Page 47 - Poze Magazine Volume 77

Q &A with

Colin Lillie

The Ballad of Evey is full of emotion. Growing up in
Scotland, I never played an instrument, sang in bands, or
wrote songs; I was too busy just trying to survive a life of
abuse, alcoholism, and heavy drug addiction. As a kid,
my life was that of a young caregiver for a mother who
was unwell and a father who seemed to work and drink
to escape his anger, but not always successfully. My only
real escape at that time was church and my mom's huge
record collection, which was full of Vinyl records and
included recordings of Country Gospel’s best songs and
singers. This collection included some of my all-time
favorite songs, like the poem performed by Luke the
Drifter (Hank Williams) called “The Funeral,” but it
was a version by Red Foley that had me mesmerized as a
boy. My mom was a great lover of Jim Reeves, and I
guess those old recordings come through on this track;
there is even a little flavor of Willie Nelson in the
production from his “Red Headed Stranger” album.

What inspired you to create Side B of "The Ballad of
Evey," and what can you tell us about its story?
The inspiration for this track comes from when I was
recording my second album, “Shades of Love,” which I
released during COVID. I was in the studio when I got a
call that a friend of mine had passed away by taking her
own life. This friend I met in Alice Springs, Australia,
was a social worker who always saw the best in everyone,
even though she herself had been treated so badly by
others Evie suffered from fibromyalgia, a condition that
can leave the sufferer with crippling muscle and body
pain, headaches, and terrible depression as a result of the
strain on her body and mental health. I guess Evie had
had enough, and when I heard it, I couldn't focus, so the
producer of the album told me to go and write
something, and the track was written and recorded in two
hours.

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