Written by Chris Stapleton with Brice Long and Matt Fleener, "Scarecrow in the Garden" tells the story of a desperate West Virginia farmer facing rained-out crops. The fields ain't once they once were The rains just seem to flood By the song's final, ominous moments, the despairing farmer is at the end of his rope.
Stapleton admitted to ABC Radio the song is more than a little dark. "It's a farming/suicide song for the most part, you know," he laughed. "So it's not exactly like, it's not happy fare at all. But it's a fun story-song - fun's not the right word - but for me it's fun, you know. I love things with story and substance and I feel like lyrically and subject-matter-wise, that thing has all that to me. And I just love the imagery in that song."
The song was included on From A Room: Volume 2, which was released seven months after From A Room: Volume 1. However both records were recorded the same time and this was the song that really started it all. "That's the very first thing that we recorded," Stapleton explained. "That's the one song I walked into the studio - I mean not for this record, for both of these records - and I said, 'I want to do this song.' And that song has been in my catalog for a bit, and it's been hanging around. You know, nobody recorded it or anything. Maybe it's my inner love of bluegrass murder ballads creeping out."
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