EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Striking Matches – ‘Hangin’ On A Lie’

Zimmerman and Davis each came to Nashville to play music, and as a twist of fate would have it, they ended up in the same class at Belmont University. They first met when a professor paired them at random to play for a classroom full of guitar majors. Consequently, Sarah and Justin’s first live performance was the first time they had ever played together. The pair has been writing and performing together ever since. Their influences range from Jerry Reed to the Beatles, John Mayer to Patsy Cline, and back again. It becomes more obvious every day that they were born to play music together.

On October 2, the duo will release their self-titled debut EP. The collection will feature four tracks, including the lead song, “Hangin’ On A Lie.”

“We loved playing around with the mandolin, so we wanted to write something based around it rather than just featuring it as accompaniment,” Zimmerman explains of how the idea of song came about. “I started playing this groove, and Justin said, ‘hey, play that again.’ As soon as we started jamming on it, we knew it was something that had to get on the EP.”

Zimmerman says the song was fairly easy to write, but they knew something was missing once they had it written.

“As we started writing it, we wanted to try and capture a level of intensity and frustration that can build up in a situation where secrets are kept but both parties know the unspoken truth of the matter,” she says. “It didn’t take long to write the verses and most of the chorus, but we were missing one thing, the hook of the entire song.”

The hook came to them just in the nick of time.

“Fifteen minutes before we had to go play the song for our publisher, Justin blurted out ‘what about Hangin’ on a Lie?’ We knew right then that had to be the hook, and the title of the song.”

In anticipation of the upcoming EP release, CountryMusicIsLove has the exclusive premiere of “Hangin’ On A Lie!” Take a listen to the track below.