotions and intimate experiences through songs that persist in the heart long after they’ve gone from our ears.
It’s like watching all the leaves fall
It’s like standing in the rain
It’s that feeling when the birds fly
It’s like coming home again
So I trace her every outline
With my fingers through the air
Someday’s it’s hard to find her
But somehow she’s always there
The air was thick
And the world was felt small
Sickness came and took you
I didn’t say goodbye at all
Singing at your funeral
Was the hardest thing I’ve ever done
If you’re out there listening
Know you loved me like your son
As bittersweet as they come, the song is a poetic, poignant tribute to Metts’ best friend’s mother, who lost her life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was able to pour my heart into ‘Somehow You’re Always There’ and find therapy in it,” Metts tells Atwood Magazine. “The song became a canvas for my grief, and tells the journey of losing a loved one through memories and emotions. Each note and lyric carried the weight of loss, yet the act of creating offered solace, allowing me to navigate the pain and cherish the enduring connection in the midst of loss.”
Atwood Magazine caught up with Metts to discuss music, his new single, and the grief that inspired it. Dive into our interview with the fast-rising artist below, and listen to “Somehow You’re Always There,” out now.
It’s like watching all the leaves fall
It’s like standing in the rain
It’s that feeling when the birds fly
It’s like coming home again
So I trace her every outline
With my fingers through the air
Somedays it’s hard to find her
But somehow she’s always there
Most days I’m making conversation
With silence in the air
You’ll stay with me forever
Somehow you’re always there
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:: stream/purchase Somehow You’re Always There here ::
:: connect with Hunter Metts here ::
A CONVERSATION WITH HUNTER METTS
Atwood Magazine: Hunter, thanks for your time and congratulations on your signing and new song! For starters, if someone is discovering you for the very first time today, what do you want them to know about who Hunter Metts is?
Hunter Metts: I would hope they know that I’m not here to sell anyone a polished image. My songs are snippets of my own journey, imperfect and unfiltered. I produce them all. There is no grand narrative. It’s just genuine emotions stitched into melodies. No boundaries, no pretense — just songs that mean something to me, shaped by my own hands.
What have been some highlights or meaningful moments in your career to date, from your debut to now?
Hunter Metts: Reflecting on my journey, playing live has been where I feel most alive. I love sharing who I am in a space that isn’t behind the screen. I love the audience. I love making things that people resonate with. Another would have to be finding a supportive team. It’s transformed my pursuits into our pursuits, and finding people like that helps me keep going when I feel like nothing’s working. But the most meaningful moments to me are when a listener shares their own deeply personal story and how a song of mine stamps that time period in their life. That piece is most significant to me.
But the most meaningful moments to me are when a listener shares their own deeply personal story and how a song of mine stamps that time period in their life. That piece is most significant to me.
Your new song is absolutely gut wrenching in the very best of ways. What is the story behind “Somehow You're Always There”?
Hunter Metts: “Somehow You’re Always There” is a deeply personal reflection on a profound chapter of my life. The song emerged from the painful experience of standing by my best friend as he navigated the devastating loss of his mother to the COVID-19 pandemic in the fall of 2021. In the days leading up to her passing, I was there for it all, alongside him through the uncertainty.
The hardest moment etched in my memory is when I picked him up from the hospital on the night she had passed. The weight of grief hung heavy in the air, and as we drove in silence the void left by her absence was so tangible. It was the start of a new reality.
As I dealt with the enormity of the loss, I found peace in the support she had always provided. Her belief in me was a constant source of inspiration. No dream was too big, and in creating this song, I sought to capture the enduring impact of her presence in my life. The lyrics echo the sentiment that, despite her physical absence, her spirit persists—a comforting presence silently cheering me on. She lives on, and through this song, I preserve the beautiful imprint she left on my heart.
Grief hits us all differently. If you don’t mind sharing, how did the grief, and the loss, that inspired this song manifest, for you?
Hunter Metts: For a long time I didn’t know what to do. Running straight to write a song about it felt inauthentic and cheap to me. It took me over 2 years to be able to go there and write from a place of peace and pure intention. In a way I’m still grieving and maybe a byproduct of that is this song. I put myself in my friend Matthew’s shoes. He lost his mother. I had a lot of questions and felt like her life had been stolen. As time passes I don’t think grief washes itself away. Or at least for me it’s stuck around and I think it’s still manifesting.
As time passes I don’t think grief washes itself away. Or at least for me it’s stuck around and I think it’s still manifesting.
“So I chase your every outline, with my fingers through the air. Some days it’s harder to find you, but somehow you’re always there.” These are some of the most moving lyrics I’ve heard in a long, long time. Can you share a bit about this chorus - what inspired it, what it means to you?
Hunter Metts: In that chorus I’m really getting at this universal experience we all feel after losing someone or something close to us. That on the other side of all of it you hold on to this comfort, you hold on to the feeling that their essence is still all around you. That somehow they are continuously with you. That specific line, “So I trace your every outline, with my fingers through the air. Some days it’s harder to find you, but somehow you’re always there,” just gave me the strangest sense of peace while breaking me at the same time. And at the root of it all I think that’s how I feel about her.
I love a good cry from music every now and then… what are some songs that you turn to, to get you all “up in your feels”?
Hunter Metts: Hahaha ironically I try to use music to get OUT of the feels. But I love anything by The Paper Kites or Tom Waits, and have been on a 50s and 60s blues wave of like B.B. King and Muddy Waters. I don’t know, I listen to everything.
Switching gears now, what is something that would surprise listeners of your music to learn about you? In other words, what is one of your “fun facts”?
Hunter Metts: We’re going from something so heavy to not at all, hahaha, but I love playing basketball. I’ll play most mornings of the week and I’m in a men’s league that’ll play on the weekends. I absolutely love New York City but couldn’t tell you why. And got to love a beer and a nice campfire.
What do you hope listeners take away from “Somehow You're Always There,” and what have you taken away from creating it and now putting it out?
Hunter Metts: I hope you play this song and find whoever you’ve lost. I hope you find them in a beautiful and peaceful place. I hope people find comfort. I hope people connect with a part of my story. I hope people can be a little closer to the ones they miss the most.
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:: stream/purchase Somehow You’re Always There here ::
:: connect with Hunter Metts here ::
“Somehow You’re Always There” – Hunter Metts
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