‘SOMETHING TO LATCH ON TO’
Santa Fe musician releases single from album written during pandemic
Carter Beckworth’s life is pretty balanced these days. He’s working a 9-to-5 job and gets to see his family because he’s not touring.
In the spare moments, he writes music. Soon that will change, because Beckworth will become a dad.
“I’m fortunate,” he says of his life. “A lot of people have lost that privilege. For me, during the pandemic, I wrote music to help keep my spirits up.”
Beckworth is a singer-songwriter from Texas who is based in Santa Fe.
He and his family moved to New Mexico a little over a year ago. It was a place he always wanted to live.
He is known for combining rock, R&B and electronic elements in his music.
Beckworth has released five solo albums since 2007, and he is also the lead vocalist of the rock band Baker Hotel, with whom he has released two albums.
“I grew up in Texas, and I’ve been spending time in New Mexico since I was a kid,” he says. “My dad used to take us backpacking and explore New Mexico. When I was living in Colorado, I’d come down here to visit.”
Beckworth is celebrating the release of his latest single, “Jillian,” written for his wife.
The writing process for the song began years ago when Beckworth was dating the woman who would become his wife.
She was living in New York and he was a touring musician based in Texas.
“While on tour, I would visit her in New York and hang out in her apartment during the day,” he says. “I started writing this poem. The song is basically parts of the poem that are picked out. I started playing it live, and people started to request the song.”
Beckworth spent months at home writing tracks that would become a new album called “pocketknife.”
He started the album in the early days of the pandemic, and he says it was something he could be excited about.
For months, he wrote verses, choruses and bridges.
Because it was a pandemic album, he wanted to give it a strong name because he had poured his soul out.
“I came up with a metaphor for something you never know you have until you need it,” he says. “I had 40 songs that I had written. The process saved me. It gave me something to latch on to in this world that was at a standstill.”