Watch Tyler Farr Go Crazy in New ‘Withdrawals’ Video
Not even Axl Rose has made a video this steeped in madness. For his intense new single “Withdrawals,” Tyler Farr sequestered himself in a single room to film the song’s video, trapping himself inside a glass box and, eventually, submerging himself in water. For the Missouri singer, it might have been akin to water torture, but the end result is one of the most mesmerizing videos of the year.
Directed by Eric Welch, the “Withdrawals” clip opens with a mega-close-up on Farr’s open eye, a metaphorical glimpse into the country boy’s soul. Or perhaps, the mind left broken after losing a lover. The song was written by Josh Kear, Gordie Sampson and Hillary Lindsey, and furthers the mostly introspective theme of Farr’s new album, Suffer in Peace.
“I’m a realist. I think half of the rest of country music’s got all the happy sing-song songs covered,” Farr tells Rolling Stone Country. While he admits to being in a good place, he says the pain that infuses parts of the album comes from “years of experience.”
“From living life to the fullest, sort of putting yourself out there, getting your heart broken,” he continues. “And I’ve lived. I mean, I’ve been through some shit. I put my heart into anything I do, relationships, singing. . . You have to do that to write great country songs. Not to say I’ve wrote great country songs, but I sure as hell tried to.”
Farr, who performed at CMA Music Festival last weekend in Nashville, is currently on the road, playing select shows with Jason Aldean. But while his music may sometimes be a little more tormented than the party-minded fare of his peers, Farr says there’s room for everyone.
“I let the fans and people figure out where I fit in to that,” he says. “But I think I have my own place in country music and I don’t worry about what other people are doing. I just do my thing and they can put me wherever they want me.”