THE MASTERSONS Premiere 'In the Name of God' Single

The Mastersons, singer-songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore, channel vintage acoustic rock (think Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac and even Led Zeppelin's folk songs) on their somber new track, "In the Name of God," premiering today at Glide. The duo's trademark close harmonies and stellar guitar work propel this driving acoustic track, one of five songs on their upcoming RED, WHITE & I LOVE YOU TOO EP. The follow up to their Shooter Jennings-produced album, NO TIME FOR LOVE SONGS, released in March this year, the EP follows on the album's themes but presents them in a stripped down, acoustic setting.

"In the Name of God" was written regarding the plight of refugees and the inhumanity of separating children from their parents and is aided by Eleanor's clear, poignant vocal. She sings, "Refugee, flee the refuge/My god tells me to help the refugee/Our president won't let me/We all deserve to be free."

In the accompanying interview, The Mastersons explain that the song came to them while they were on the "Lampedusa: Concert for Refugees Tour" with Joan Baez, Patty Griffin, Steve Earle, Brandi Carlile, Lucinda Williams, James McMurtry and Lila Downs. "It was so inspiring to be singing our own songs alongside these amazing artists to benefit refugees," Chris says. "We got to thinking about all the violence that people are fleeing when they are forced from their homeland and the intersection of fear and hate. The current administration has been spreading messages of fear and hate and has separated children from their families and locked them in cages. Every human has a right to a home. Every child should be with their parents and live in a world where they don't have to fear violence."

When they're not recording and touring as The Mastersons, the couple are valued longtime members of Steve Earle's band the Dukes and in-demand session players with credits ranging from Shooter Jennings to Tanya Tucker and more.

"Last year when we were going through the songs for our fourth album, NO TIME FOR LOVE SONGS, with Shooter he mentioned a couple in the pile being 'their own tornados,'" says Chris. "At the time we thought maybe one or two of those songs should live in their own space, on a different recording perhaps. We finished the album and geared up for a busy year of touring without giving that second recording much more of a thought."

"We were on tour on the East Coast with the Jayhawks, in the second week of our record release, when the world shut down and we canceled the rest of our tour," Chris says. "We came home from NYC, then the epicenter of COVID-19, and Eleanor had gotten it and was really sick. Back home in L.A., the riots and protests following George Floyd's death were 400 feet from our apartment, closer if you count the flash grenades and troops of officers in full riot gear storming down our alleyway with the sound of some poor soul yelling "don't shoot, don't shoot!" We heard this over the alarms of broken-in businesses and the roar of helicopters that had been circling for hours; we were just trying to take our dog out that evening. Now we've got over 200,000 dead from the virus and there is still denial. Things are not ok. We can't have four more years of chaos and fear."

Sequestered in their home faced with an empty calendar, a bunch of guitars and a looming election, the Mastersons were motivated to get these songs down. NO TIME FOR LOVE SONGS, released in March, addressed political issues but was rounded out by songs about loss and softened by the lush arrangements. RED, WHITE & I LOVE YOU TOO, while coming from the same place of love, is stripped down a bit more to reflect the starkness of the situation we're in. "We're facing a moral dilemma for who we want to be as a nation," Chris says. "We're hoping voters lead with love, kindness and empathy when they make their decision in November."

RED, WHITE & I LOVE YOU TOO was recorded at the Mastersons' home studio. Fellow Steve Earle & the Dukes bandmate, Jeff Hill, who's worked with Chris Robinson, Teddy Thompson, Neal Casal and others, added bass and drums on "In The Name Of God" and mixed the EP.

"We're facing a moral dilemma for who we want to be as a nation," Chris says. "We're hoping voters lead with love, kindness and empathy when they make their decision in November."

Listen to "In The Name of God" here:

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