Title: Better Days Ahead
Released: December 2, 2012
Format: CD Single, Digital Download
Recorded: Three Crow Studios, Los Angeles, California
Genre: Alternative Rock
Length: 2:58
Label: Chaos Records
Written By: Brandon Caulfield
Produced By: Brandon Caulfield, JR Rhythm

“Better Days Ahead” is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Brandon Caulfield, it’s the third and final single to be released from his third studio album ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ released at the end of July 2012. It was written by Caulfield earlier in the summer while recording his most recent studio album and it was produced by Caulfield alongside the iconic guitarist of ‘The Bards’ fame, JR Rhythm who also provides pedal steel guitar and backing vocals on the track.
This is the third single from Caulfield’s most recent studio effort ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ and follows on from his first ever #1 single, ‘The Ballad Of A Vagabond (feat. Cristina Lake)’ and the top ten follow-up ‘My Disenchanted Society’ as well as his second number #1, the one-off charity single, ‘Wild Is The Wind (feat. Hannah Beth, Isabel and Hayden)’ and marks the singer-songwriters most commercially successful period in the music industry since his first release back in 2010.

In an early review of the album, Rolling Stone had this to say about the track, “Tales From The Heartlands is essentially a nostalgic journey through an Americana heart. It biggest strengths lie within the first four tracks and the final four tracks and envelops various emotions throughout, but it’s the final track ‘Better Days Ahead’, that leaves a mark on the listener, not just because it’s the freshest in your memory upon completing the listening experience of the entire album but more importantly because of the powerful positivity and hopefulness that it brings forth. It makes you believe that there is a positive future ahead for the characters in the song and brings the album to a close perfectly.
Also inside the song is a subtle but important element to Brandon Caulfield’s growth as a songwriter, the lines in particular ‘Just keep your cross hangin’ round your neck/And darlin’ you’ll be alright/Keep your faith close to your heart/And together we’ll make it through the night’ show for perhaps the first time that Caulfield is willing to push his own ideas and beliefs into his work and it gives the song an added strength, whether this will result in a more autobiographical approach to his songwriting in the future remains to be seen and in all honesty would seem relatively unlikely for the man that prefers the storyteller approach, but it shows a comfort in himself for the first time, a self-confidence if you will that has always been lacking for the quiet natured singer-songwriter, so an overall analysis of this record and this final song in particular is that we’re now watching an influential American songwriter growing as a man in front of our very own eyes, on the basis of this, I can’t wait to see what’s next for Brandon Caulfield”

The track combines elements of the majority of previous songs from ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ but shows a much more rock oriented delivery in both the vocals and instrumentation from Brandon, interestingly though, Caulfield played the song acoustically during the supporting tour of his previous album, which took on a much more emotional resonance rather than the powerful assertiveness of this studio version.
As with all songs from ‘Tales From The Heartlands’, this was recorded at ‘Three Crow Studios’ in Los Angeles, California during June and July 2012, and was produced by both Brandon Caulfield and JR Rhythm. It will be available to purchase from December 2, 2012 both as a CD Single or Digital Download, as well as being made available for Airplay.

SONG DESCRIPTION

‘Better Days Ahead’ was the final track in the running order for ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ and was placed perfectly on the record as it served as a light at the end of the tunnel sort of track, it gave some perhaps much needed positivity amidst the collection of songs that were generally revolving around themes of difficulties and struggles which was the basis of the record. But this track was the closer for the album, despite it being one of the briefest tracks from the album, it served as an anthemic calling drenched in a chest beating positivity that looks forward with hope rather than backwards at despair.
In comparison to previous songs from ‘Brandon Caulfield’ this one places its main focus in a slightly more positive direction, as an album closer it’s appearance is essentially to give a slightly more hopeful feel in comparison to the somewhat frustrating and disappointing nature of most of the albums themes, it serves as the silver lining in order to show that there can indeed be better days ahead despite the difficulties that you go through and that belief is something to hold onto very much because sometimes that’s all we have. Many have seen this song as the perfect way to end the album and in an interview with Caulfield he stated, “I think it ties together a lot of the music from the album, I’ve sung about struggling relationships, abandonment and the difficulties to provide for your family but I feel like there has to be a positive element at some point and I think that this track tied together a lot of the songs from the album”

The song begins with a repetitive drum beat that sets the nature of the track and is quickly followed by an electric guitar riff that manages to drive the song forward and gives an underlying power and added importance and meaning to the song’s lyrics. As Brandon comes in with his vocals at around eleven seconds in with the scene setting opening verse (“Well that dark cloud that covered everything that we once knew/Has started to clear our vision, that much is true/We’ll take the world on and everything that it has to throw/We ain’t hidin’ from life no more/No longer are we waiting for a break to come/We’re standing strong, we’re fighting on/Cos’ we weren’t born to run.”), they are rather powerful and are sung with an assertiveness which is a relatively rare element as previous records of his have been softly sung with tenderness. His vocals match the instrumental power during the song and it’s even more evident during the song’s anthemic rock chorus as Brandon repetitively sings of better days ahead (“There’s better days ahead, baby/Just take it all in stride/There’s better days ahead, baby/With me standing by your side/There’s better days ahead/No more fear or doubt/There’s better days ahead/We can’t go without.”), the instrumental music doesn’t let up either and Brandon continues to sing with that powerful rock vocal during the final verse as he sings about keeping faith and belief in things (“Just keep your cross hangin’ round your neck/And darling, you’ll be alright/Keep your faith close to your heart/And we’ll make it through the night/Hard times come and hard times go/But we’ll keep marchin’ on through”) that everything will find it’s right path and to quote the song’s title, there will be ‘Better Days Ahead’

SONGWRITER’S ANALYSIS

“When it comes to writing an album, I think it’s important to have a solid foundation to work from. A general underlying theme that ties each of the songs together in some sort of way, otherwise it’s just a jumbled up mess. And so when it came to writing the majority of songs for the album, it was clear to me that it was gonna take on a downtrodden sort of social commentary on the world as it is right now, that sort of vibe. But I try to look positively in life and felt that a track that could bring a little light relief and hope as a sort of polar-opposite to the previous songs on the album would be an ideal way to end the record.
Because the album as a whole was basically stating that, we all go through difficult times and it’s happening more than ever right now to more and more people, but I needed something that sort of said, ‘Just keep pushing through and keep a little faith because things can get better over time.’ And then this song eventually came, it was finished pretty quickly, I think under an hour from coming up with that opening guitar riff to having the lyrics tied down and the song was created, it was a rarity but a great thing for me at that time because I had worked tirelessly on a lot of the other songs.

‘Better Days Ahead’ is quite possibly the most hope filled song that I’ve ever written and it has that raise your arms in the air type of anthemic chorus that I’ve not really ever done before, so it was definitely an interesting track to record and I think having it appear at the end of the album takes away some of the depressive weight of the album. It hopefully gives a good feeling as you finish listening to the album.
This was notable track for me as it was the first time that I had ever really put forward some sort of religious imagery but there’s always that element of your own beliefs that dictate whatever you do in your life, if you’re a songwriter then it will ultimately come into your music but it’s a difficult subject to sing about because I’m not about to start preaching to people and start telling people what to believe, I was brought up with Christianity and it’s a part of me that will always remain but I’m not gonna be preachy to anybody, I think that line in particular came unexpectedly for the song and I’m sure it will creep into my writing from time to time but it’s not something I’m gonna set out to write about, I think that some people don’t have that direction in their life and would benefit from faith but it’s not something that I’ll force into my work.

I think it ties together a lot of the music from the album, I’ve sung about struggling relationships, abandonment and the difficulties to provide for your family but I feel like there had to be a positive element at some point and I think that this track did a great job at tying together a lot of the songs from the album, it created a sort of running theme throughout the album and ended things on a positive note.
The weirdest thing to me though is when people come up to me and talk to me about my songs having an effect on their lives in some way, I’ve been told a few times that ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ and in particular ‘Better Days Ahead’ have given people added hope that they were starting to lose. So it’s really a rather nice and humbling thing to hear about your music having a positive impact on the lives of those that listen to it and it just proves that they’re the reason we do what we do.”
– Brandon Caulfield

LYRICS

“Well that dark cloud that covered everything that we once knew
Has started to clear our vision, that much is true
We’ll take the world on and everything that it has to throw
We ain’t hidin’ from life no more
No longer are we waiting for a break to come
We’re standing strong
We’re fighting on
Cos’ we weren’t born to run

We got tired of sitting in fear
Watching the whole world pass us by
Afraid to take our chances
Afraid to even try
But the dark cloud has cleared
And our worries have washed away
We ain’t afraid to believe once more
And this is what I’ll say

There’s better days ahead, baby
Just take it all in stride
There’s better days ahead, baby
With me standing by your side
There’s better days ahead
No more fear or doubt
There’s better days ahead
We can’t go without

Just keep your cross hangin’ round your neck
And darlin’, you’ll be alright
Keep your faith close to your heart
And together we’ll make it through the night
Hard times come and hard times go
And we’ll keep on marchin’ on through
Don’t look back into the past
Just look at me standing here
Forever standing right beside you

There’s better days ahead, baby
There’s no use in looking back
Cos’ there’s better days ahead, baby
Just forget about the things that we may lack
There’s better days ahead, baby
Just believe what I say to be true
There’s better days ahead, baby
I’ll forever be waiting here for you

PERSONNEL

Brandon Caulfield – lead vocals, lead guitar, drums and percussion, lyrics, composition, production
JR Rhythm – pedal steel guitar, backing vocals, production
Haley Caulfield – photography, artwork