Photography by Shane Kislack
Longtime Dallas musician Matt Hillyer has released a new single, Holding Fast, in preparation for his upcoming album, Glorieta.
The song was written and recorded by Hillyer and produced by John Pedigo. It marks his first release since Eleven Hundred Springs said farewell in November 2021. Hillyer says the track is a product of a songwriters group he joined during Dallas’ COVID-19 lockdown.
“During COVID, I thought if we don’t come out of this with a boatload of songs, we’re not real songwriters,” he said.
The group requires its members to write and send in one song per week. Many of the Americana tracks on Glorieta came from this workload.
“You’re always trying to write, but you know some of them are going to suck, it’s the law of averages,” Hillyer jokes, “But if you work that muscle out it’s going to get better.”
Hillyer found inspiration for the song through the difficulties local creatives had to endure through the pandemic.
“It’s a song about latching onto something that’s good,” he says, “See it through or stay the course for something.
Hillyer’s full record, Glorieta, hits streaming on Feb. 24.
