JACOB HACKWORTH - When I Don't - Independent Release

Nashville is a town built on songwriters and highlighted worldwide by the songs they craft that eventually become the cornerstones of country radio.  

While Jacob Hackworth may not be an artist name that immediately jumps off the page at you, there’s no doubt that you’re familiar with many of the hit songs he’s penned including Bailey Zimmerman's “Rock And A Hard Place,” Corey Kent's “This Heart,” and Tucker Wetmore's “Wine Into Whiskey.”

Fusing the gap between songwriting career and artist lure, Hackworth today steps out from the writing room and stands center stage with his debut single “When I Don’t.”

“There is a feeling of reassurance that happens when another artist cuts a song I've written and I love collaborating and building that feeling of community around town, but I came to town to be an artist so I'm stoked to be releasing something that I can call my own,” he shared. “I've seen and experienced a lot of heartbreak throughout my life and listening to songs about hard times helped me through so, as an artist, I want to return the favor and create music that might help someone else. 'When I Don't' is the first pass of that torch.”

Co-Written with Chris Tompkins, Daniel Ross, and Josh Phillips, the moodiness within the haunting guide of the melody matches the painful emotional strands embedded in his voice as he brings the listener into an overwhelming heartache after a tough breakup, dragging himself into a night of self-sabotage that he’s disguised as healing; “Do my best to lose myself in a bar without a name.”

Gripping the confessional realities of how he becomes both the beast and the burden when he starts drinking while weaving his bourbon-soaked path of destruction into a temporary cure for his loneliness, Hackworth strikes the chorus by shifting blame toward her for not being there to stop him from spiraling this time as the instrumentation eerily shimmers behind the sheer honesty of his voice.

“Tonight I’ll run a thousand miles an hour Through this town

And leave a trail of hurt 

‘Cause you ain’t here to slow me down

Used to keep me on the rails 

But that’s shot to hell since you’ve been gone

If I had you I’d be alright

But tonight I’m what it looks like when I don’t

When I don’t”

Adding depth to the patterns of his vice and the stronghold it has on him, he admits that although his drinking is the very reason for his now fractured heart - “Guess it’s the problem and the fix” – he also can’t go on without its addictive, temporary healing.

Jacob Hackworth delivers the familiarity of the themes we’ve come to know and love from him as a songwriter on “When I Don’t,” but he also intriguingly places heart and soul into the trailed edges of his voice to capture the escalating emotional downturns as the song progresses, expertly painting the fall of the broken hearted while giving them a shoulder to lean on through their misery.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)