In this session I brought y’all Gavin Crutcher doing “Lost My Soul,” and the first time I heard this song I knew he was wise above his years. Gavin’s from Athens, Alabama, and he lays down a simple, honest performance that hits way harder than you’d expect from a 14-year-old. The hook—“I lost my soul some years ago, but I ain’t so bad now”—is the kind of line that makes you stop what you’re doing and take stock of your own life. A lot of folks hear “back to how my life was when I was young” and want to joke about it, but I’ve spent plenty of miles with this one playing and I think I get the paradox. He’s not talking about being 17 with all the noise of trying to impress people—he’s reaching for that 5-to-10-year-old mindset where you lived in the moment and the world still felt big and bright. The song moves through missing “those good times that have passed,” praying on New Year’s Eve for a year worth remembering, and wishing for one plain day where nothing’s changed—right down to wanting to talk to his grandad again. It’s reflective, it’s soulful, and it’s exactly why I love sharing these Appalachian and Americana stories: real feelings, no fluff.