Deliverance Sisters - “Favorite Son” for Hell On Wheels Episode 405 “Life’s A Mystery”

This song was created for the opening teaser to the fifth episode of season 4 of Hell On Wheels. It was the scene where we were introduced to the character Sidney Snow, who at the top of the episode is about to be lynched in Juarez, Mexico thanks to his messing around with the women of the men about to hang him.

I had an idea for a darkly funny song sung from the point of view of an utterly narcissistic guy who doesn’t understand why he is being strung up. After all, he was his mother’s “favorite son” who lit the candles in the altar as a boy.

The music and melody had been constructed, but I needed a singer with a perfect romantic heroic voice and I still needed to get the lyrics written. I reached out the Grant-Lee Phillips to be the voice and put together the lyrics, which we did in the studio.

We recorded this at Ken Coomer’s studio at the Creative Workshop in Berry Hill, TN.

The Performers

Cody Brooks - Spanish guitar

Rick Clark Producer

Ken Coomer - Drums, percussion

Glen Duncan - Strings

Patrick Miller - Tracking Engineer and Mixing

John Painter - Trumpet

Grant-Lee Phillips - Vocal

Chris Scruggs - Acoustic Guitar, Upright Bass, Whistling

Rick Clark Productions

Deliverance Sisters

“Favorite Son”