When I looked into the Songs Of My Life postings so far, there are just very few rather recent songs covered. Of course, it needs some time to “grow” a song, which influenced you significantly – but in fact, the posting about Lost In The Middle by Catherine McGrath is the only one featuring a song of the last five years. Also as she is releasing a first EP part of her album in a couple of days, I felt that an artist, who influenced and accompanied me so much during my last three years of working in country music, definitely should be featured in this Flyctory.com category. Without any doubt, Running Out Of Road by Lauren Jenkins is a song of my life.
Running Out Of Road – The Story of The Song
There so much bio about Lauren on this website that I will do the general part a bit shorter than usual. Born on 16th September 1991 in Texas, Lauren grew up in South Carolina. She also pursued a career in acting. You can see her in some Hollywood productions, especially around 2010. Already in teenage years, she started touring with her music and especially had gigs along the East Coast, so that she more and more commuted between New York, Los Angeles – and finally Nashville, when Big Machine signed her in 2014. Her initial release were The Nashville Sessions, an EP, in 2016.
Running Out Of Road was in fact the teasing single for her amazing debut album No Saint. The single has been released in January 2019. It is about that there are things in live you just cannot escape from. No matter how long you run – finally, you run out of road. Thus, the key words of the lyrics are I’ve got a full tank of gas, but my heart’s on empty. Later in the chorus, Jenkins states I keep trying to find a place where I won’t find your ghost // But I keep running, I keep running, running out of road. A Mission Impossible.
One thing which makes the song very special is the eleven minute short movie, which illustrates the whole story of the song. The movie has been recorded in 2018 already, as far as I got. Of course, it has been promoted again with the release of the single – and later also with the album release. I have been that impressed by this film that I dedicated a posting to it. No Saint has been released on 15th March 2021. In the meantime, Big Machine withdrew from the contrast with the amazing artist.
Running Out Of Road – My Story of The Song
My personal story of Running Out Of Road starts with the C2C 2019 in Berlin. Lauren was there as part of the Introducing Nashville songwriters round, which opened the C2C debut in Germany – in that year a two day one. I loved Lauren’s songs from the very beginning and finally bought her album No Saint, in the merchandise booth, on 1st March 2019, two weeks before the actual album release. Thus finally lead to the situation that, even though I did not receive promo versions at this time, I published the review of No Saint way before the album review. As far as I understood Lauren at that time, it has even been the very first No Saint detailed album review she has been aware of at all.
Meeting Lauren again a few days after Berlin
Just a couple of days later, I ran into Lauren again – at the C2C 2019 in London. Even though I did not have press status, these were the first Flyctory.com pictures of Lauren. We had the chance to at least have some first personal words. There have been many more opportunities before Covid-19, including her birthday show in Amsterdam alongside Austin Jenckes or shows during her tour with Brett Eldredge (see Cologne and Amsterdam concert reviews). I am really glad to be a fan of her and feel inspired by her music. More than that, I am glad to support her a bit with Flyctory.com.
Last, but not least, she has become a friend and I absolutely trust her. She is a great artist – and a great person. And I am thankful for that. Not only for this Song Of My Life, but also for having a wonderful person in my life. Even when I am sometimes Running Out Of Road by myself.
Running Out Of Road – Spotify and Links
Here is Running Out Of Road on Spotify:
You can find the full lyrics of the song here.
Songs Of My Life Playlist
I created a playlist with all the Songs Of My Life songs so far. It will be updated with very new episode:
Title picture: Running Out Of Road, short film, screengrab
More About Lauren Jenkins
Here are all other Flyctory.com postings related to the US country artist Lauren Jenkins:
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