Goodnight, Texas Are in 'Decision Purgatory' in 'Dead Middle'

Folk-rock band Goodnight, Texas are in "decision purgatory" in their new song "Dead Middle." The melancholy track is premiering exclusively on The Boot; press play below to listen.

"Dead Middle" paints a picture of a couple stuck in a broken-down car, "32 miles from something." Whether it's their literal location or part of a larger metaphor for their sputtering relationship is up to the listener to decide.

""Dead Middle" is about that ambiguous middle ground where you need to make a decision," explains Avi Vinocur, Goodnight, Texas' co-lead vocalist, mandolin player, guitarist and banjo player. "I think we've all been there in one way or another. The best decision is almost always to move on. If you still aren't certain after enough time, that means something isn't right. No use standing in the middle of the road, go one way or another before you get hit by what could have been.”

"Dead Middle" comes from Goodnight, Texas' forthcoming new album, How Long Will It Take Them to Die. Vinocur and co-frontman Patrick Dyer Wolf (who also plays banjo and guitar) co-founded the band — which also includes Scott Griffin Padden (drums), Adam Nash (pedal steel, guitar, fiddle) and Chris Sugiura (bass) — in 2010 and named it for the Texas town that geographically falls directly in between their homes of San Francisco, Calif., and Chapel Hill, N.C.

Goodnight, Texas found a wider audience when, in March of 2020, their song "The Railroad" was used in the first minutes of the first episode of the surprise Netflix hit Tiger King. Their music has also been used in ads for Coors Banquet beer, and Metallica fans can hear their cover of "Of Wolf and Man" on the recently released The Metallica Blacklist covers project. Vinocur occasionally plays mandolin and sings with Metallica for acoustic performances.

How Long Will It Take Them to Die, Goodnight, Texas' seventh release, is due out on Jan. 22. Fans can learn more about the project, as well as the band's upcoming tour stops, at their official website.

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