CMT Blog: Archive

I do not like winter, and this last one was pretty rough on me. I was short on cash, working a second job I didn't particularly like, and dealing with some family and relationship issues that I just couldn't shake. And then I heard "Punches" by Collin Herring, a singer-songwriter from Ft. Worth, Texas.I've listened to "Punches" almost every day since then, and it's helped me vent a lot of frustration -- especially when I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. Fortunately, those personal issues have all settled down somewhat, yet I'm still drawn to this song, and can't quit listening to it. Sometimes that main lyric - "throwing punches in the night air" -- reminds me of a battle against that one demon you just can't nail down.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to ask Collin about what was going through his mind when he wrote it. He talked specifically about what some of the lyrics meant, but on the whole, he said, "It has so much to do with being on the right side of life, rather than the wrong side. And trying to grasp and hold on."

One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Kathleen Edwards, sings harmony on the track. Her husband, Colin Cripps, produced the song, and she happened to be in Austin during the session. Herring says she nailed her part after a few margaritas.

"I think she brought the female character into the song," Herring says, "because to me, the song is so emotional, and it is almost too emotional for a male to sing the whole way through. She brings in the female element, and her voice is so... what's the word I'm thinking of... it's naïve, kind of. She's hanging on for dear life, and it's so elegant and gorgeous."