Story Behind the Song: Randy Houser, ‘Our Hearts’

One of the stand-out tracks on Randy Houser's 2019 album Magnolia is "Our Hearts," partially because it is the song that set the whole project in motion. While the version that ended up on the record is a collaboration with Lucie Silvas, Houser says that the song wasn't originally intended to be a duet at all.

Read on to learn more about how "Our Hearts" came to be, in Houser's own words.

Whenever I wrote the song "Our Hearts," that was the catalyst, or the trigger, for me knowing I was gonna start making a record. I knew when I wrote it that it obviously didn't sound like, or wasn't written like, most of the stuff on the radio. It was almost like, we were just gonna start making good songs. Whether they fit into anybody's box or not, that was up to them to decide, but I'm gonna try to make the best record I can.

It was mainly just written -- it wasn't designed at the start to be a duet at all. And then it just felt better with a female harmony on it.

From my standpoint, it was written about the relationship I had with my wife, and those good relationships -- all the things that are said, and the warnings, all those things that come along in the beginning of a relationship. And the fact is, you know, that no one listens. Everybody goes through that process themselves. That's what "Our Hearts" is about: "This is private. This is our show."

And with Lucie, I just absolutely love her voice. Her husband John [Osborne, of Brothers Osborne] is a good buddy of mine, and also real good friends with Keith Gattis, who was a co-producer on the record. He called and asked if she would do it. She was glad to do it, and she killed it. It was one of those things that just worked.