For the past two years, The Band Loula has been taking stages by storm with their eerie murder ballad, “Marshall County Man.” Fans have proved time and time again that this tune is special, so after signing with Warner Music Nashville in August 2024, the duo knew it was finally time to release it.
The clever storyline came out accidentally during a writing session in Muscle Shoals, AL with members of the duo, Malachi Mills and Logan Simmons, and Gary Nichols. They were working on another song when suddenly the idea to pen a murder ballad came late at night when the writers were all feeling the tiredness set in.
“Gary Nichols, just looked up and said, ‘y’all want to write an Alabama murder ballad?’ And we were like, ‘hell yeah, let’s do it,’” Logan told Country Now.
Malachi added, “It’s been like a bittersweet thing because it was the first murder ballad we ever wrote and every time we go to write one again we’re like, damn that was pretty good for the first try.”
Together with Grammy-winning Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne as producer, they created a haunting tale of a woman suffering under her “devil” of a husband. Eventually she gets tired of doing what she was told just to avoid his wrath and took matters into her own hands with a kitchen knife. While the soulful country sound was released just in time for Halloween, which perfectly caters to the spooky storytelling, woven through the lyrics is actually a serious depiction of the reality of domestic abuse that so many people face.
“Even though it’s kind of this fictional, fun murder ballad…It’s also got a lot of real life bits that connect with people. And we experienced those types of things in our lives, like just adjacent from a distance,” Malachi explained. “So we really try to perform it, every time we play a show, with conviction and we’re seeing it resonate across generations of people who have experienced that or have had loved ones who have experienced domestic violence and domestic abuse and stuff like that.”
He added, “As a stylistic note, it’s always a dynamic changer or energy shifter at our concerts. Even in a really busy, loud room, people quiet down and listen to the story, which is something that every songwriter and every artist appreciates. We love that and that kind of tells us that people are engaging with it.”
The Music Video Was A Completely In-House Job
The swampy harmonies detail the woman’s emotional and physical pain, which comes to life on an even deeper level in the just-released music video. Throughout the clips, Mills takes on the role of the wife, while Malachi plays the detective. Osborne even joins in on the fun as the dastardly and dead Marshall County Man.
The makings of this music video involved an entirely in-house production. Logan was responsible for writing up the script and the treatment for the video as well as acting alongside her bandmate and producer. All the hard work that went into making this project certainly proved to be successful as they were able to perfectly capture all the vulnerable emotions at play in a dark and chilling setting.
“We’ve had a lot of time to think about this song and practice it and think about the story. So really I just wanted to bring it to life,” said Logan. “I’m so lucky that everyone, including Malachi, I mean, it’s not easy to be in a duo and say, ‘I have this huge idea I’m so excited about,’ you know, don’t burst my bubble type of thing. And everyone allowed me to do it and contributed such great ideas to it. Warner and Red Light [management] and everyone has just been so supportive of helping us find the resources that we need to make it happen. And then we did. So it was really special.”
Malachi went on to praise his musical partner as he said, “We did it all ourselves. It was really a team effort, which I think is something to note for sure. But yeah, the whole thing was really exciting. It was an experiment. But it was also like, we got to the end of it and were like, that really worked.”
Working Alongside John Osborne
The pair of artists are especially grateful to have developed a friendship with John Osborne through this entire process. Logan admits she has been a big fan of Brothers Osborne for years and being from such a small town in Georgia, she never thought the day would come that they would end up working together.
“I actually used to be a photographer, so I had written down in all my dream journals that I wanted to work with them as a photographer for years, like from 2014 on. And then we transitioned into music and we became friends with him and he became our producer. It’s been a really, really fun journey to see that come to fruition and be able to get to know him as a friend. He’s got a big heart and he’s very, very talented so I think both of us have just been stoked to have him around. He’s so talented and that’s just undeniable. Everybody in town speaks so highly of him and you can just tell he’s got a really, really special soul and he really took it to a new level,” she gushed.
Malachi also took a moment to recognize how much respect they have for Osborne and his willingness to take time out of his busy schedule to support their musical endeavors.
“One thing that we always want to note and respect is that that’s one of the most established duos in town, in the music industry, and the fact that we can sit under John’s mentorship along with his producer relationship has really been special,” he shared with pride. “I just wanted to make note of that because this is something that we really appreciate it and want to honor.”
How Earning A Record Deal Has Impacted Their Career
“Marshall County Man” will always be a stand-out in their growing catalog of tunes, not only because it’s their first murder ballad but also because the duo hailing from North Georgia sees it as the song that got their foot in the door in Nashville.
“We’ve thought about this song for so long and we play it live every single time,” Logan shared. “We were still just gigging in our small town when Ron’s Studio at Universal found us and we brought this song in to sing for the staff. We feel like it’s one of the special reasons that we got our publishing deal, got our record deal.”
Since signing with Warner Music Nashville and UMPG Nashville, the duo has been hard at work writing new music and touring with artists like Brothers Osborne, Ashley McBryde, Paul Cauthen, and Brent Cobb. Solidifying these deals has made a “huge” impact on their careers, according to Logan. It has allowed them to put their hard work ethic to use with a team of people who truly want to see them exceed.
“Malachi has been gigging and doing music and been an industry for a long time, so he knows a lot more than I do. I’ve learned a lot from him, but one thing that I learned right off the bat was you’ve got to work really, really hard, even if you’re the only person in the room rooting for yourself. So I think the biggest thing right now that has made the difference being with Warner is that we just have people that are alongside us that aren’t trying to change us or aren’t trying to change the direction that we’re already going in. They’re just rolling up their sleeves right beside us and cheering us on and giving us the resources we need to do what we’re already going to do. We are willing to work hard and we want everyone who’s on our team to grab a shovel and work hard with us and start digging pretty much. That’s how I feel like it’s changed. It’s just really providing us the tools that we didn’t have before.”
Malachi added, “It’s like whenever you’re doing this artist thing, you really gotta surround yourself with people that believe in you just as much, if not more than you do, because there’s times where it’s easy to get in a slump and lose hope or encouragement. That’s such a big piece of it, is that they just believe in what we’re doing, they’re not trying to morph us into something we’re not, and now that we’re just building our team, upwards and onwards. It feels good.”
Feeling Hopeful For The New Year
With that in mind, The Band Loula is looking forward to another year of recording, releasing new music, playing more live shows and continuing to grow their fan base with the hopes of leaving a good impression on those they encounter in the industry. Plus, they revealed they have been “writing our butts off” in hopes of being able to release their debut album in the near future.
“We’ve got a lot of plans to just keep that going and touring with people that we are inspired by and who knows what can happen at this point,” Logan shared hopefully.
Currently, the duo is on their first full tour with Elle King on the Baby Daddy’s Weekend Tour, which will wrap up on November 15 in Bowler, WI. Their final show of the year will take place on December 5 in Shipshewana, IN with Ashley McBryde.
The post The Band Loula Unveils the Story Behind Their Chilling Murder Ballad, ‘Marshall County Man’ [Exclusive] appeared first on Country Now.
