Rat Dreams hopes to see the light of the clear blue morning

Rat Dreams singer and guitarist Will Myers received his first real introduction to Dolly Parton via the NPR podcast “Dolly Parton’s America,” recalling how the program opened his eyes to the various diverse communities of people who had discovered deep connection in her music.

“And I remember one moment in particular, where they had a queer, Appalachian folk artist who goes on and plays ‘Wildflowers’ and talks about how important the song was to them, and how it helped them through so much, and helped them to really embrace who they are,” said Myers, who joined Rat Dreams percussionist Dan Seibert for an early July interview. “And what I learned from that, and what I’ve gleaned in my relatively still newfound appreciation for Dolly’s music, is her authenticity and her deep commitment to honesty and being who you are.”

“Wildflowers” is one of a trio of songs Rat Dreams performed during the Athenians for Bodily Autonomy concert in 2023, a show in which a half-dozen bands performed covers of Dolly Parton songs to raise money for Abortion Fund of Ohio and Holler Health Justice. The songs performed by Rat Dreams on that night have now resurfaced on a digital EP released last week and dubbed No Regret for the Path that I Chose, the proceeds from which will be donated to TransOhio and Holler Health Justice.

In reinterpreting Parton’s tunes, Rat Dreams, whose lineup for the sessions was rounded out by keyboardist Jack Doran and singer/bassist Carrie Stratton, drew heavy inspiration from the Emmylou Harris album Wrecking Ball, recorded alongside producer Daniel Lanois and imbued with what Seibert described as “an innate sense of discovery.”

“It’s basically four people that made this record, and all of them were from distinct musical worlds,” said Seibert, who received his introduction to Parton via the White Stripes cover of “Jolene.” “And it just bursts with this feel … that they’re discovering something together as they’re playing.”

Rat Dreams recorded the EP tracks the day after the bodily autonomy benefit show in the garage of the Athens home in which Myers then lived, with the musicians embracing the spontaneity of the moment rather than laboring over details. “We did two takes of every song and said, ‘That’s the record,’” Myers said. 

Part of this urge can be traced to the circumstances of that moment, with the EP serving as an exhale, of sorts, captured at a point in time when the band members were neck-deep in sessions for a comparatively elaborate full-length planned for release later this year. “And it was refreshing to have this thing where you don’t have to rehearse the songs for a full year … and then have this very intensive recording,” Myers said. “We really just wanted to capture us in the room.”

Along with “Wildflowers,” Rat Dreams also recorded a tender version of “My Blue Tears” and a rootsy, gospel-tinged take on “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” the latter of which extends beyond seven minutes and finds Myers and Stratton repeating the line “everything’s gonna be all right” as if they’re somehow trying to will the idea in existence.

In that moment, Myers said his thoughts were still centered on the previous night’s benefit concert and the urgency he felt in trying to organize pro-choice actions in small town Ohio in the months after courts struck down Roe v. Wade. As the years have passed, and social and political realities have continued to corrode, these ideas have expanded outward to include other under-attack people, from immigrants to the trans community. 

“It was obvious even two years ago that this was a force we would have to fight against to preserve any future worth having,” Myers said. “So, I think that repeated ‘everything’s gonna be all right,’ even two years ago it very much felt like everything absolutely isn’t fucking okay, but it is a bold thing to repeat. … I think we’ve all been hoping for a clear blue morning for a while now.”

Still, it was a passage in “Wildflowers” that Myers said most caught him off guard during recording, the musician sharing that he was “half in tears” when he delivered the line that would eventually become the title of the EP, struck by how it captured everything he and his bandmates were rallying around both in that moment and in the years since.

“I think it sums up in such a beautiful way everything that I’m fighting for and that we’re fighting for in this world,” he said. “That line, and I mean that whole song, really, it just really cuts me right to the heart.”