On “Wishing Well,” Organic Records’ Jeremy Garrett sounds like an artist with his soul on fire. Following the lyric-centered minimalism of “The World Keeps Turning Around,” the new single is another foray into the technological wizardry that ties together his studio work and live appearances, utilizing layered loops of guitar and mandolin to create a funky bed for powerfully emotive vocals and edgy, wailing fiddle. The result is an intense performance that sounds more like an entire band than just one musician.

For Garrett, best known as singer and fiddle player for the GRAMMY®-winning Infamous Stringdusters, mastering the array of available modern tools is the almost inevitable outcome of his determination to build thoroughly 21st century music on a foundation of the bluegrass and roots music he’s been performing for most of his life. In doing so, he’s not only found a meaningful, creative path for himself, but also earned a place among the leaders of a diverse musical movement intent on keeping the essence of tradition fresh and reinvigorated.

“‘Wishing Well’ is one of those songs that poured out on the kitchen table in about 15 minutes,” says Garrett. “I had the whole song about that quickly. I just love the bluesy vibe that it has and the imagery that the carousel and wishing well image brings to the relationship being talked about in the song.“

With its muscular rhythms and a lyric alternating between gritty expressions of frustration and assertiveness, “Wishing Well” works equally well in addressing personal relationships and our relationships with society writ large—a song about the internal struggle of dealing with the grind of the external, brought to life at the intersection of the latest in technology and the most elemental forms of human emotions.