Drowning your soul in a shallow creek is the type of visual that KaiL Baxley paints in his song, “Beneath The Bones”. The folk singer/songwriter carries a wealth of gray life experiences and a bullet wound with a shrouded origin. His short stories mention an outlawed father and weekly visits to see his mother in the state penitentiary.
His debut album, Heat Stroke / The Wind and The War, sprung like a rose out of concrete in 2013. Up until that milestone, Baxley had a difficult lifestyle. For 2 years, he had to live in an RV on Selma Blvd. to afford the costs of making the album. Fortunately, his entryway into stardom received some worthy attention. NPR nominated Baxley’s heartwrenching gospel/blues record for album on the year. These are just a few snapshots.
KaiL Baxley – “Beneath The Bones”
The beautiful visuals of the video complement Baxley’s captivating songwriting. There’s a rugged, life-like appeal that translates well with his identity and what we know about his past. With a shovel in hand, Baxley ventures into a lonely forest as dead leaves rise around him. The natural beauty of the forest is nice to look at, but the lifeless hand reaching from the dirt steadily throws a dark blanket over everything. As Baxley travels forward, time itself moves backward. It’s as if turning back time won’t change anything, or perhaps it’s a representation of Baxley revisiting the past. No matter the interpretation, his visual portrayal of the song is spot on.
Shedding bones won’t set me free
Again I sing what I can’t speak
How can I hide if I can’t see
Gonna drown my soul in a shallow creek
Gonna drown my soul in a shallow creek
After listening very closely to the lyrics, it’s obvious that the KaiL Baxley pulled from one of the pages of his life story. I’m sitting here stunned because it’s sadly rare to find songwriting like this these days. “It’s an autobiographical song about learning how to live with regret,” says Baxley. “The process of moving on and letting go. The acknowledgment that there are no perfect answers and that sometimes what is, is simply what it is because it is.”
These lines are undoubtedly the most chilling lines I’ve heard all year:
One-eyed Jack to a shot at me
He missed the heart with a shoulder, clean
They say revenge is always sweet
Again, I sing what I can’t speak
Followed by…
The old ways are dead and gone now
Fighting hard to find some peace
I’ve been running for such a long time
I thought it’d set me free
I thought it’d set me free
The fact that Baxley actually has a bullet wound in his left shoulder gives me chills. After all, he admits he’s singing what he can’t speak. I can’t help but replay the end of the music video in my head. It sparks questions about KaiL Baxley and who he is, but it also presents me with questions about my own past and begs me to answer them.
“Beneath the Bones” is an example of art that brings you closer to what’s real and what could become reality. Either way, every one of us is left with a uniquely personal interpretation that is borderline tangible. Regardless of the subject matter, I think there’s something eerie about how a song accomplishes that.
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