On the song selection process for Medium Rarities, “We wanted to choose songs throughout the band’s history that fell through the cracks for one reason or another. We never felt like any of these weren’t good enough to make whichever album they were slated for but sometimes a song is left off for one reason or another. I think in the back of our minds we always planned to do something with these tunes at some point, so a global pandemic and lack of touring presented the perfect opportunity.”
Burns listed “Marie” as his personal favorite song on the album. “It’s a song Ricky wrote and I’ve always just loved that song and the way the recording turned out,” he said.
Regarding his songwriting inspirations, he said, “I’m usually inspired by what’s affecting me directly or the world around me. I think more than the other guys, I tend to write more autobiographical songs or at least they start out that way. So, whether it’s my relationships or being on the road or whatever, I feel a lot of what’s around me and those themes usually make it into my songs somehow.”
He opened up about life during the quarantine. “It has been up and down like most of us I suppose. In the beginning, I was riding my bike and getting out and being active most days. I also had more optimism that the virus restrictions on daily life wouldn’t last too long. Now, that seems like forever ago and I think the uncertainty of when life will return to some sense of normalcy has started to wear on me. I will say having this record coming out and a handful of socially-distanced shows has been good for my mental health,” he said.
“The silver lining I can take away is I was able to spend more time with my soon to be wife and stepdaughter,” he said. “They live in Texas and I still live in Nashville so I was able to spend most of this time together with them which has been really nice. My fiancé and I joked that if we can survive to live together during a pandemic where we’re both home all day then we can survive anything.”
On being an artist in the digital age, he said, “I think it’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, you’re able to get your music out to so many more people than traditional means but on the other hand, there’s so much more music out there it can be difficult to cut through the noise. Not to mention the lack of album sales and the revenue they used to generate for bands like us. It can be difficult to make a living, especially during a pandemic, when we can’t tour. Ultimately, I think being able to reach more people is a good thing and outweighs the negatives.”
Burns defined the word success as follows: “To me, I think it means having the freedom to make and release the music I want and to be able to provide for my family enough to have a comfortable life. There’s not much else that matters to me.”
He concluded about Medium Rarities, “Whether you’re a fan of the band or not, I think this is a great representation of our growth and evolution as a band over the last decade. It gives you a musical snapshot of each stop along the way of our careers up to where we are now.”
To learn more about The Wild Feathers, check out their official website.
