Artists, New Releases, Reviews

Mike Killeen Shares The Silver Lining In “Turn Out Fine”

July 8, 2020 by No Comments

This year of 2020 has seen a stream of COVID-19 related memes and posts asking if the year can get any worse. In the middle of it all, Decatur-based singer-songwriter Mike Killeen offers up a positive answer, his recent single “Turn Out Fine.”

Mike Killeen rolls imagery of a pandemic’s disruption and isolation – and ultimately the hope of its aftermath – into an Americana melody on “Turn Out Fine,” released in May 2020.

The song dives into the search for hope, connection, and companionship in a world gripped by a pandemic where isolation is compounded by fading faith, failing leadership, and a feeling of nowhere left to go. Mike shares, “I wrote ‘Turn Out Fine’ in late March when everyone was experiencing a new normal due to COVID. Everything was closing down. I was feeling isolated, with nowhere to go, and missing many of the comforts of normal daily activities, which I had come to take for granted. It felt like there wasn’t much help coming from the president or governor. Doom and gloom. But I hoped that ‘this too will pass’ and thought if I told myself that things would ‘Turn Out Fine,’ then perhaps they would eventually.”

In late April, Mike decided he wanted to share the song with the world. “Turn Out Fine” features Mark Evers on lead guitar; Jonny Daly engineered/produced it at his Freedom of Sound studio outside Atlanta. Killeen contributes vocals, guitar, and harmonica. Scott Sanders created the accompanying artwork. The recording and distribution took a little while and Mike released the in late May.

I do believe in the audacity of hope.

Mike Killeen’s 2019 album “Ghost”

By the time the song debuted, almost another two months had passed since Mike penned it, and in that time even more had changed. People were trying to return to some prior norms and businesses were testing the waters of re-opening. Mike acknowledges, “Much more importantly, the protests and long-overdue conversations that followed the death of George Floyd were underway. The song suddenly felt somewhat out of time, and perhaps even out of touch.” Mike affirms the song was rooted in feelings of isolation during the early days of our cultural impacts from COVID-19, and absolutely is not a comment on the issue of social justice or the watershed events of the past few weeks. Yet the driving belief when the song was conceived holds true today – and that is hope. Mike underscores this when he says “All this said, I do believe in the audacity of hope. And so I hope that the challenges we’re experiencing together today will help us come together to achieve communal peace and justice in the future.”

The song is available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify and iTunes.

This release follows Mike’s most recent album, Ghost, released last year, produced by Ken Coomer (Wilco/Uncle Tupelo) and released on Saturn 5 Records. You can read AMGV’s write up of the instantly likeable Ghost here:

https://atlantamusicgrapevine.com/2019/12/02/mike-killeens-ghost-no-busters-needed-here/