Contributors:
Brian Wooten, lap steel guitar
Heath Nicholls, bass and harmony vocals
Jay Miller, drums
Jules Bryce, keys
Mac Bartine, lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Rich Adlin, lead guitar and harmony vocals
Seva, recording, mixing and mastering

Mac’s Comments: Wicked is a weird little song that we've never been able to think of in any genre other than a Halloween song, and that’s basically what we went into the studio to make. Jules’s oddball synth sounds, Rich’s messing around with the strings past the bridge at the beginning, Brian’s lap steel with an almost theremin-sounding effect over it…all that is the stuff that makes this song fun for us, and we loved recording it.

Mac’s Songwriting Notes: For most of the 2000s, I worked in admissions for Maryville College, a great little liberal arts school in Maryville, TN while I was trying to learn how to start and run technology businesses as a side hustle. I met a lot of interesting people at college fairs, including Brett Winston, a fellow Knoxville-based admissions counselor who is also a musician and songwriter. One afternoon, he showed me a “hot jazz march” progression using jazz chords that a buddy of his had taught him shortly before that, and right after that, I had a series of overnight travel trips for MC in northern Tennessee and Kentucky. I stayed in downtown Louisville towards the end of that road trip, and we were encouraged to find “safe but affordable” lodging. I don’t remember the name of the hotel I stayed in that night, but it was old, it hadn’t been remodeled since the 70s, and I was the ONLY person staying there that night. The clerk at the desk told me so when I was checking in, and asked me if I’d like to stay in the biggest suite in the hotel. I’m sure I said something like, “Hell yeah!” But when I got in that suite, it was huge, it was as 70s as could be, with high, deep-orange shag carpet, giant olive-colored floor lamps with bases wider than I could wrap my arms around, and when I pulled the shades back, out the window I could see a neon sign for a strip club. I always traveled with my guitar back then, and Wicked Din came out of me pretty quickly, combining the creepiest hotel room I could imagine with a good ol’ hot jazz march. The red neon light for the strip club brought up the idea of sin, that went to original sin, and then I threw in a break down of sorts in the middle.