Take The Train With Ladybird

At a small town bar in Columbus, Wisconsin, a bartender grabs the last pickled gizzard from a jar — one that has existed for longer than any staff member or regular can confidently recall. She plops the gizzard into a rocks glass, slides it across the bar, and says, “Good luck!”

The curious customers who proceed to split the final gizzard are members of Ladybird – an alternative country band from Milwaukee. Ladybird is in Columbus filming b-roll footage for “Lounge Car Love Song,” the first single on the band’s upcoming second EP. It’s a song that tells the tale of two strangers, both down on their luck, who cross paths and spark a brief, melancholic friendship while taking the Amtrak to the west coast of Wisconsin.

“I’ve said for a while that this may be my favorite song to date, so I’m really excited for people to hear it,” says Ladybird frontman Pete McDermott.

While the candid gizzard scene didn’t make it into the band’s music video, there’s still plenty of dive bar comfiness featured – pull tabs, dancing and alcohol-buzzed smiles are all present. Those scenes are contrasted with the band hitching a ride on the Amtrak, performing “Lounge Car Love Song” to any who will listen.

“I love taking the train, so it was fun to wrangle the guys into this little day trip and have a few drinks at a townie bar in Columbus,” McDermott says. “Ian (Johnson, who shot and edited the video,) and Jordy (Brazo, who shot the film footage,) were both an amazing help in bringing everything together.”

In fact, McDermott wrote “Lounge Car Love Song” while taking the Amtrak to La Crosse to visit his uncle, who has since passed away.

“(My uncle and I) played songs on the guitar almost every time we were together,” McDermott says. “On my last visit, the day before he died, he told me he wanted me to have his Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar. He said, ‘I want you to make that birdie sing.’”

That’s been a driving force for McDermott ever since. Ladybird released its debut EP Introducing… in September of 2021 – a four-track introduction to the band’s knack for John-Prine-esque storytelling backed by distorted guitars. The band has since become a local favorite in Milwaukee’s alternative country scene, opening for touring acts like Dale Hollow at Cactus Club. The band’s second EP will be released towards the end of January of 2023.

“(The new EP) is kind of a showcase of a bunch of different songs – there’s the love song single, the slow sad ballad, the fast party song and the storytelling rollercoaster of a country music murder ballad,” McDermott says.

The love song, if the name wasn’t evidence enough, is “Lounge Car Love Song” – an homage not just to spontaneous friendships, but to that reflective feeling of being a drifter on the railroad.

“There’s a certain romanticism that comes with riding the train and seeing parts of this country unfold that you’d never see if you weren’t on a rail line,” McDermott says. “There’s nothing that’ll make you sit down and think like looking out a window and watching the world go by.”

That’s the feeling that listening to “Lounge Car Love Song” evokes in listeners – if you’re feeling down on your luck, grab a beer and confide in a stranger. It might just be the pickup you both need.

As McDermott sings, “You and me, we’re just two trains in passing/Thankful we found someone to share our sadness for a while.”