Don’t let its title fool you: Josh Grider‘s new song “Life’s a Party” is deeper than those three words let on. The sentimental, traditional-leaning love song, built around a unique metaphor, is premiering exclusively on The Boot; press play below to listen.
“Life’s a Party,” written by Grider with Jamie Floyd and Bobby Hamrick, turns the familiar phrase into a full-blown picture: “Some show up early, some come late / Some hang around, some slip away … Some bring the songs, some bring the wine / Some make you laugh until you cry / Some leave and never say goodbye … You get a few that always stay to help clean the mess they didn’t make / Somethin’ always seems to break,” Grider sings.
Throughout the song, Grider describes this life-long celebration over acoustic and steel guitars, the latter played by Zach Moulton of Mike and the Moonpies. The chorus perfectly expresses, within the song’s story, how the people who change our lives forever come into it in the first place.
“I didn’t know you were coming, but then you arrived / Right out of nowhere, right on time,” Grider sings. “Sometimes people like you show up out of the blue / But you can stay as long as you want to …”
“Thinking about the randomness of life and love and likening it all to one big party was such a cool idea, and I’m so grateful Jamie Floyd shared it with me and Bobby Hamrick,” Grider says of “Life’s a Party,” which he produced, too. “Not only is “Life’s a Party” one of my favorite songs I’ve been a part of, the track is one of my favorites, too. I have no doubt this song is going to one of those that I’m still singing 20 years from now.”
If “Life’s a Party” sounds familiar, that’s because Floyd released her own version of the song in 2020. The Randy Rogers Band, Reba McEntire and George Strait have all expressed interest in the song since Grider, Floyd and Hamrick co-wrote it a couple years ago, but when it was still unclaimed when Grider went to make his next album, it was, he says, “a no-brainer” to record.
“Life’s a Party” will appear on Grider’s forthcoming new album, Long Way From Las Cruces. The artist wrote much of the project leading up to his 40th birthday, and recorded it at Yellow Dog Studios in Wimberly, Texas (Grider is from New Mexico but now lives in the Lone Star State).
Long Way From Las Cruces, due out on Nov. 12, is Grider’s third solo album of a two-decade-long career, following 2018’s Good People and a couple of one-off singles released in 2020. Fans can keep up with Grider at JoshGrider.com.
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