No, I definitely dont want to date you, Patterson tells EW.
Just because you want something doesnt mean its gonna happen.
Wantin Aint Gettin is streaming exclusively below.We Were Wildis due out June 10.
Credit: Daniel Topete
How does Wantin Aint Gettin fit into the rest of the album?
We picked those because they were sort of the three extremes.
It was okay to just write a song that I felt like I knew how to write.
Its very much a classic country song in that it was exactly what was happening in my life.
It wasnt sugar coated at all.
Its a pretty straightforward sad bastard song.
That certainly fits with a country aesthetic.
I feel like I let myself write just a straight-ahead country song.
I wasnt trying to be overly humble or self-effacing either.
It was just like, this is it.
This is me for better or for worse.
Its an interesting contrast with your last album,Woman to Woman,because that was entirely fictional.
It was so fing difficult.
It was like coming back from a vacation and going back to work.
And also, introspection is a difficult processto look into your heart and look into your soul.
I go super deep into it, and its a very intense experience.
Thats a lot to tackle.
What did you learn from writing this record?
I learned so much.
Thats the thing about it.
Its difficult, but its 100 percent worth it.
Youre constantly moving and changing and challenging everything that you know.
Its not for the faint of heart.
Coming away from a more imaginative project, did that affect your songwriting process going into this one?
Writing that last record completely changed how I listened to music.
I had to look past the familiarity of the songs and venture to put myself inside of them.
Doing that definitely made me look very deeply into the lyrics and figure out what was at the core.
I have to go hard.
My standards for myself were very much raised.
