Won’t Be Long Now by MIDTONES begins from a quiet conviction: most of life happens in the middle of the climb. The track arrives as part of Mountain, the Nashville band’s third full-length record, a project built around the emotional geography of everyday persistence. The album does not obsess over summits. Instead, it studies the long stretches between them, the moments where people continue forward without applause, guided mostly by habit, hope, or necessity.
“Won’t Be Long Now” fits squarely inside that idea. The song carries the feeling of forward motion without urgency, the sense that progress is happening even if it cannot yet be seen. Its title functions less like a promise of arrival than a quiet reassurance whispered during the climb.
MIDTONES lean into the sound they have been refining across the record. Driving rhythms provide momentum while shimmering guitar lines and atmospheric synth layers open space around the melody. The arrangement feels expansive but grounded, balancing lift with the kind of reflective tone that defines the album’s broader themes.
For those who might not know you yet, how would you introduce yourself? MIDTONES is a family-band of artists who can’t stop creating. Like most people, we balance day jobs, families, responsibilities, and other passions – but making music together is a huge part of our human experience. Our songs grow out of real life: the chaos, the quiet moments, the stories we live through every day. No matter how busy life gets, we keep finding our way back to the music. It’s where we reconnect, where ideas take life, and where something honest begins to take shape. For us, creating together isn’t just something we do—it’s part of who we are.
If you had to bottle up your sound into just three words, which ones would you choose? Earnest. Honest. Atmospheric.
Which artists (not only music-related) or moments have left the biggest mark on your music? Living in Nashville has had a profound impact on our craft. We’re constant consumers of live music, and in this town, especially in our neighborhood in East Nashville, world-class talent seems to exist on every back road, in every nook and cranny, across nearly every genre imaginable. Inspiration is everywhere here – you just have to stay open enough to find it. Sometimes that inspiration looks like standing in a tent at 2 a.m. at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival watching Run the Jewels set the place on fire. Other times it’s witnessing greatness on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium with artists like Wilco, Josh Ritter, or The War on Drugs. And just as often, it’s a weeknight packed into The 5 Spot catching incredible local artists like Heavy Quitters, Texas Chain Store Managers, Laney Jones and the Spirits, Gray Worry, etc. Living here means constantly being reminded how powerful live music can be—and that energy inevitably finds its way back into what we create.
When you hit play on your songs, what kind of feeling takes over? So many of our songs are autobiographical, in one way or another. Our ultimate goal is to create a sound and an energy that does these moments and vignettes justice. Often, when I hit play, I’m transported back to the days that inspired them—the birth of my sons, moments when anxiety took over, or even the time I cried at a beauty pageant in the shopping mall. Every idea we explore ties back to real experiences, and listening to these songs usually brings me right back to them.
If you could team up with anyone in the world—no limits—who would be that dream collaborator? The War on Drugs. No one on the planet gets a better, warmer, more melodic guitar tone than Adam Granduciel. There’s something so pure and emotional about their songwriting. Listening to them is like floating through a dream. The way they build worlds with their music is something we admire and strive for in our own work.
And finally, what are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about? We’re already working on LP 4, with multiple new ideas in the pipeline. We’re riding the next wave of inspiration and continuing to create—it’s just what we do. The way I see it, whether five people or five million hear these songs doesn’t matter. What matters is the creative process: singing, playing, writing, and being a band together. That’s the heart of everything for us.
Can you walk us through the story or emotion behind “Won’t Be Long Now”? “Won’t Be Long Now” was inspired by the COVID lockdowns of 2020, but over time it has blossomed into more than just a song—it’s become a mantra, a rallying cry for the band. It started with the simple idea: it won’t be long now until the world opens back up, until I can hug my friends, until this is over. Over time, that sense of hope and belief grew into an ethos for us. When we hit a wall recording Mountain, it became a reminder: it won’t be long now until we get past this hurdle. On a personal level, I’ve found it resonates far beyond the studio—it’s a way to stay grounded in life. It reminds me that it won’t be long now until my sons are grown, until I’m old and grey, and keeping that in mind has helped me appreciate the present momen
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