Single - Downpour / A Promise to Keep - The Unofficial Archivist

Downpour was released as a 7inch vinyl single on record store day in 2009. Side A features Downpour (Live from Boston), a song written by Brandi Carlile and featured on The Story album. Side B is a A Promise to Keep (demo) by Tim Hanseroth, a song that later featured on Bear Creek in 2012.

This limited edition vinyl single was released on Record Store Day in 2009, with the official page stating that Brandi Carlile created the single especially to support independent record stores. [Side-note, she and the twins were Record Store Day ambassaors in 2020 when they released their A Rooster Says EP]

Downpour is a song that Brandi penned while on tour and is the 11th track on the album The Story. In the very first Carlile Compound Quarentine show in 2020 Brandi told the viewers that Josh Newman named the song. His cello features beautifully on the track and in live performances.

In the Rita Houston interview at the time The Story came out, Rita ran a WFUV pop quiz with the band. When asked ‘What person, living or dead would you like to cover one of your songs, and which one, who would it be?’ Brandi said Willie Nelson and for him to cover Downpour. As it turned out, it was Margo Price (a dear friend of Willie Nelson) who covered it for the Cover Stories album.

The B-side – A Promise To Keep was written by Tim Hanseroth. In the video special “Live at Bear Creek” Brandi talks to what the song is about, “I don’t think there is anyone that can’t relate to that nuclear fallout that happens after the loss of something massive. The way you walk through the world doing the same things, re-enacting the same scenarios over and over again. You continue on with your habits of talking in your sleep, or laying on your side of the bed if you’ve gone through a split. Even after the event has happened, the breakup, the divorce, the loss of a loved one, you sort of continue on in your ways. That’s what A Promise to Keep is about. It’s about going through the motions after a difficult time.”

The single came with this hype sticker “Exclusive Unreleased Demo + Live Song”