The Armoires’ “Pushing Forty,” from their most recent Zibaldone album is the latest Big Stir Digital Single, released January 17, 2020. The B-Side, “Shame And Bourbon,” is a new track, and features the impressive viola skills of Larysa Bulbenko. The single’s artwork was created by Edward Huerta, drummer for the band Rockford.

The Armoires have also created a video for the track, also released on January 17th, on the Big Stir Media YouTube Channel. Here’s the intro to the channel from Rex & Christina. Take a look and subscribe to the channel, which already has great content and will only get better as the Big Stir universe expands:

“Pushing Forty” comes in at full gallop, a rollicking romp through life as an Armoire, with nods to The Who (“Hope I live before I get old”). It’s pretty clear that Rex, Christina & Co have no intention of going gently into that good night, and the harmony vocals, boosted by Larysa’s viola, are wonderful and joyous.

There are two versions of “Shame And Bourbon,” including the “Clean Version.” which omits a 7 second exchange between Rex and Christina that ends with Rex’s admission that he “f’d up.” It’s a sweet honky tonk weeper, straight out of the campfire in “The Three Amigos” or any Gram Parsons bootleg you’d care to pull off the shelf. You can find the full backstory for the song on the Big Stir Digital Singles page. The lyrics capture the perfect “staring at the bottom of an empty whiskey glass” detachment of all the classic old-school Country classics…“He can’t tell me something I don’t already know…”

You can find our review for “Zibaldone” and its companion disc, “Side Three,” HERE.