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Cale Tyson Drops The Twang And Picks Up A Torch: Hear 'not healthy anymore'

Two years ago at AmericanaFest, one of our favorite World Cafe Nashville discoveries was singer-songwriter Cale Tyson. Tyson grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, but has called Nashville home for the last six years. He released his debut album, Careless Soul, in 2017.

Where Careless Soul drew on a broad range of traditional country elements, Tyson's forthcoming EP, narcissist (out Feb. 1) is an intimate, sad, and often inspiring 180. Raw and stripped down, it positions Tyson more as a descendant of Elliott Smith and early Bright Eyes than the twangster influences he's worn on his sleeve.

Today we premiere "not healthy anymore," one of four mesmerizing new songs from narcissist. The song brings to mind his Harry Nilsson's classic "Without You," with the artist digging honestly and brutally into his own psyche. In an email, Tyson said of the song:

"I wrote this song about a doomed relationship. It's about trying to keep something alive that's meant to die, whether you like it or not. It's about playing games. It's about a power struggle. It's about completely losing your sense of self. But mostly, it's about realizing that something isn't healthy and working to put it aside. I wrote this (and every other song on the EP) and recorded it in my bedroom on the same day."

Listen to "not healthy anymore" above. File under: "More torch, zero twang."

Copyright 2018 XPN

Bruce Warren is assistant general manager for programming of WXPN in Philadelphia. Besides serving as executive producer of World Café, Warren also contributes to Paste magazine and writes for two blogs: Some Velvet Blog and WXPN's All About The Music Blog.