Currently Touring Europe for C2C: Country to Country
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (March 7, 2025) – Singer-songwriter Evan Bartels releases “Lula,” his debut track on the newly revived Lost Highway Records. American Songwriter calls his music “intense and intimate” as Bartels strives to tell distinctly human stories without judgment and to truly see the unsung person where most passersby may wish to look away.
“I wanted the first song, for better or for worse, to be a song that zooms in on humanity,” Bartels says. “I wanted to have something that when people hear it, they go, ‘This feels like it matters.’ It feels like it matters to me.”
Stemming from a dream, the name and story of “Lula” came together quickly for Bartels. “Lula is a song about somebody who wants to live and die on their own terms,” he explains. “And I think that’s an admirable quality no matter what the circumstances.”
Listen to Evan Bartels’ “Lula” HERE
“Lula” Lyrics:
Well Lula was a girl from a humble town
She had a mean drunk daddy, liked to push her around
And he sold what he called poor man’s cocaine
But the police called it methamphetamine
One night she sunk her knife in the small of his back
Ain’t no one gonna find where she buried him at
She hopped a train up the river into Omaha
Did some dirty damn things and bought a broke down car
She’d say ‘I ain’t getting younger I just want to feel good
I ain’t gonna do what you want ‘cause you tell me I should
I’m just gonna sit right down
Have a smoke
Somebody buy me a beer
Somebody tell me a joke
Now people do funny things to numb their pain
And Lula drank liquor to forget her name
She used to sleep it off by an old oak tree
In the Pontiac she bought with her money from the street
She’d say
‘I ain’t getting younger I just want to feel good
I ain’t gonna do what you want ‘cause you tell me I should
I’m just gonna sit right down have a smoke
Somebody buy me a beer
Somebody tell me a joke’
Well, she was crying for a life that she never knew
What coulda been and how it was and what she ought to do
She wiped a tear from her eyes then she shut her mouth
When her feet hit the river all the lights went out
And She’d say
‘I ain’t getting younger I just want to feel good
I ain’t gonna do what you want ‘cause you tell me I should
And I’m just gonna sit right down have a smoke
Somebody buy me a beer
Somebody tell me a joke
Somebody buy me a beer
Somebody tell me a joke
Bartels kicks off several dates in Europe with a show tonight (March 7) in Berlin for C2C: Country to Country before making additional stops in Germany and the U.K. For more information on Evan Bartels, please visit EvanBartels.com.
About Evan Bartels:
On a lone stretch of highway that cuts across the Nebraskan prairie, there is a town called Tobias. This village of roughly 100 souls is where Evan Bartels was born and raised. It is a place that offers immeasurable freedom, while threatening a life of unanswered wanting. Here the sentiment behind his work was forged.
Bartels began touring in his teenage years in Nebraska before moving to Nashville. His 2017 debut album, The Devil, God, & Me, was followed by a 2019 EP, Promised Land. These self-produced, independent releases gained the attention of fans worldwide and led to four sync placements on the hit Netflix show, “The Ranch.” Comedian Theo Von and many others have featured songs on their podcasts, specifically referencing Bartels’ beautifully poignant writing. In 2021, Bartels’ independently released full-length project, Lonesome, captured fans worldwide and has led to international touring opportunities. The ethos of Bartels’ life and songwriting are one and the same: “To think, to feel, these are the things that make us human. To hone those thoughts, to share those emotions, to marry them with action, that’s when art is born.”
Bartels is currently signed to the newly revived Lost Highway Records with his major label debut “Lula” out now. More new music expected in the coming weeks. For more information, visit EvanBartels.com.