In "Year Of the Rabbit," North Georgia songwriter Wyatt Espalin doesn't deliver just a song but a gentle yet profound change in perspective. The second single from his upcoming full-length delicately balances openness and wisdom, taking you on a journey of self-discovery.
Espalin has always known how to tell a story, but "Year Of the Rabbit" is different. This feels like a heart cracking open, not in grief but in growth. Grounded in folk tradition but illuminated by a Muscle Shoals sheen, the song is strong not in defiance but in submission. That's where the miracle lies.
Espalin's acoustic guitar and Elliott Sperin's clawhammer banjo are united in producing a stripped-down, plain, and simple soul. It's the sort of musical environment that draws you in close. Then the song floods over you as Zach Kilmer's electric guitar plays a hum of memory, Pat Strawser's keys stretch like sunlight through stained glass, and the rhythm section of Drew Lawson and Colin Agnew holds the pulse down and's got it red.
Espalin uses the Chinese zodiac as a lyrically personal metaphor. From then on, the Rabbit is a marker, a beacon of another kind of resilient, nurturing strength grounded in love rather than battle. This lesson in resilience is clearly one Espalin lived before putting it to paper.
The chorus lifts with an emotional clarity of its own, enhanced by the ethereal harmonies of Grace Pettis and Erin Worley, who create an otherworldly echo of Espalin's inner voice. "Year of the Rabbit" listens, reflects, and then it speaks softly with power. In the process, Wyatt Espalin reminds us that healing doesn't have to arrive in some big, brash moment. Sometimes, it appears in the secret courage to start over.
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Reviewed by LyricalOdyssey Music
on
May 09, 2025
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