B-Side Guys

Can physical seasons mirror internal transformations? Colorado’s Chris Rusin answers with quiet conviction on “Leave It In The Snow,” a meditation on renewal delivered by an artist who understands life’s fragility firsthand.

This deceptively simple folk offering emerges from profound circumstances—Rusin’s recovery from cancer treatment that temporarily robbed him of his singing voice. The experience catalyzed a creative awakening, transforming regret into resolve. What strikes listeners immediately is how Rusin avoids melodrama despite the weight of his backstory. Instead, he crafts an understated winter-to-spring allegory that feels both personal and universal.

“The lamp burns bright/I’ve been up all night/Fire through the frost on my window,” Rusin begins, establishing a nocturnal vigil where insomnia becomes the precursor to epiphany. This image of light penetrating frost serves as the song’s central metaphor—warmth gradually overcoming coldness, both environmental and emotional.

The production mirrors this thematic progression, building from spare acoustic foundations toward subtle instrumental flourishes that suggest the first tentative signs of spring. Collaborating with Grammy-winning production talent and Colorado musicians, Rusin creates a soundscape that feels intimate yet expansive, capturing both private struggle and communal release.

Most compelling is Rusin’s exploration of identity transformation in the verse: “The one you were/Is not who you are/As long as your heart is still beating.” This acknowledgment of perpetual becoming feels especially poignant from an artist who faced mortality directly. The paradoxical observation that “The longer you live/The stronger you get/So why do we feel ever more fragile” reveals Rusin’s gift for distilling complex emotional truths into accessible language.

The chorus functions as both invitation and instruction: “That ends today/Watch it melt away/It’s time to let it go/Leave it in the snow.” The repetition of “This is what it sounds like” frames the song itself as a demonstration of its central message—the music becomes the sound of release in real-time.

As the first installment in Rusin’s monthly release schedule for 2025, “Leave It In The Snow” introduces a voice of quiet authenticity to the Americana landscape—an artist whose perspective has been tempered by genuine hardship rather than constructed for artistic effect.