New Album Alert: Are You Lonely Like Me? by Clark Paterson

Genre: Country | Folk | Americana

Listen/Buy: Are You Lonely Like Me?

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Clark Paterson returns with his deeply evocative new album, Are You Lonely Like Me? – a record shaped by hard years, dark humor, and the stubborn decision to keep moving forward anyway. (Broken Jukebox Media, 2026)

Written through heartbreak, illness, fatherhood, loss, recovery, and reinvention, the album feels profoundly lived-in. It is the sound of someone taking inventory of a life while still standing right in the middle of it. There’s loneliness here, but also resilience, warmth, and the crooked grin of somebody who’s survived enough to stop romanticizing the struggle.

Sound & Production

Produced by Eric McConnell and Shawn Byrne, the record leans into an aesthetic that feels timeless without becoming overly polished or trapped in nostalgia.

The production is cinematic and atmospheric, lush yet restrained, and loose in all the right places, with the kind of texture and imperfection that makes a record feel human. Old-school country soul collides with folk storytelling and flashes of punk spirit, creating a sound equally at home in:

• A worn-in dive bar
• An empty stretch of highway
• A half-lit movie scene at closing time

The Songwriting

Written alongside longtime collaborator Mark Cline Bates, the songs explore memory, mortality, love, isolation, aging, and the uneasy comedy of being alive long enough to watch life humble you a few times.

Paterson possesses a rare ability to deliver hard truths without turning sentimental, balancing grit with tenderness and self-awareness with sharp wit. The humor never undercuts the emotion, it deepens it.

At the heart of the record is the title track ‘Are You Lonely Like Me?,’ an aching, beautiful song that quietly asks the question hanging over the entire album: not just whether we’re lonely, but whether we’re still capable of reaching each other through all the noise, damage, history, and hope we carry around.

Album Credits

Featured Personnel & Band

• Clark Paterson – Vocals, Guitar
• Sierra Ferrell – Backing Vocals on “Allergic To Work”
• Abe Partridge – Recitation on “By God”
• Mark Cline Bates – Vocals, Piano, Guitar
• Luella Matthews – Backing Vocals
• John McTigue III – Drums, Percussion
• Billy Contreras – Fiddle, Piano
• Brian Zonn – Bass
• Ryan Norris – Synthesizer
• Tony Crow – Piano, Organ
• Eric McConnell – Bass
• Paul Niehaus – Pedal Steel, Dobro

Songwriting Credits

• All songs written by: Clark Paterson & Mark Cline Bates
  • Except “Allergic to Work” written by Clark Paterson
  • Except “There Is a Light” written by Morrissey / Marr

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