A little less than two years ago, Breitbart News caught wind of a song that was starting to go viral on Tik Tok and Instagram. No fancy music video. No money behind it. Just one of its co-writers, Michael Farren, sitting outside a trailer in rural Tennessee with an acoustic guitar. The intimate performance along with intensely poignant lyrics, crafted by Farren, Ken Hart, and Garrett Jacobs, was all it took to send listeners reaching for the Kleenex box….and then reaching for the phone to call their dads, or searching for messages from their Dads who had passed. The song was called “Checking In.”
Breitbart decided to profile the journey of the little song that could and our readers responded.
In a relatively short period of time in terms of Nashville years, “Checking In” subsequently found a home at Curb Records, which brought together two of its biggest artists, Lee Brice and For King + Country, and released the song as part of a soundtrack inspired by the film Unsung Hero.
Farren joined fellow Nashville hitmakers, Jeffrey Steele and Neil Thrasher, as part of Breitbart/SiriusXM’s American Songwriter Special, and in the clip above, explains the origins of the song and gives a stirring performance that once again reminds us of the importance of staying connected. Farren told host, Mike Slater, “In our culture, it’s distance and it’s busy and it’s chaotic and at some point you plant your feet and go ‘no, I’m going to lean in to what matters the most. And that’s the relationships God has blessed us with.”
Farren, just released his own version of “Checking In,” and gave Breitbart some insight as to why it was important to do so: “Releasing Checking In myself really came down to me wanting to Honor my Dad. The song was written during a season where he was in Kidney failure, and having been on the donor list for 3 years, it was not looking good. He and I have always been close, and having to wrestle through what seemed almost inevitable sure puts things in perspective. Thankfully, he got his miracle about 10 months ago and is doing amazing, and you can bet I won’t be squandering any moments of this second chance. He calls, I do my damn best to answer.”