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Colorado “new grass” aficionados, Wood Belly, turn our confessor’s low key embarrassing first romantic encounter into high key folk pop delight in OUR FIRST EPISODE OF OUR THIRD FULL SEASON. HuZzAH!!! In this here part 1, you’ll hear the song and confession, and Zac talk about meeting his wife. In part 2, you’ll hear Wood Belly member Brennan tell you about the band’s history and what exactly it sounds like when doves cry.
Check out more Wood Belly here: https://www.woodbellymusic.com/
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The full transcript of this episode of Song Confessional is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Zac Catanzaro The song Confessional Podcast is a co-production of KUT/KUTX Studios and Good Taste Society.
Walker Lukens Hey, this is Walker Lukens and you are listening to…
Intro [sung] It’s the Song Confessional.
Walker Lukens Let me explain what we do here at Song Confessional. We travel all over the world recording people like you, telling us stories anonymously. We call these anonymous stories confessions. So we pick our favorite confessions, and we give them to songwriters and bands who turn them into new, original songs. In each podcast episode, you hear a confession. You hear the song it inspired and an interview with the songwriter who wrote it. I’m sitting here with my favorite little late bloomer. Tell themyour name.
Zac Catanzaro What’s up everybody? This is Zac Catanzaro.
Walker Lukens You’re not. You weren’t actually a late bloomer.
Zac Catanzaro No, I’d probably be considered an early bloomer if we’re defining roles.
Walker Lukens Well, we are. That’s what we’re here to do is to, is to, define things we could look up on Google. What is the opposite of a late bloomer? An early bloomer?
Zac Catanzaro I mean, I assume so. I all I know is I was the only boy in daycare holding hands with the girl, and everybody made fun of me.
Walker Lukens I was the only one in daycare who was also going through puberty, so I also…
Zac Catanzaro That’s terrifying.
Walker Lukens Well, on that note, what’s the name of our band featured on our episode today?
Zac Catanzaro We got Wood Belly out of Colorado.
Walker Lukens Described by co-lead singer Brennan as a bluegrass band with a folk rock singer and a jam band drummer.
Zac Catanzaro Yeah.
Walker Lukens Which is sort of like a Colorado shepherd’s pie.
Zac Catanzaro Which surprisingly, was also basically the first band I was in in high school. It was like a bluegrass folk band that never had a drummer. And then there I, there I am all of a sudden drumming along with the fucking banjo.
Walker Lukens I know the answer for your high school band, but I actually don’t know whether this is true for Wood Belly. Do they smoke copious amounts of weed? I guess that would be the only thing that would make them more Colorado.
Zac Catanzaro I mean, I’m sure. I don’t, we don’t really know them that well, but I’m positive there’s at least one member in that band that’s smoking.
Walker Lukens I think you’re right.
Zac Catanzaro They live in Colorado, and they’re playing hippie bluegrass.
Walker Lukens So the way these this band came into our life is that we have a permanent booth at the Mishawaka Amphitheater, in Fort Collins, near Fort Collins, Colorado, in the Poudre Canyon. And, these guys played a show there. So we hit them up to turn one of the confessions from that booth into a song. The song you’ll hear soon is called Late Bloomer. But first you’re going to hear this confession, which. What? How can you describe this confession without giving it away?
Zac Catanzaro Which is a little hard because the title’s already telling you a lot, but basically it’s it’s a guy telling us about one of his first romantic experiences and how he almost failed miserably at it. But it, yeah, he’s a he was he was unsure about the signals. We’ll put it that way.
Walker Lukens So before we give confessions to bands and songwriters, we give them these little names. So the Song Confessional crew can talk about them. And the name for this confession before we gave it to the band was Double Hug. So the name of the song is Late Bloomer, but our internal name for the confession was Double Hug.
Zac Catanzaro So think about that and take it with you as you listen.
Walker Lukens Well, without further ado, here’s this week’s confession. [barbershop quartet-style harmony] Confession.
Confession Okay. This is less of a confession and more of a story. This is a first kiss story, and it is also probably one of the more embarrassing things I’ve ever done. But not in a bad way. I’m a late bloomer. I had my first kiss when I was 20. I was studying abroad down in New Zealand, and, one of my best friends went with me, and he introduced me to this girl that he, got to know in, introductory stuff when we got down there. And I instantly, took notice of her and, was really into her and started hanging out, as a group for a few weeks. And, one night I decided to host and had a little wine and cheese party. Try and impress her. So I got a few bottles of wine, got a big plate, a cheese and crackers, and basically talked to her the entire time. And then, after a few hours, we all decided to go to a house party that was, on the other side of town. Small town. So we walked over and went to this house party was horrible. Everyone was pretty much over it within five, ten minutes. Way too many people. So then we all were going back, and, we were kind of going our separate ways, and we decided to hang out at, one of our other friends houses for a minute. Before my best friend and I went home and, she didn’t live too far away from the house. And so when we got up to the, the house, she said, okay, I’m going to go home. Have a good night, everyone. And I just waved at her and said, yeah, you do have a good night. And, one of our friends in the group, the guys house that we were going to hang out with, said, no, no, no, you are her home. And he pushed me towards her, and I was like, that was weird. I’m also very, very, very, very bad at reading signals, which will become very apparent in a couple moments. So I asked her if I could walk her home, and she said, yeah. And so I walked her home not too far, just like a block. And we stood outside of her house for way too many moments. And, I was telling her how much fun it was to hang out with her, how it was such fun night. She said, yeah, same, same her same for and just awkwardly stood there and I was like, okay, well have a good night. And she leaned in for a kiss. But, I did not understand that it was a kiss. I thought it was a hug. So I hugged her and in my mind I was like, nice. I got a hug, and, she kind of, like, got a little awkward and, like, smiled and chuckled to herself. And I was and I was. I didn’t understand what was going on. And so then she tried again and leaned in for another kiss. And in my head again, I was like, that’s really weird. Another hug. So I hugged her a second time and, it didn’t click off until when we were backing away from the hug. She kissed me on the cheek and then everything just synced for a moment and I was like, Holy shit, I was supposed to kiss her. And I got super awkward. And I was like, oh, I’m sorry, I had no idea. And then she dove in for a kiss on the third try. Third time’s a charm. I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I was so scared. And, then she kind of backed away. It was probably the worst kiss in her life, because I was just stone cold, and she just walked into her house, and I was just standing there shaking in my boots, and. Yeah, that was my. That was my first kiss. And the moment I told my brother, he told all of my family, my friends, and he called it the double hug story. And yeah, that was pretty freaking embarrassing. But good, good story nonetheless.
Walker Lukens And now here’s Late Bloomer by Wood Belly. [barbershop quartet-style harmony] Song.
Woodbelly (singing) What’s the formula for flight / Cause I’m grounded here tonight / I met some friends of friends / Cause I can’t cut it here abroad / You said it’s funny how I talk / But I like the way your R’s get lost / When the crow turns white / I’ll get what I want / Missed the moon come up and now I’m bummed / Cause I want to be twisting in your sun / Corduroy pants and a little luck / I can’t impress you any other way / I’m always late / A little late / And I’m never right In this goddamn life / Still I’m late / Outside the streets are wet / As I clutch a cluttered chest / We take the long way home / Cause you’re not living very far / Read this sentence over and over again / Never get the gist of what’s happening / I try to miss these dreams / Cause waking up can be so hard / We dig up dinosaur bones in the front of your house / We’re tectonic plates and we’re moving ground / It’ll take a generation to figure out / I can’t tell you any other way / I’m always late / A little late / And I’m never right In this goddamn life / Still I’m late A little late / Wonder why I’m paralyzed / Yeah i’m paralyzed / A little paralyzed / But I woke up on your front porch / Your front porch, your front porch / Maybe I want to you / Want to want you / Want to walk you home / Maybe I want to you / Want to want you / Want to walk you home / Maybe I want to you / Want to want you / Walk you home / Maybe I want to you / Want to want you / Want to walk you home
Zac Catanzaro That was Late Bloomer by Wood Belly written by Brennan Mackey, arranged and performed by Wood Belly. Engineered by Jordan Coyne at Americana Vibe Studio in LA, mixed by Jim Eno and mastered by Chris Longwood.
Walker Lukens This song does an incredible job of capturing, that feeling of kind of young romance when you’re. When you’re younger and less. I don’t know. I honestly the song, I mean this in a positive way, but it does sound like it could be on a CW show when two characters have been flirting for the entire season. Finally embrace after the football game. I guess they don’t football games anymore.. after, some crazy sci fi plotline and they finally kiss it, it feels like that.
Zac Catanzaro It does. It does have that like arc finality vibe. Yeah. It’s like we could be talking a full season arc, maybe a multi-season arc, I don’t know, but the payoff is now.
Walker Lukens Yes, definitely. And and I think it’s that moment. There’s this thing where, I’m not sure if it’s a guitar or a mandolin, but it’s pedaling. It’s doing the same notes and the bass is changing under it. That motif in the music. Just feels very (whispers) Are you going to kiss me? I don’t know. Something about it.
Zac Catanzaro Yeah. It’s something. It is something about that pedaling in particular. There’s something. I don’t know if. It’s like we’ve been trained to hear that sound in that context.
Walker Lukens I do, I do think it’s that.
Zac Catanzaro Yeah.
Walker Lukens I do think we’ve been conditioned.
Zac Catanzaro It kind of is. I mean, when we first heard this song, I started telling Walker how it, like, reminded me of 90s rom coms and things because I don’t know, something about it just it just feels right.
Walker Lukens Well, I hope for Wood Belly, and for us that this gets picked up by a rom com, a CW show, a Netflix show, literally any music supervisor. If you’re out there, we think the song is fantastic in that it would do well in a romantic scene between two young characters.
Zac Catanzaro This this analysis is called manifestation.
Walker Lukens Yeah. I I this this whole confession and song has made me think about how many kisses did I miss, have I missed?
Zac Catanzaro You’ve probably missed some good ones. Like there’s an alternate timeline where where you got some nice kisses that are not currently in your life, but, you know, you got some good ones in this timeline too. So you win some, you lose some. We all do.
Walker Lukens Yeah. Shit. I guess it wouldn’t do me any good to go back and try to pinpoint them.
Zac Catanzaro I would love that, actually. That’s, that’s that’s actually the only reason I’ve been co-hosting this podcast with you is to find out your, historical timelines of what if’s.
Walker Lukens Okay. Find me and Adderall on the black market, brew a pot of coffee, and, let’s do this.
Zac Catanzaro You just describe those things, like, that’s not what we usually do. I, I know for a fact that my last awkward hug, awkward communication misread. I ended up marrying that person. So, it was like a good three weeks of doing this song and dance where she was like, I guess he doesn’t like me. I don’t know. And that was like, feeling the exact same way until it was like, you know, fuck it. We’re just going to do an awkward kiss and see what happens. And yeah, it worked.
Walker Lukens Really. It was three weeks.
Zac Catanzaro Close to it. Yeah, something like that. We maybe not. It’s actually more like a week and a half. Okay. It’s actually more like a week. It wasn’t three weeks. It was three dates.
Walker Lukens And how many years ago was that?
Zac Catanzaro I can’t do math. It was 2016. What year is it? 24. So, eight years ago.
Walker Lukens Almost eight years ago.
Zac Catanzaro Eight years ago in March.
Walker Lukens Okay. So. Yeah, a week and a half. Awkward kiss. Eight years. How many years have you been married?
Zac Catanzaro We’ve been married for five years.
Walker Lukens I’d say it worked out pretty well for you, then.
Zac Catanzaro I mean, so far. It’s to be determined. There’s a lot of time left, but it’s working currently.
Walker Lukens A very even, unromantic answer.
Zac Catanzaro That was a test to just see if she’s listening to this episode. If I get shit, I’ll let you know.
Walker Lukens Okay, I love that. We usually, you know, tend to start, our Song Confessional seasons with something very salacious and, like, risque. But, I’m happy that we’re easing into the more adult themed content instead of just hitting people over the head with it.
Zac Catanzaro You know, everybody loves that term. Meet cute. We’re we’re we’re just going to do a start cute. If you think you have a story that we would want to feature on this podcast and could be turned into an amazing song, come by one of our booths. We’ve got a permanent booth at the Mishawaka Amphitheater outside Fort Collins, Colorado. We’ve got another permanent booth here in Austin, Texas at the Long Center. Come in. Record a confession. We will hear it. If that is not convenient for you. Go to the liner notes of this episode. Click on the link to our website and see where we’re going to be next. We might be coming to a festival near you, or you could always send us an email and contact us directly.
Walker Lukens This podcast is produced by me, Zac, Jim Eno, Aaron Blackerby, Tate Hoeven, Zahra Crim and distributed by KUTX.
Zac Catanzaro The theme song you heard at the top was written by myself and Walker Lukens. It was performed by me, Taylor Craft, John Calvin Abney, Dan Kramer, Will Van Horn, and some beautiful vocals by Tyler Brown.
Walker Lukens We want to give a special thanks to Elizabeth McQueen and Matt Reilly at KUTX, ONErpm, Jesse Rosoff at Mint Talent Group, Bobby Garza and The Long Center, Danny Grant in the Mishawaka Amphitheater, late teenage trauma, psychedelics and you nasties out there who trust us with your stories.
Zac Catanzaro If you like this podcast, you can support us by sharing an episode with someone you know would like it. You can also support us by following us on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook at Song Confessional.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
