Maren Morris and JP Saxe have written two of the most vulnerable hits of the last year, so it makes sense that they joined forces on their new song, “Line By Line”, out now. Both masters at their craft, take a look below as we dive deeper into the brand new duet.

When everything paused in March, it felt like the end of the world. In some ways, it still does feel like that, but nonetheless, art has still found a way to be created and consumed. Over the past 10 months, it seems that singer-songwriters Maren Morris and JP Saxe are bigger than ever, thanks to Morris’ perfectly simple “The Bones” and Saxe’s vulnerable apocalyptic-love song “If The World Was Ending”.

“Line By Line”, co-written by Morris, Saxe, and Jimmy Robbins, blends the best parts of country and pop to create a sound that fits both of their voices well. A stunning electric guitar line guides you through the verses into the chorus effortlessly, doing so to keep the attention on the lyrics. Which makes perfect sense for this track, as it’s about the art of songwriting in the form of a love song.

“As songwriters, we spend a lot of our lives trying to bottle up a feeling into a song, and often, the biggest beelings, the best ones… the complicated, detailed, messy, incredible ones… just aren’t going to fit,” Saxe told the publication Idolator.

Saxe takes the first verse, and Morris follows on the second. Saxe sings about the songs he’ll never share with the world, like the songs about his parents that he can’t release, or the songs about his exes who don’t deserve his time. “When it comes to you, I’m still trying to find the words / Love too big for a love song / If I tried to sum it up I know I’d get it wrong”.

Both Saxe and Morris are in relationships with artists (Julia Michaels and Ryan Hurd), and in many ways, it feels as if they are singing to their significant others. Morris furthers this notion, singing, “Yeah we both know the way it works / Hear my fears all on the radio / There are things that I sing that I’ll never have the confidence to say”.

They sing together on the choruses about how hard it can be, to sum up, the biggest parts of life in song – the internalized pressure of figuring out what you want to say. “So I just take you line by line / Oh I’ll be writing about you for the rest of my life.” The idea that sometimes you can’t find the words for the most important things is incredibly universal, but because of their personal links to songwriting and musicians, it makes it just that much better and intimate. You can tell that in this case, this is exactly how they are feeling.

In July 2020, JP Saxe tweeted about how much he loved Morris’ music. She responded excitedly, stating that she loved his, and he said “we should maybe make one together sometimes cuz I’d love that a lot,” to which she said, “Let’s writtttte!” In September, they did just that, and “Line By Line” was born. We’re only in the first month of 2021, but thanks to a song like this one, no matter what, it is clear that life will never really pause; we’ll just take it day by day and line by line.

To keep up with Maren Morris, follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

To keep up with JP Saxe, follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

“Line By Line” is now available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music here on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.