Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You (Demos)
Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You (Demos)
The prequel album in draft, eight demos from the writing of WTIALY.
- 1shrug (janie demo)5:19
A blank page at graduation, low stakes and no faith, and a vow to wait repeated until it is the entire song.
Read lyrics and notes - 2nettles (miserable demo)8:16
The race to grow up, the plant explosion, and the hospital light already in place, plus a nightmare this draft keeps to itself.
Read lyrics and notes - 3willoughby’s interlude (demo)6:41
One line repeated like a rosary, then there was you, the whole interlude and the whole point.
Read lyrics and notes - 4a knock at the door (demo I)6:23
Eighteen with no plan, friends lost over the police scanner, and a lock on a door he swears he does not fear.
Read lyrics and notes - 5a knock at the door (demo II)5:30
A more frightened, more tender draft, sweethearts betting on which of them dies first, love turning feral in the heat.
Read lyrics and notes - 6tempest (demo I)6:18
The radio towers question arriving fully formed, deals made with the wind while heat lightning burns, forever already chosen.
Read lyrics and notes - 7tempest (demo II)11:59
The long draft, a girl beguiled, a storm forecast on the TV, and forever repeated until the tape runs out.
Read lyrics and notes - 8tempest (short demo)4:09
Four lines circled twice, watched dying by someone she cannot stop or hold. The bleakest reading of the song there is.
Read lyrics and notes
About the record
Released at the end of 2025, these demos open the workshop behind Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You: Janie when it was still called shrug, a miserable early Nettles, and Tempest tried three different ways. The record’s long gestation, audible.
Where to listen
Release details
- Released
- 29 December 2025
- Format
- Demos
- Runtime
- 8 tracks · 54 minutes
play a song to see lyrics