On “Higher Angels,” Americana singer-songwriter Pete Worth delivers a poignant, stripped-down ballad that seems like a late-night cellphone name you have been by no means imagined to make—however by some means needed to. The most recent single from his reflective 2024 album Footage in Time, “Higher Angels” captures a second suspended between reminiscence and risk, between what was and what may nonetheless be—if solely somebody picks up the road.
Identified for his storytelling finesse and rootsy sincerity, Worth faucets into one thing uncooked right here. “Higher Angels” isn’t about grand gestures or over-the-top manufacturing. It’s concerning the quiet braveness it takes to confront your previous with nothing however a trembling voice and an open coronary heart. He performs the a part of a person paralyzed by remorse, torn between reaching out and defending himself from the ache of being ignored. When he lastly musters the center to make the decision, he’s met with nothing however a voicemail—a punch of actuality that lands with extra emotional weight than any cinematic reconciliation ever might.
Worth’s vocal supply is heat and ragged across the edges, the type of lived-in tone that remembers Don Henley’s wistfulness and Jackson Browne’s intimacy. The lyricism is unpretentious and reducing in its honesty: “Look inside your coronary heart / Within the place our love had began way back / Face the hazard.” This isn’t sentimentalism—it’s a grown-up’s lament, steeped within the hard-earned knowledge of somebody who’s made peace with imperfection.
Instrumentally, “Higher Angels” is delicate and sure-footed. A delicate acoustic spine carries the music, with tasteful touches of piano, violin, and mandolin coloring within the emotional areas. Recorded with members of The Worth Brothers Band at Triangle Highway Studio, the monitor avoids pointless thrives, permitting Worth’s lyrics and voice to stay the centerpiece.
“Higher Angels” additionally marks a thematic turning level in Footage in Time, an album that Worth describes as a chronological journey by the emotional terrain of a life lived with intent—and its share of missteps. If earlier tracks wrestle with self-doubt and missed probabilities, this one stands as a tentative act of redemption. It’s not a declaration of victory, however a quiet query: May we nonetheless get this proper?
There’s no reply within the music, and that’s exactly the purpose. Like the perfect work from artists within the Americana and singer-songwriter traditions—assume Jason Isbell, Patty Griffin, and even late-era John Prine—Worth understands that the actual energy lies within the unresolved. “Higher Angels” lingers not as a result of it tells us what occurs subsequent, however as a result of it’s courageous sufficient to ask.
Pete Worth may not be a family title, however with songs like this, he’s carving an area for himself among the many style’s most heartfelt voices. “Higher Angels” is a quietly devastating reminder that generally the bravest factor you are able to do is make the decision—even when it solely results in silence.
–Ray Finney
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