Aubrie Sellers’ forthcoming sophomore album Far From Home, out Feb. 7, has the Nashville-based singer-songwriter embracing her distinct brand of garage country, as well as her emotions. Co-produced with Frank Liddell (Brandi Carlile, Jack Ingram) at Sonic Ranch Studios in Texas, the project includes the optimistic “Lucky Charm,” which Billboard premieres below.
“There's a lot of personal, emotional songs on this record and a lot of subtleties about finding yourself,” Sellers tells Billboard over the phone on the way to a tour stop. “I'm very introverted and I've dealt with anxiety, which I write about on the record.”
One of the most personal tracks on the project is the guitar-heavy “Worried Mind,” in which Sellers croons about her inner-struggles. “They got pills for things that hurt/ I’ve tried some but nothing works/ For a worried mind/ I got a worried mind,” she sings. Inspired by an essay she penned, Sellers says it’s important to share her emotions and connect with listeners. “It is kind of a release to write my emotions] and be able to share them with people,” she says.
On “Lucky Charm,” however, things are more lighthearted. Inspired by Ethan Ballinger, her boyfriend of five years who is also the guitarist in her band, Sellers laughs as she admits the song idea came to her over breakfast while eating Lucky Charms. She then took the title to frequent collaborator Adam Wright.
“Ethan has been a constant for me,” she says. “My very early touring days, I felt really alone and lost. It's a world of difference in how I feel and how comfortable I am, and what the experience is like when you're able to share it with someone who is always there and feels like family on the road.”
The song’s first verse holds deep meaning to Sellers as it reflects the change from her early touring days up to today, where she feels more comfortable with her boyfriend onstage beside her every night. “Had a black cat following me/ Every time I walked down the street/ Bad luck was the only luck I knew/ I had a storm cloud over my head/ Sun was shining but I still got wet/ But that all changed the minute I met you,” she sings.
“That verse to me is particularly significant because there really is a reflection of the changes from then to now,” she says.
Sellers herself has changed since releasing her debut album, 2016’s New City Blues. More confident on tour and in the recording studio, she says it’s important to continually put herself in her songs and to record the music she wants to make. “I prefer music that is a little raw because I think when you make things too slick, it sucks out the humanness of it and takes out the quality that we hear ourselves in,” she says.
Inspired by desert music, Sellers took her camper out to a small town in the middle of the desert in Marfa, Texas, to write for the album. Fittingly, she decided on the title Far From Home from her journey on the road.
“Not only was I literally, physically far from home learning all these things, but I've always felt like] a little bit of an outsider — trying to find my place and figuring out where I fit — and that's still the case,” she says. “I don't know if you ever really find yourself. You at least become more comfortable in your own skin and comfortable with constant change and comfortable with growing. Things may be a little different, but having that comfort within yourself to trust yourself and your own decisions and know that it's all gonna work out.”
Listen to “Lucky Charm” below.
