You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece,

tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishikesh Herway.

Blackpool is formed in Austin, Texas in 2017, when singer Eric Burton met producer Adrian Cassada.

Their self-titled debut was released in June 2019 and got them a Grammy nomination for best new artist.

In this episode, they break down their hit song, Colors, which Eric started writing 10 years ago,

when he was first learning how to play guitar.

My name is Eric Burton and I sing and write music for the Blackpoolness.

I wrote Colors probably a little bit over 10 years ago.

At the time, I was leading praise and worship at this Presbyterian Church,

and the him and old music just wasn't doing it for me at the level that I was kind of yearning for it to happen.

I loved experiencing the beautiful hymns and the airy music for what it was,

but I wasn't attracted that much to singing those songs over and over again before creating my own.

I always wanted to see what a hymn might sound like from Eric Burton.

When the song first came to me, I was taking a nap on my uncle's rooftop, actually,

and I was having such a great day.

The weather was great, the sunset looked pretty amazing.

As it always does in New Mexico anyway, and I was just singing to you know, exactly what I saw.

The sky there is among some of the most beautiful skies I've ever seen in my entire life.

I was just trying to speak to what helped me to feel connected to God and to my high self.

My sisters and my brothers, they see them like no other, all my favorite colors.

It was just a classical guitar and vocals before meeting Adrian Casada when I moved to Austin.

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