Story Behind the Song: Jenny Tolman, ‘Tulips’

All of the songs on Jenny Tolman's debut album, 2019's There Goes the Neighborhood, pack a powerful, personality-filled punch in their own way. However, none is quite as colorful as "Tulips," a zany, multi-faceted number that's made for dancing along to -- as long as you can keep up.

Read on to learn the story behind "Tulips," told in Tolman's own words. 

It was the last addition to the record. We threw it on at the last second.

It's one of my favorite songs on [the record], because it's crazy, but it's not over-the-top crazy. It's kind of inspired by ... Have you seen The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas? Do you know the song where Dolly [Parton] comes down the stairs, and it's called "Lil Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place"? So, she's got a double-time and a can-can section.

So we had written this song, thinking nothing about ["Lil Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place"] at the time. When we wrote "Tulips," it just had a normal, kind of honky-tonk beat. But when we went in to record it, Dave Brainard, my producer, he was like, "I wanna do something kinda different with this. I kinda want it to be more than just a typical honky-tonk."

He's like, "What if we did a double-time part with a banjo solo?" And I was like, "Okay! What if we added a can-can section?"

So we have a double-time section with a banjo solo, a can-can section and a horn section, too, that comes in. It's pretty crazy, but it's so much fun. It's so much fun to play live, too, because my band is so good. They spoil me to no end, so it's a lot of fun to play live.

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