B-Side Guys

Nebraska natives Aaron Elliott and Steven Patton, joined by Hawaii-born Jessica Rose Patton, craft “Leaving Home” as an examination of departure stripped of romanticism. Their trio formation—two longtime collaborators welcoming a third after Aaron’s world travels—mirrors the song’s central tension between staying safe and staying alive.

The track operates around the uncomfortable truth that sometimes leaving isn’t adventure but survival, presented through imagery of “four walls closing in” and wheels as tools of necessity rather than freedom. Flyover States’ approach to this material avoids both self-pity and false heroics, instead documenting the specific anxiety of knowing you must move without knowing where you’re going.

Their complex vocal arrangements create sonic representation of internal conflict—harmonies that suggest both support and uncertainty, voices that move together while pulling in different directions. The fifteen-year musical partnership between Elliott and Patton provides foundation for exploring how relationships survive geographic upheaval, while Jessica Rose Patton’s West Coast experience adds perspective on what it means to make new homes.

The song’s most powerful insight lies in its treatment of movement as biological imperative. The phrase “we’re made to move” suggests that staying in place can become its own form of death, even when departure offers no clear destination. Their folk approach keeps focus on the emotional rather than physical journey.

“Leaving Home” succeeds because Flyover States understand that geographic departure often masks deeper forms of leaving—abandoning versions of yourself that no longer serve, releasing safety in favor of authenticity. Their exploration of movement as necessity rather than choice creates space for examining how survival sometimes requires abandoning everything familiar.