Gethen Jenkins will release his debut album Western Gold on July 26, and ahead of its release, Billboard exclusively reveals the stirring “Strength of a Woman” on Monday (July 22). Penned by Jenkins, “Strength of a Woman” features his’ striking baritone at the forefront of the track as he sings of a powerful love.
The touching ballad includes soaring pedal steel, delicate piano parts and Jenkins’ booming vocals, and the former Marine says “Strength of a Woman” is his favorite song he’s ever written. The song was inspired, in part, by the love between Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. “We was as wild as a cold desert wind/ But tame like a child when she took his hand,” he sings on the track.
“I wrote it about my personal experiences, and also about Waylon and Jessi, and how hard it must have been to try to tame an outlaw and what a beautiful love they had,” Jenkins tells Billboard. “I wrote it in the desert and I just really love it. I think people respond and connect really well to it.”
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“I think about the strength of a woman’s love and the courage a woman has to have to love a man and put up with all his shenanigans and to lead him with grace instead of trying to push him in a certain direction,” he adds. “It’s just a real strong thing. I wanted to write a song about the power of that kind of love and the strength a woman has with her grace.”
“Strength of a Woman” is one of 11 tracks featured on Western Gold. Jenkins’ debut studio album, Western Gold was recorded at Nashville’s Sputnik Studios by four-time Grammy Award-winning producer Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Jack White, Buddy Guy). In an interview with Billboard last year, Jenkins said the project is about his life.
“[A lot of these songs are] about where I am, and where I’m going. I’m an open book. I’m a mess, but I’m open about it,” he says. “I am a horrible communicator. Music really helps me get a lot of the feelings that I have inside out, without having to pay money. That’s what I believe about music — it helps translate feelings for not just me, but for other people, too.”
Listen to the new track below.