Micah P. Hinson has shared “People,” the latest single from his forthcoming album I Lie To You, which releases on December 2 via Ponderosa Records. With his weathered, husky voice, Hinson offers a stunning stripped-down version of the David Bazan original. 

“Sir Bazan has been a steady piece of furniture in my life, speaking about god, and life, and humanity for basically my entire cognitive life,” explains Hinson. “When I heard ‘People,’ I found it striking, but mainly just the first lines. So I expanded upon those initial sentences and said more in regards to what those first sentences captured- speaking about how I see the attitudes of the modern work we live in. I feel this is more acutely in line with the idea and practice of folk music – taking something that has already been done and moving it around and expanding upon it.”

Born into a strict fundamentalist Christian household in Memphis and raised in the evangelist Abilene, TX, Hinson sings with a prophet-like voice. His songs feel like a patchwork of life experience, from his unsettled early days through his more recent years as a devoted father navigating divorce. Infusing his raw, poetic folk lyrics with inspiration taken from the industrial and alternative music of his youth, Hinson has established a reputation as one of the more innovative and interesting singer/songwriters in the international alt-folk scene. 

But in early 2020, after releasing ten critically acclaimed albums and building a loyal international fanbase from the ground up, Micah P. Hinson nearly walked away from his music career. He felt trapped, explaining “It hit me that all I was doing was writing about my previous relationships and situations, and that meant I had nowhere to go. How can you progress as a human being into the future if all you’re doing is writing about all the shit that chains you to the past?”

When he found himself hunkered down in Spain at the start of the pandemic, Hinson took advantage of the time and space to reflect and recalibrate. He vowed from then on to only write about things happening in the present, but first wanted to gain closure by reworking and recording all of the remaining songs he saved over the last 25 years. I Lie To You represents the final chapter of a career spent looking in the past, featuring tracks written from his teenage years through his thirties. He recently shared the debut single “Ignore The Days,” the only song on the album written since he turned 40 last year which acts as a bridge between Hinson’s past and the new forward-focused life he is just beginning.

Photo Courtesy: Natalia Andreoli