Premiere: Megan Luttrell’s ‘Take Me Back’ is both rocking and poignant

Megan Luttrell. // photo by John Knepper

We’ve been fans of singer-songwriter Megan Luttrell since we first saw her back in 2018, playing open mics around Lawrence. Since then, she’s gone on to be one of the area’s standout folk musicians, with songs both emotionally resonant and far outside the standard tunes on display, such as her ability to play songs in flawless Russian, thanks to her Doctorate in Philosophy of Slavic Languages and Literature from the University of Kansas.

However, it’s been a minute since we last heard anything musically from Luttrell, so we were very excited to discover that she’d be releasing “Take Me Back,” her first track in over three years, and even more excited once we got to hear how absolutely rocking it is. We’re premiering it below, and you can read about just what Megan Luttrell has been up to below.

The Pitch: Your last single, “Hold On (Not Too Long),” was in 2021. What have you been doing, both musically and otherwise, in the interim?

Megan Luttrell: Yes, my last release was 2021. I actually had planned to release an album when I went into the studio to record “Take Me Back.” I was working with someone new, Warren Jurgens, a guy I know from Americana Music Academy who has an amazing home studio. His style is quite different from other folks I’ve recorded with. There was a lot more pre-production work. We got “Take Me Back” finished as well as scratch tracks for 2 other songs.

During this process, I found out I was expecting my son, who was born in November 2021. I took some time away from music (and the recording project) to focus on motherhood. That first year I had almost no time to play, let alone write new music. I thought I would be inspired to write songs about this amazing new person in my life, but honestly I was just so exhausted that nothing came. My plan was to stay home with my son, Rowan, and eventually get back into playing music as my full-time gig.

However, four months after he was born the perfect job opened up at KU—outreach coordinator at the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. I started there in April 2022 and have really thrown myself into the position. Music was on hold again, and I’ve started playing shows as much as I can while trying to balance work and mom life. ​I finally decided I would just release “Take Me Back” as a single because I felt I needed to put it out into the world. I think getting it out is going to help me deal with he grief of losing my mom.

How do you balance music, co-owning a business with your husband, working for KU, and being a parent?

Your question implies that there’s balance in my life. I appreciate your optimism! I have taken a huge step back from helping Adam with Summit’s Steps. Really, I am just trying to figure out what it means to be a mother who works fulltime. It’s a hard negotiation of priorities. I’m just starting to play out again. I was really missing it. However, the “balance” with music is that I have almost no time to practice or write. I am allowing myself to revel in being a toddler mom right now. Music will always be there when I’m ready to come back to it when I can really dedicate the time it deserves.

Take Me Back cover. // photo by Dennis Luttrell

The song feels like it’s as much a yearning for a place as it is a time. Are the memories of people and places intertwined for you?

Yes, absolutely. I feel like memories wander places from different parts of my life and going back there can help me get reacquainted. I only lived in the house the song is about until I was two years old but visited a few times as an adult. I remember my dad yearning to go back there when we lived on the East Coast, so I think there is part of him in this song too. I wrote it three months after my mother died. I didn’t know how to process losing her so unexpectedly.

I thought I’d write a song about her, but in the end, I wrote about the house. It’s where I was born, and it’s where she spent the last months of her life before she had to go to the hospital. It is a truly special place. I like to think that she was already in heaven when she lived there. It’s interesting that you mention places and people being intertwined. I wrote another song about losing my mother and it really is just a collage of images from when I was in the hospital with her.

Why’d you go a little more rocking on “Take Me Back,” as opposed to your past releases? Does this signal a new direction for you?

Like I mentioned, I worked with a new team to record this track. I think other songs have really stayed in my comfort zone, whereas this one pushes me to something different. I’d never recorded with a drummer before. The lead guitar player, Lucas Parker, really added his voice to the track. He’s phenomenal and I just trusted what he felt worked. He also plays bass on the song. (Fun fact: I felt my son kick for the first time while Lucas was laying down the bass on the song). Drums are Colby Earlywine. Backing vocals and organ are Kenny Carter who is based in Nashville and works with Warren a lot.

I’m not sure if it signals a new direction for me or not. I love the folky acoustic vibe of earlier songs, and I love the more rock feel of this one. Releasing a single instead of an album gives you more freedom to experiment. I’m not sure where I will go with my next recording project, but I do know that I feel more comfortable pushing myself to try new things as well as more confident in advocating for what I think the song should ultimately be.

Megan Luttrell plays Trivedi Wine on Saturday, August 3. Details on that show here.