Premiere on Indie Boulevard! A single from his third album, Magical (digital release — May 22). An Americana duet recorded against the backdrop of a string orchestra arranged by Kip Winger.

To wake up dead — an oxymoron that instantly defines the territory of the song. It’s about a couple that has reached the point of a final argument, that kind of fight after which the morning still arrives, but the relationship — doesn’t. Technically, both are alive. In substance — it’s already over. Stanard embedded in the title that very duality which makes a good Americana lyric stick: the literal meaning is absurd, the figurative one — painfully precise.

Jim Stanard recorded a solo version of this song for the physical edition of the album Magical. By that point, the record had already lived a full life: top positions on the Roots Music Report charts in the Country and Americana categories, two returns to the charts after its initial run, two months on the EuroAmericana Chart, a mention in the “Editor’s Picks” of Relix Magazine, and over 1.7 million views of its music videos on YouTube. And so, with an album of proven reputation in hand, Stanard made a decision that speaks to who he is as an artist: he revisited his own material and realized that one of the songs sounded incomplete — that there was an empty chair in it, because “Waking Up Dead”, a song about two people, had been recorded with the voice of only one.

Stanard has always been one to revisit and rethink. After fifteen years of coffeehouse gigs in the sixties and seventies, he stepped away into a business career, then returned with Bucket List (2018) and Color Outside The Lines (2020), which charted on the EuroAmericana Chart and earned him a second-place finish at the International Songwriting Competition.

For the empty chair in “Waking Up Dead”, Stanard called on Crystal Gayle — a Grammy, ACM, and CMA Awards winner. A choice that could have looked like a gesture of ambition (bring in a legend, let her lend gravity), but which ultimately worked for a different reason. “I’ve always loved Crystal Gayle‘s voice, and when I thought about who could bring real and honest emotional depth to this, I realized she would be a great fit,” says Stanard.

The voices of Stanard and Gayle work in tandem, where the difference in their timbres and histories amplifies the lyric: two people with different life baggage singing about a couple falling apart, and the very distance between their vocal worlds adds a dimension to the text that the original artistic intent may not have even planned for. The duet turned out larger than anticipated — and therein lies its strength.

A song about the finality of a relationship set to a cappella strings with two earnest voices — a recipe that could easily tip into melodrama. “Waking Up Dead” avoids that through proportion: producer Kip Winger keeps the orchestration supportive rather than dominant, and Stanard and Gayle sing closer to speaking than performing. The digital release of Magical is set for May 22, with the duet version joining the updated album — a new center of gravity for a record that already proved itself on the charts.

You can listen to the song exclusively right now only on Indie Boulevard.

Waking Up Dead (feat. Crystal Gayle)

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