B-Side Guys

At 59, McNeil Johnwood bursts onto the indie scene with the subtlety of a Molotov cocktail lobbed into a hay barn. His debut single “Scarecrow” is a searing political indictment wrapped in the trojan horse of Americana-tinged indie rock. It’s the sonic equivalent of your favorite uncle suddenly deciding to torch his MAGA hat at the family barbecue.

Johnwood’s lyrics read like a fevered Twitter thread come to life, a stream-of-consciousness rant against a certain orange-hued political figure. “Scarecrow not who you say you are,” he growls, his voice carrying the weight of decades of pent-up frustration. The imagery is stark and unforgiving: “hands up hands hands up mister / my car won’t start locked up robbed of / don’t you give me that look / staring down barrel of a shotgun.”

Producer Calvin Lauber (of Boygenius and Julien Baker fame) brings a modern indie sheen to Johnwood’s raw material. The track is a sonic collage, with banjo plucks providing an ironic down-home feel while ominous electro-ambience swirls beneath. It’s as if Woody Guthrie decided to collaborate with Trent Reznor, resulting in a protest song for the post-truth era.

The chorus hits like a sledgehammer to the skull: “falling down dominoes fall down / crossing out truth means nothing now / Stale chips and parties / Hail to the scarecrow.” It’s a lyrical Rorschach test, each line open to interpretation yet unmistakably pointed in its critique. Johnwood’s “soulfully weary vocals” (his words, not mine) are bolstered by female harmonies that add an almost hymnal quality to the proceedings, as if he’s leading a choir of the disillusioned.

For a man who’s never played a paid gig, Johnwood comes out swinging with the confidence of a seasoned pro. “Scarecrow” is less a song than a statement of intent, a late-career artist making up for lost time by holding nothing back. Whether this musical gambit pays off remains to be seen, but one thing’s for certain: McNeil Johnwood isn’t here to make polite dinner conversation. He’s here to flip the table and see who’s still standing when the dust settles.