The members of Blue Water Highway thought they had the wind at their backs. Packing glorious, three-part vocal harmonies and tight yet inventive musicianship, the Lone Star state-based quartet (Zack Kibodeaux, lead singer/guitar; Catherine Clarke, vocals/keyboards; Greg Essington, vocals/guitar; and Kyle Smith, bass), together since 2013, released two enthusiastically received albums – their 2015 debut, Things We Carry, and
its 2018 follow-up, Heartbreak City – that had critics hailing them as one of the brightest hopes for modern Americana. But as the group began recording demos for their third album, they faced a shattering truth:
They realized that they didn’t know what they wanted to say.
“Our inspiration just dried up,” says Kibodeaux. “It was the most difficult thing we’ve experienced as a band.
Oddly enough, the way forward began to reveal itself by looking back, when Kibodeaux found lyrics to an earlier song he written called “Paper Airplanes.” Lines jumped out at him – “Here I go again tonight, floating back in time to steer my life… Folding all the corners down, find a way to fly, feet on the ground.” Right away, the words summarized the growing pains the band had been struggling with, but they also highlighted a course of action. “Paper Airplanes” opened things up for the band, setting the tone for a succession of songs that quickly followed, and the vision for their new album, indeed titled Paper Airplanes, became clear.