“Well, the night is gone and it seems / It stole away my dreams
But for one, I remember very well / With eyes as clear as rain
And lips sweet as cane / She lived at the Tokyo Hotel”

As the opening track, “Tokyo Hotel,” begins, a guitar-playing narrator tells a story of an encounter with a woman that continues to haunt him after so many years. Nick Gusman and The Coyotes frontman Nick Gusman recalled that the inspiration for the song came from visiting a decrepit Chicago hotel of the same name. He eventually struck up a conversation in the elevator with a woman of the night. Soon, she’d step out and with the doors closing, Gusman’s mind would open to inspiration.

From the bluesy sounds on “Stray Dog” to the rockabilly tribute to a nomadic lifestyle on “Trucker,” to the story of a man having what seems to be an existential crisis on the title track “Lifting Heavy Things,” to the energetic yet cautionary tale of love and friendship in “Slow Down Katie,” the band experiments with many styles of music while maintaining their alternative country roots. One might listen to the album and think of the short stories of Raymond Carver put to music by Uncle Tupelo. The sonically diverse music, paired with relatable themes and sobering lyrics, allows the 10 tracks on “Lifting Heavy Things” to pack an emotionally impactful punch.

Gusman hopes that people will hear this new record and consider it “St. Louis-branded Americana.”

Gusman shared that while music wasn’t completely a part of his family’s center, he began to feel its magic towards the end of high school. When he began playing guitar, he found out his grandfather was also a country musician who played in the St. Louis area. The first song Gusman recalls learning was the traditional folk song, “House of the Rising Sun” and soon after, found himself delving deeper into the folk music rabbit hole, eventually leading him down the country road.

At 20 years old, Gusman formed his first band, The Moon Glampers. Their sound was what would be considered “cowpunk,” which contained both punk and folk influences. After the group broke up, he began writing more folk and alternative-country songs and desired to form a band in that vein.

His first record, Dear Hard Times was brought to life with the help of a wide variety of musicians. Growing up in the musically rich city of St. Louis had its advantages on Gusman’s songwriting while he was cutting his teeth playing open-mics at Off Broadway’s Chippewa Chapel. Seeing countless musicians from the local midwest alt-country scene perform gave him ideas of what it meant to play Americana music.

Eventually, Gusman formed his current group and came up with the name after a former band member suggested “The Coyotes” because “they are scrappy, resilient, sickly, kind of weak, and resourceful,” to which the band realized that the same could be said for themselves.

When writing new material, Gusman says that he usually begins with a melody on guitar or piano while trying to convey an emotional feeling. It could be happy, sad, hard, or even mysterious. After walking around with the melody in his head, he will then resort back to his notes to see if they work with what he’s come up with or play the guitar and sing gibberish while trying to find the lines that work accordingly. Gusman will sometimes come up with lyrics on the spot or will be inspired by a conversation with someone, often finding what they said interesting, and either scribbling it down or twisting what they’ve said to match the message to the music.

Gusman also writes short stories and poetry as another outlet for his creativity. Through writing, he allows his imagination to run free and create characters from a real place. Whether it be prose, poetry or lyrics, Gusman strikes a balance in the audience’s immersion into his stories with his own catharsis.

A favorite songwriter of Gusman’s is the notorious rusty-sounding, chain-smoking troubadour Tom Waits. Waits’ ability to tell stories through his music and its effect on the listener influences Gusman as it taught him how to be impactful but not pander to his audience.

The impact of Nick Gusman and The Coyote’s music was made even clearer during what
Gusman considers the highlight of the band’s career so far, their European tour in 2022. The band was well-received by European audiences and the tour created a sense of adventure and a deeper brotherhood. It was such a good experience for the band that they plan on going back to Europe in 2025.

The band continues to grow as they take their “St. Louis-branded Americana” from Cherokee Street to Helsinki and beyond. While the band plans to continue playing music locally and on tour, they are exploring record labels to help share their art with a wider audience. The turbulent journey to success for professional musicians is well-documented, but Nick Gusman and The Coyotes are hardly scared away from the challenge. After all, they’re used to lifting heavy things.