For Songs & Daughters starlet Madison Kozak, the last two and a half years were an opportunity to dig deep. As a creative, her heart’s been sewn to her sleeve from the start, breaking out in 2019 with a detail-packed, self-penned tribute to her father in “First Last Name,” one of
Brides’ Songs to Walk Down the Aisle To and a ballad Taste of Country compared to Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me” “in all the right ways.”
Since that glinting moment, Kozak has taken a step inward, using nearly two full years of quarantine to look at who she is and what she has to say. “These last two years I spent a lot of time reflecting on where I’ve been, which is something I felt like I had to do before I could cast a vision of where I wanted to go next musically,” Kozak shares. The first taste of that reflection is “If We Were A Country Song,” available everywhere today.
Co-written by Kozak with GRAMMY-award winners Jon Randall (“Whiskey Lullaby,” “Tin Man,” The Marfa Tapes) and Gordie Sampson (“Jesus, Take The Wheel,” “Just A Dream,” “God, Your Mama, and Me”), and produced by Chris LaCorte, “If We Were A Country Song” waltzes to nostalgic instrumentation with poetic lyrics and a Nashville-style twist.
From the first stolen kiss
To the last broken heart
What a mess we made
But what a work of art
Would’ve gone all the way
To number one on the chart
If we were a country song
Down in the deep cuts
Where the steel guitar fades
That’s the part of our story
That couldn’t be saved
But damn we’d look good
In the heartbreak hall of fame
If we were a country song
“’If We Were A Country Song’ is traditional, vulnerable, romantic…we just started chasing this true, old-fashioned heartbreak ballad,” Kozak says. “With all the imagery, like classic country nods to vinyl and whiskey, Johnny and June, Dolly and Porter. When I close my eyes and listen to it, it puts me in Nashville in the ’60s. It’s classic, but it still feels true and fresh today. It’s everything I love about country music.”
To pair with the aching country ballad, Kozak also released the official music video for “If We Were A Country Song” directed by Justin Clough and captured in Thompson Station, Tenn. earlier this year. “We spent a day in a beautiful house south of Nashville bringing this song to life visually. I love the drama of this video – with the outfit and the piano and even the way Justin and his team shot it, it fits with the theme of the song so seamlessly. It’s a dream to see what they helped us create on screen.” Watch “If We Were A Country Song” here.
This summer, Kozak hits the road up north for a series of stops in Canada including sets at Boots and Hearts and Lasso Montreal. Stateside, Kozak will light up the Spotlight Stage at Nashville’s CMA Fest on June 10 as announced earlier this week.“I feel extraordinarily grateful,” Kozak adds. “There’s more on the way that I’m so proud of. I just hope you love it as much as I do.”
ABOUT MADISON KOZAK
“Sharp, swooning, and all the right kinds of sentimental” (Rolling Stone), blossoming singer/songwriter Madison Kozak mesmerizes listeners with a strong pen and a vulnerable voice. Her breakout debut single, “First Last Name,” not only scored the Belmont alum a publishing deal with Big Loud in 2018, but compelled award-winning songwriter Nicolle Galyon to launch female-driven label Songs & Daughters, and sign Kozak as their flagship artist. In the months following her signings, Kozak graduated with a music business degree, toured the U.S. and Canada with Morgan Evans, Aaron Watson, and Mason Ramsey, and made her Grand Ole Opry debut to a standing ovation. Named to CMT’s 2021 Listen Up roster and 2020 Next Women of Country class, the Lindsay, Ontario native was named a country artist to watch by Pandora, Pop Culture, Sounds Like Nashville, and more. Kozak returns with a taste of “a voice that glows and songwriting capability that resonates” (Sounds Like Nashville) on her first new release in over two and a half years, “If We Were A Country Song.”
