Coby and the Prisoners relive their touring days on the band’s new track “Lonely All the Time,” off their upcoming album I Imagined A Window. The group first kicked things off in 2012 during some downtime between projects for songwriter and founder Coby Hartzler. Having grown up in a fairly conservative small town, with religion starkly at the focus, Hartzler began to question what he was being fed. For the young artist, music was a way to claw back at some of those ideas while proving that his creative pursuits were more than just a hobby, but a life’s path.
Hartzler reports that I Imagined A Window was born at the end of a year-long transition for his family. Having cut a deal with the world, one where he would gladly trade money for more time to spend on the things he cared most about, meant quitting his day job to stay at home with his 3-year-old, as well as buying the cheapest house he and his wife could find to fix up. It would prove to be a hectic period, but it ultimately bore one of the most freeing and creatively productive times for the young musician.
If Hartzler’s previous album, Everyone, had been the start of this transition to a freer way of life, it still had been written and recorded while he was working a 9-5 job and trying to fit music into any available time he could. However, the songwriter reports that his newest effort was the payoff of that transition. “To me, it is proof that it all worked,” Hartzler says “We have found ourselves at an easier pace in life.”
Live Eye Tv recently took time to chat with Coby about his band’s upcoming LP I Imagined A Window, as well as the album’s first single out today, “Lonely All the time.” Our email interview with the songwriter follows the Spotify embed below…
LETV: Touring, long drives, being an artist on the road can be tough, that seems to be the theme of this song. And now we’re living in a world where touring isn’t even happening. Has the feeling behind this song changed at all since you wrote it considering where we are now?
CH: “…the song draws on the feelings and emotions from touring in my early days. The chord progression of this one immediately gave me a “being on the road, traveling song” type of feeling, so I tried to just go there and put myself into those moments again. So it could be from the perspective of a touring musician or a long road trucker, or just being away from home for whatever reason. The song hasn’t really changed too much for me, although I do really miss traveling. I don’t think I’ve left my small town since this whole pandemic started.
LETV: “Lonely All The Time” has a great sound, it really does sound like traveling music. It’s a great Americana sound. You live in rural Ohio, how much do you feel that influences your sound?
CH: I think it 100% influences my sound. And I’ve tried to go with that and sort of chase that sound as I’ve gotten older. There is often more of an appreciation of where one is from that happens when you get older and I think I’ve opened up and allowed this area to influence the music I make more as well. I’m also really influenced by the season changes in Ohio. I usually get a burst of artistic energy around the change in weather. I believe this one was written in fall time of last year, and I’m glad it’s coming out in fall time this year, because I think it has the feeling of this season.
LETV: Tell us about the house that this was recorded in, and the story behind fixing it up and turning it into a studio.
CH: It’s been quite a process over the last two years. I was looking for a new spot for my studio space because the house I was moving to did not have any room. Through a few lucky chances, I met a guy in town who had a run down, 130 year old victorian house that had been sitting empty for the past 10 years or so. He offered to let me and a couple other people take over the place and use it as a studio. It was in pretty rough shape on the outside, but luckily the inside was decently maintained. I did a few minor fix ups and made the entire first floor of the house a recording studio. After a year he offered to sell me the house.
My wife and I sold our current home and began some larger remodeling projects to make the place more liveable. We actually just moved in a couple weeks ago. It’s a pretty magical place. Tons of beautiful old woodwork. Lots of character. I think it definitely helps add a “vibe” to the recordings that are made here. I’m also excited to raise our 4 year old son in a house with a recording studio on the first floor. And, actually, you can keep an eye out for a music video we are releasing next week for this song. It was filmed in this house while we were making the record. I think it will give people a good idea of the place.
LETV: You’ve got a new album coming out later this month, tell us more about that!
CH: It’s called I Imagined A Window. We started recording it in the fall of 2019 and finished up sometime in the spring of 2020. I think it may be the most time I’ve ever spent on an album. Through some important life changes, I was able to make a lot of time for writing and recording this one. I’m happy with how it turned out. It will be strange releasing it into this world with everything going on. And I have a lot of mixed feelings about trying to promote my little record, while it is a really hard time for a lot of people right now. But music has always been my place of solace, and I know it is for a lot of other people too. And hopefully this album can be a small bit of peace or rest for someone.
