Robert Ellis Orrall finds a haven for the craziness with ‘Where The Gone People Go’
Acclaimed Boston singer-songwriter offers a glimpse behind the creative curtain with a bluesy new single and video out now
NOW PLAYING: Watch the ‘Where The Gone People Go’ video on YouTube
Featured on ‘Wrong Thing’, the Robert Ellis Orrall band’s first new album in 39 years, out now on vinyl, CD, and all streaming platforms: Listen x Purchase
New album features the title track single plus a rebooted ‘Crazier’, originally written with Taylor Swift and recently performed in Scotland on The Eras Tour
Listen to June live album ‘The Bear Is The Mountain’ x Watch ‘Ultimate’ on YouTube
BOSTON, Mass. [November 10, 2025] – These days, Robert Ellis Orrall is leading a bit of a double life.
The acclaimed singer-songwriter is busy making the media rounds discussing his efforts in helping launch Taylor Swift’s career back in the 2000s, appearing on a recent news segment for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV and in an extensive documentary by UK Channel 4 called Taylor; as well as contributing to a freshly-published book from Harvard Business Review senior editor Kevin Evers titled There's Nothing Like This - The Strategic Genius Of Taylor Swift.
While the Swift spotlight swirls and shines, Orrall is plenty busy with his own band. He hit the festival and club circuit around New England this year for a flurry of live gigs, and released new album Wrong Thing, the quartet’s first new music in 39 years, back in September, which followed the summer’s ‘80s-callback live album The Bear Is The Mountain. Oh, and he rebooted and re-released “Ultimate,” a song he originally wrote for Lindsay Lohan for the Freaky Friday soundtrack, to coincide with the Disney flick’s official sequel release this past summer.
From discussing the Tay-Sway origin story to banging out anthemic rockers with his band – a reunited lineup from the foursome’s heralded RCA Records era – it’s enough to make a sane person’s head spin. So what’s Orrall to do when things feel like they are getting out of hand?
He simply goes to “Where The Gone People Go.”
That’s the title of Robert Ellis Orrall’s new single and visual, with the official music video dropping Monday, November 10. With a bluesy barroom energy, a funk-infused groove, and a hypnotic tribal beat, “Where The Gone People Go” is the latest offering from Wrong Thing, out now on vinyl, CD, and digital via Fixation Records.
“Where do we go when we’re gone? How far gone is too far? Do dogs go where we go? What’s going on with my brain?” the always upbeat and lively Orrall asks in rapid-fire succession. “I was sitting on my porch one moonlit night and my mind began to wander. I scribbled out whatever floated through my head in anticipation of my bandmates arriving to work on Wrong Thing. We thought it would be fun to hash out a new song and record it immediately.”
The bandmates in question are a trio of longtime collaborators and confidants, all battle-tested in rounding out Orrall on vocals and keyboards: Kook Lawry (guitars), Don Walden (bass), and David Stefanelli (drums and percussion). All four appear in the video, filmed at Orrall’s home residence and recording studio by the band’s former road manager Jerry Antonelli, who used to film the band in the ‘80s using a Super 8 camera.
The “Where The Gone People Go” video is a mix of retro footage and modern scenes from the recording – a fitting college for a band currently blending their throwback era with a modern reboot – with cameos from engineer Steve Marcantonio, Antonelli, Orrall’s very good dog Okie (who also gets a shout-out in the lyrics), and an alleged “mystery man” named Clayton Foster (who will go on to star in the official lyric video due out in December).
“It being a bit of a nonsense song, I was excited to use some pretty nonsensical images, and when I asked David to film himself drumming in his studio, he sent me something altogether different,” Orrall reveals. “He appears in the video as a character he created, Clayton Forster, an oddball fellow who definitely marches to the beat of his own (non-existent) drum.”
Orrall himself knows a thing or two about that. Since the band reformed in 2021, he’s released five albums – 467 Surf And Gun Club, The War Between Us, The Bear Is The Mountain, B-Sides And C-Sides, and most recently Wrong Thing – with another coming next summer. And Orrall has a new solo record ready for release, This, That, and The Other Thing, due out most likely in January.
But it’s Wrong Thing that’s top of mind for now, especially with the “Where The Gone People Go” video surfacing just ahead of the holidays. Orrall has learned to live in the moment, and appreciate all the craziness around him. Wrong Thing is an infectious mix of 10 bluesy, yacht-rocking, pop-rock bangers and arena-ready love songs and ballads, showcasing a band that hasn’t missed a beat in the 39 years since.
“Back in the ‘80s, I truly thought a dream goes on forever,” Orrall admits. “And it does. It really does. But it’s never the dream you thought it would be. When we toured with bands like U2 or The Kinks, playing theaters and arenas, it felt like a dream come true – of course. But it all went by in a flash. Just like life does. In the ‘80s I hoped we would play music together until we were old. Now we are old, and we’re playing music together! So, maybe it’s a slightly different dream come true.”
While the band’s 1986 album, The War Between Us, would finally surface for proper release just last year, and live album The Bear Is The Mountain pulled from a vault of ‘80s-era stage performances, Wrong Thing is an album for the here and now, made in the here and now. Led by the album-opening lead single title track, a jaunty pop-rock nugget with Orrall’s classic infectiousness, Wrong Thing boasts nine tracks written and recorded for this era of the band, as well as the songwriter’s 2004 track “Crazier,” which he wrote with Swift for Hannah Montana: The Movie.
Wrong Thing is a melodic continuation of Orrall’s remarkable career, which took him to Nashville after his band dissolved in the mid-’80s, where he became a prolific songwriter, producer, and in-demand collaborator. He would earn five Number 1 songs to his credit across an eclectic and expansive catalog, amassing 350 cuts, and along the way would help launch Swift’s career, co-writing and co-producing her 10x-platinum 2006 debut album and its follow-up 2008 EP Beautiful Eyes.
He’d work with the likes of Reba McEntire, Shenandoah, Carlene Carter, and Clay Walker, earn placements in TV and movies in addition to Freaky Friday – like The Bourne Identity and Hannah Montana – and launch esteemed indie label Infinity Cat Recordings (releasing music from his beloved sons’ band JEFF The Brotherhood, as well as Diarrhea Planet, Be Your Own Pet, and others) and its Visitor’s Center and Gallery.
Orrall now splits his time between his residence on the North Shore of Massachusetts and Florida, where when he’s not making music with his collaborators, he spends his time painting.
“The four of us realize how lucky we are to be making music together again,” Orrall admits. “We love each other. We are four brothers who experienced so much so fast, the highs and the lows, the good and the bad, and so much of it was out of our control. But we had each other's backs. And as different as four brothers can be, we are connected. Especially when we are playing music together.”
Wrong Thing finds the band flexing both chemistry and creativity, crafting a timeless sound that straddles genre lines, invites the listeners in, and puts weight back into the experience of listening to a full album from start to finish. The playful bounce of the title track sets the mood (“There ain’t no right way to do the wrong thing,” Orrall sings), paving a way for a record rife with storytelling acumen, big guitars, and heartfelt emotion.
“Some of these songs are riddles, but a lot of these songs mine some very deep feelings like unexpected loss, heartbreak, and love unrequited – my favorite theme,” Orrall notes. “‘Wildflowers And Heather’ sounds like a love song until you find out that the singer is living in denial and the object of his attention has long forgotten he exists. But he still believes in love because carrying that torch sustains him above all. ‘My Heart Hurts’ is proof that as painful as it is, love unrequited is as strong and everlasting as love can ever be. And ‘Avalanche’ is just a reminder that love is a verb. When somebody you love needs love the most, love is what you do.”
Elsewhere, “Baby Changes Everything” aims for the arena rafters with the type of songwriting ambition missing from modern mainstream music, and closer “If I Were You and You Were Me” edges toward an appropriately psychedelic climax.
And then there’s “Crazier,” the Taylor Swift song audiences know from Hannah Montana: The Movie and soundtrack. Turns out a recent live performance of it by the world’s biggest pop star gave Orrall a new appreciation for it, and like his recent reboot of “Ultimate,” he wanted to revisit the track with his band to give it a new shine.
“A lot of this album sounds like we could have made it in 1982,” Orrall notes. “Don and David have always had a vibe – David’s drums seem to know the lyrics and Don’s bass plays songs within the songs. Kook’s sounds, his voicings, his perfect choices (when to play and when to embrace the silence) and his solos have always been so uniquely Kook to me. I missed playing with these guys. There’s nothing like it.”
If Orrall sounds like he’s having fun – that’s because he is. Forever ready to discuss Swift, his bandmates, or any of the many projects he’s surrounded himself with, the musician is constantly ready for what comes next. As long as his mind doesn’t drift too far off when he’s just sitting on his porch, thinking about everything all at once.
But if that helps inspire songs like “Where The Gone People Go,” then it’s just another avenue for that classic Robert Ellis Orrall creative energy.
“‘Where The Gone People Go’ has been a surprise hit at each of our summer shows,” he concludes. “It was a ball to write – we wrote it on my back porch with David playing pots and pans, and I had a toy keyboard – and it’s really fun to play. It looks like that vibe is contagious.”
Orrall wouldn't have it any other way.
Robert Ellis Orrall features:
Robert Ellis Orrall: Keyboards and vocals
Kook Lawry: Guitars
Don Walden: Bass
David Stefanelli: Drums and percussion
‘Where The Gone People Go’ credits:
Written by Don Walden, Kook Lawry, David Stefanelli and Robert Ellis Orrall
Performed by Don Walden, Kook Lawry, David Stefanelli and Robert Ellis Orrall
Produced by Robert Ellis Orrall
Mixed by Steve Marcantonio
Released on new album Wrong Thing, out now on Fixation Records
Appearing in the video: Robert Ellis Orrall (keyboards, vocals) David Stefanelli (drums, percussion) Kook Lawry (guitars) Don Walden (bass ), with Clayton Forster (mystery man), Steve Marcantonio (engineer), Jerry Antonelli (road manager) and Okie (a very good dog!)
‘Wrong Thing’ artwork:
Robert Ellis Orrall short bio:
When RCA Records signed Robert Ellis Orrall in 1980 he had his dream band: Kook Lawry on guitar, Don Walden on bass and David Stefanelli on the drums. Forty-four years later they are back on the road and in the studio. Part of a New Wave of Boston artists that included The Stompers, Jon Butcher Axis, Til Tuesday and The Neighborhoods, REO rocked legendary venues like The Rat, The Paradise and The Orpheum Theater.
The band’s critically acclaimed albums, Fixation, Contain Yourself, and Special Pain were recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales with producer Roger Bechirian (Elvis Costello, Squeeze), and supported with tours opening for U2, The Kinks, Psychedelic Furs and countless others. And their Top 40 smash hit with Carlene Carter “I Couldn’t Say No” still stands as an ‘80s classic.
When Robert moved to Nashville to write and produce (Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, Lindsay Lohan), Kook, Don and David lent their talents to artists like Peter Wolf (J. Geils Band), Barry Goudreau & Brad Delp (Boston), Carlene Carter, Brian Maes, Nick Lowe, and many more.
Robert Ellis Orrall has had over 350 songs (and five #1 songs) cut around the world and soundtracked in TV and movies like The Bourne Identity, Hannah Montana, and Freaky Friday. He produced tracks for Love and Theft, Cake Bake Betty and Taylor Swift’s 10x-platinum debut album and follow-up EP.
The band regrouped to reminisce, tour, and record 467 Surf And Gun Club, an album John Hiatt called “absolutely joyful”; Michael McDonald called “relevant and timeless”; and wrote American Songwriter: “The melodies, counter melodies, and killer performances constitute a unique blend of ‘60s-pop-meets-modern-indie songwriting.”
The band is touring from now to forever, playing songs from all of their albums and albums to come. The old cliche “Let’s get the band back together” has come to life with these four best friends playing their best music.
Recent praise for Robert Ellis Orrall:
“It's [Robert Ellis Orrall’s] ability to connect with other artists where his talents truly shine.” _CBS Boston / WBZ-TV
“Robert Ellis Orrall is a composer who always says something we need to hear. In that way he remains relevant and timeless. His latest offering is no less.” _Michael McDonald
“Very sophisticated and relentlessly appealing sunny SoCal folk pop a la Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, the guys who invented it. Fully realized. Absolutely joyful.” _John Hiatt
“From a full-on Freaky Friday moment (where a song he wrote came belting out of Lindsay Lohan’s mouth) to crossing paths with a baby Taylor Swift and zapping us straight back to her debut era, chances are Robert Ellis Orrall has secretly been the mastermind behind one of your all-time favorite bops.” _The Honey Pop
“A busy season of live performances.” _WGBH’s The Culture Show
“A melodic flashback” _The Whole Kameese
“[H]his version [of ‘Ultimate’] is a pop rock track leaning towards power pop. It’s a fun and upbeat song that you certainly don’t need to be a fan of the original to enjoy. It’s the kind of song that doesn’t sound like it would belong on a Disney soundtrack, but once you know its origins, it makes sense.” _If It’s Too Loud
“Robert Ellis Orrall is emblematic of the irreverent, eccentric spirit that has helped forge Nashville’s contemporary independent music scene.” _Nashville Scene
“[467 Surf and Gun Club] is a delightful and touching listen. Musically, the melodies, counter melodies, and killer performances – provided by the same band members Orrall recorded and played with back in the ‘80s – constitute a unique blend of ‘60s-pop-meets-modern-indie- meets-solid-country-songwriting.” _American Songwriter
“The music throughout the record has the same vibe as Andrew Gold, Brian Wilson or latter career Elvis Costello, confident, comfortable and relaxed with nothing to prove and ultimately satisfying from start to finish. The first instinct on the closing notes of the (final) track is to immediately go back to the beginning and listen to the album all over again.” _Glide Magazine
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