The Dirt Deacons have completed their first single of 2025. ‘Leave’ will be distributed to all streaming platforms on February 7. The song was originally co-written by band members Keith Plunkett and Bryce Upshaw with former Billystick band mates Mark Saxton and Sha Watson, alongside frequent collaborator and friend Matthew Cader.
“The song sounds like it could have been written yesterday,” says Plunkett of the newly minted recording. “And there can be no better compliment in my mind. Good songs are always good songs, and this mix of ‘Leave’ sounds better than it ever has.”
‘Leave’, originally written in 1990 and recorded as a part of Billystick’s EP released in 1991, was co-written with Cader, who died in 2011.
Cader wrote the basic chord structure of the song and the band members jammed it over and over to flesh out the other song changes and the vocal harmonies.
“Matthew was a phenomenal musician,” added Plunkett. “He could write these really solid melodies that lended themselves to a thousand possibilities with vocal harmonies. He was fun to write with because the songs had space that allowed me to go anywhere vocally.”
When the original lineup of Billystick ended a few years later, drummer Bryce Upshaw and Plunkett brought in long-time friend and guitar player, Brad Chamblee. The songs, including ‘Leave’, began taking on Chamblee’s personality on guitar, which offered an edgier interpretation. In many ways this prior project was a precursor to the songs The Dirt Deacons are currently writing and recording.
After the success of ‘Good Day in 2024, The Dirt Deacons first studio single, working again with Producer Mike Yates was a given.
“We went into the studio to record ‘Good Day’ kind of as a play-around thing,” says Upshaw. “I don’t think we really expected to do anything but give Mike a way to get some hours with some of his gear to pass along to his students. And we wanted to see how we sounded in the studio since it had been a while for all of us to work in that setting.”
Once the experience was behind them the band members immediately started thinking towards the next opportunity.
Recording at Holmes Community College’s Entertainment Industry Studies facilities in the Montgomery Fine Arts Building on the Goodman Campus was a throwback experience for Chamblee, Plunkett and Upshaw, who all attended school there together before forming their first band.
“It’s great being there and it’s great working with Mike,” said Chamblee who has played in musical projects with Yates in years past. “He’s very talented and he has an incredible ear. He gets us musically, and he understands what we’re trying to do with a song.”
Bass guitarist Brad Caraway agrees. “Mike was really helpful in working with me to flesh out a different but similar bass line that worked, which was important for a song that had already been written,” he said. “I stayed true to the original, but put my own spin on it to better drive the song. It worked out great.”