Roughstock Exclusive: Behind The Scenes of The Harters New Video "If I Run"

In early October 2010, Roughstock was invited onto the set of The Harters first official music video.  "If I Run" features a fantastic story that felt perfect for an innovative video treatment.  The Harters discuss their new video along with the story behind the song.

Matt Bjorke: You guys toured this summer with Alan Jackson.  What was that like?

Michael Harter: It was awesome…

Leslie Harter:  It was unbelievable…

Michael: It was very surreal, playing for a crowd that large and playing in Arenas for the first time.  Alan and his staff were incredible.  The whole show ran like clockwork, and was very organized, unlike us. (laughing).

Scott Harter: It’s been an absolute dream to get up there to play with seven…

Michael: ten thousand…

Scott: I think Bangor, Maine we had our largest audience.  It was just amazing.

Leslie: We’d never been able to play for that many people before…

Michael: What was really cool was to be able to watch the so from backstage instead of being in the stands…

Matt: That’s a little different of an experience…

Michael:  Absolutely, to see all that goes into a show like that…

Matt: So for this new video for “If I Run,” you’re using stop-motion technology.  How did that come about?

Michael:  Yeah, yeah…

Leslie: I think it’s gonna be awesome.  A lot of videos you see, they get super creative and eclectic and country videos don’t really do that that much outside of a snippet or two. So it sounds cool.

Scott: That was director Wes Edwards’ idea. 

Michael…and the company that’s doing the stop-motion part of the video with Wes is Parker-Rozario Productions.  It’s a still shot with photos taken every five seconds, so you’ll the the light flucturing around…

Leslie:  And he’s using a lot of that technology and it should be a really cool video.

Matt: Like you would see in a film or movie, with traffic moving and stuff…

Scott: Yeah, and it works well with the story behind the song, which is about love that withstands the test of time.

Matt: I saw that there were some family photos with the shots of the time-lapse, how cool was that for you to have the photos in this video?

Scott: It’s very special.

Michael: Yeah, both sets of grandparents are in there, it’s very cool.

Matt: You discussed the song and how it’s about love standing the test of time.  How does the video itself help tell the story of the song?

Leslie: I had the idea for the chorus and the melody and it was important to me to have the next person I meet know how I feel and what I need to know from them…

Michael: The song itself doesn’t depict a specific event in somebody’s lives but it was inspired by our grandparents and it was one of those songs that sort of fell out in 30 minutes and was effortless.  I think that those come from a place that I don’t think any musician can really explain. 

Leslie: It’s one of those songs that feel like it was meant to be here. 

Matt: That brings up a good point about how some songs can come out that quickly and that – as much as some people would hate to think – the best ones come that way…

Michael: The best ones we’ve ever written have come out fast like that and the more and more we work on them like that, and even if they’re not fully produced in that time, the general outline is there.

Matt: The quality of a song isn’t in how long it takes to make it…

Michael: No, it’s like they’re the ones that god strikes you to write are the ones that turns out the quickest and fastest.   We also usually write the best songs when we’re not planning on writing a song.

Scott: like when we’re practicing or something…

Michael: yeah, like when one of us is playing the guitar or something…

Scott: although this one was written during a writers retreat in our cabin in in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Michael: Yeah this started with our publishing company that we started with our father years ago, Anozira Publishing (Arizona spelled backwards).  And before we had a record deal or anything we would take some songwriter friends out to our cabin and write for four or five days and that’s how this song with Rachel came about. 

Matt: This is your first video, isn’t it?

Leslie: Yeah, it is!

Matt: So how has the experience been for you?

Michael: Fun!

Scott: Great!

Leslie: It’s been so much fun and easy, actually.  Wes has made me feel so comfortable even if some of the stuff he had me doing was pretty tricky…

Matt: Like when you were on a moving cart…

Leslie:  Yeah, that was a little tricky.

Matt: How does it feel to be finished with making your first video?

Leslie: it’s kind of surreal and it was a blast.

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