If you look at the credits on both of Midland’s albums, On the Rocks and Let It Roll, two names you will see a lot are Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. Not only did they co-write the majority of the songs on both albums with Midland, but they also co-produced both projects, along with Dan Huff. There’s no denying that something magical happens when the five of them get together to work on music. Midland’s bassist, Cameron (Cam) Duddy says one thing that really makes the collaboration with Shane and Josh work is that they don’t treat it like a job. “You can’t just clock in and sit down and say okay we’re gonna write a song,” he says. “You set aside time to allow whatever creative spirits come into the room, and luckily we’ve been smart enough to realize that when we’re with those two guys that things just come together in a very organic and fun way.”
Midland is also fortunate that when they get together to write songs with Shane and Josh, there is never a shortage of ideas. According to Cam, “It’s never a challenge with them and never feels like sitting down to do something. It just seems like sitting down to play music and talk about music, and there’s always so many references floating around and things just flying out and you’ve gotta be able to pick ‘em out of the air. It’s just a very abundant tree of fruit. You don’t really have to do much to like, grab something nice.”
Shane and Josh were co-writers on five of the songs on Midland’s latest album, including their current single, “Cheatin’ Songs,” and Cam readily admits, “I think that the smartest thing we’ve ever done is observe the fact that we are better with people like them in the room.”
Midland – Shane and Josh :49
Cameron Duddy – “You can’t just clock in and sit down and say okay we’re gonna write a song. You set aside time to allow whatever creative spirits come into the room, and luckily we’ve been smart enough to realize that when we’re with those two guys that things just come together in a very organic and fun way. It’s never a challenge with them and never feels like sitting down to do something it just seems like sitting down to play music and talk about music, and there’s always so many references floating around and things just flying out and you’ve gotta be able to pick ‘em out of the air. It’s just a very abundant tree of fruit. You don’t really have to do much to like, grab something nice. And we’re just fans of music, and I think that the smartest thing we’ve ever done is observe the fact that we are better with people like them in the room.”