Every generation gets the record that tells it what it already suspected about itself, and Sawyer Hill has apparently decided this one's his to make. The Fayetteville, Arkansas singer-songwriter's debut album arrived August 21 via AWAL Recordings carrying a title that doubles as an indictment: Everybody's Home, Nobody's Happy. Eleven tracks, one very pointed thesis, zero interest in letting anyone off easy—including himself.
"One of my biggest inspirations for that title was thinking about how in today's world we have almost everything we could ever want materially, but yet we're the least happy we've ever been," Hill says. "I think in a smaller more domestic sense it's like, everyone is at the dinner table but no one is truly present. I feel like that really rings true to where we're at as a country, but even at the smaller levels like home or church."
It's a big swing for a debut, and Hill will tell you it wasn't the easy way to go. There was, apparently, a much simpler record he could have made (but didn't).
"I feel like the biggest challenge while making this record was digging deep enough within myself to find those truths and nuggets that I'll be able to stand behind for the rest of my life," he says. "I wanted to try to go beneath surface level topics with these songs." He credits part of that clarity to logging off. "I think it's easy nowadays to get caught up in the weird feedback loop of social media approval, but a huge help for me was taking a big break from it and going inward for inspiration rather than relying on the external."
The record was cut in Los Angeles with a rotating cast of producers—Mike Crossey (The 1975, Arctic Monkeys), Chris Greatti (Poppy, Yungblud), Ryan Linville (Olivia Rodrigo, Dermot Kennedy)—which on paper sounds like a lot of chefs for one kitchen. Hill insists it worked out, and he's got a favorite ingredient nobody saw coming.
"I think the biggest surprise in the studio for me at least was the heavy use of slide guitar across the record," he says. "People will say, 'You're a rock artist, you have to use classic or contemporary rock sounds with power chords' and that's just not true. In the studio I like to paint with a lot of different colors and sounds, and the sound of the slide really helped shape the record."
The other surprise was subject matter, and this is where the record stops being just a breakup-and-Bible-belt affair and starts getting genuinely gutsy. Hill didn't plan on writing political songs. But he wrote them anyway.
"I think in general these days artists are discouraged from making statements on political things by their label or the culture, and then we get saddened by how toothless rock music or music in general has become," he says. "I really didn't expect to go there for this record, but when trying to speak from the heart it all came naturally."
As for what any of it is supposed to mean once it leaves his hands, Hill's not interested in telling you that either. He'll hand you the songs and let you do the rest.
"Take any song for example, your favorite song in the world that you listen to with the windows down on an open road could be the same song that brings me to tears or the one I want played at my funeral," he says. "One of the beautiful things about art and making songs is that once the piece is finished, whatever people decide to make of it or what it means to them is totally up to them. At the end of the day the best that I can hope for is that this album made you feel something, whether that's joy or pain."
If you need a starting point, Hill's pointing you toward the back of the tracklist, "I'm really excited for fans to hear a song called 'Blankest Canvas,'" he says. "It's the last song on the record and one that I was maybe advised wouldn't be a good move. That song is super special to me though and I have a feeling it'll be special to the fans as well."
Pressed on what else the world ought to know—about the record, about him—Hill mostly deflects to the release date and, when cornered, offers up a fun fact instead of a thesis statement.
"I want them to know the record [came] out August 21st and that I'm super excited to get it out into the world," he says. "As for something I'd like the world to know about me, I'm not sure. I think these songs are a huge piece of me and listening to them would definitely tell you something. But if you just want a fun fact, I'm double jointed, lactose intolerant, and unfortunately an avid gamer."
Fair enough. And Hill is mapping out a full year around the album: "Release my first album, tour the U.S., U.K., Europe, and Australia, some incredible festivals lined up, and continue making the music I like with the people I love." That includes a 28-stop headlining run across the U.S. and Canada, plus stops at Outside Lands and Bourbon & Beyond—proof that even an artist obsessed with the emptiness of modern life is, at minimum, showing up for the gig.
Everybody's Home, Nobody's Happy is out now.
Photo credit: Silken Weinberg
