The Mallett Brothers Release Love Song For Rural Life ‘Dogs And Horses’ Featuring Chuck Leavell

Maine-based Americana act The Mallett Brothers Band released a new single, “Dogs and Horses,” featuring legendary keyboardist Chuck Leavell. The track is set to land on the band’s forthcoming album, Higher Up in the Hills, arriving on April 4.

The Mallett Brothers Band — guitarists/brothers Luke Mallett and Will Mallett, bassist Nick Leen, fiddler Andrew Martelle, and drummer Brian Higgins — previously shared the Higher Up in the Hills single “Nothin’s Working.”

The group now follows with “Dogs and Horses.” The song “captures the dichotomous nature of rural Americana life,” press materials for the track noted, “with Luke Mallett’s lyrics conjuring up broken-down tractors and mounting gravel piles alongside the nomadism of touring life. The track builds dramatically as violin, electric guitars, piano, and organ cascade over each other, creating a rich sonic landscape.”

“‘Dogs and Horses’ is a love song at its roots. It’s a song about two people building a life around the things that they love and then balancing and supporting each other in those endeavors, Luke Mallett said of the new song. Those endeavors are Luke’s life on the road and his wife Carissa’s commercial horse farm in Maine.

“These lifestyles aren’t compatible at all,” Luke added. “I spend half my life out on the road, and she spends 12 hours a day in the barn taking care of animals. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another, but the way that we try to hold each other up is really what I was moved to write about.”

“Dogs and Horses” also features former Allman Brothers Band and current Rolling Stones touring keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who met The Mallett Brothers Band when they appeared on his PBS program America’s Forests.

“When we were bringing this song to life in the studio, all of us agreed that keys would fit the vibe really, really well,” Mallett said. “Having his piano and organ on the song brought it to a whole new place.”

Listen to “Dogs and Horses,” premiered by Americana Highways, below: