JGM Pick of the Week – May 6, 2024

“Share the Load”
Eric Lee Brumley
From the Old Bear Records album Electric Chair
(single release date: March 1, 2024)

By Robert M. Marovich

Muscle Shoals-style country rock meets gospel soul in Eric Lee Brumley’s “Share the Load.”

With a refrain and sentiment that echo the Band’s “The Weight,” “Share the Load” is a reminder to let go and let God or, as Brumley sings it, when the road gets rough and rocky, let Jesus share the load. The song is based on a letter of encouragement to Brumley’s father while he was in the hospital following a suicide attempt.

The song has plenty of Americana spice and could end up in the playlists of other singers looking to encourage their fellow humans. I could imagine, for example, Mavis Staples covering it. After all, the Staples, with Mavis’s strong lead vocal, covered “The Weight.”