In an era when the latest breakup, internet feud or celebrity headline can reach us before we’ve even finished our morning coffee, Nashville-based blues-rock artist Trevor Finlay is asking a deceptively simple question: How much information is a little too much? His answer comes in the form of “A Little Too Much,” a new single and music video that takes a humorous look at our increasingly complicated relationship with information, social media and the seemingly endless stream of things we’re expected to know.
We know who broke up. We know who got offended. We know who said what, who responded, who responded to the response—and somehow, we’re expected to have an opinion about all of it.
Finlay doesn’t approach the subject with a lecture about screen time or a stern reminder to put down the phone. Instead, “A Little Too Much” embraces the absurdity of modern information overload, turning the constant noise into the source of its own punchline. The accompanying music video, which Finlay directed and edited himself, takes that concept one step further. Designed to resemble a livestream, the video places Finlay and his band inside the vertical frame of a smartphone, effectively turning the device at the center of the song’s subject matter into part of the storytelling itself. It’s an appropriately playful visual for a song that isn’t interested in telling listeners to disconnect. If anything, “A Little Too Much” offers something considerably more appealing: a few minutes of joyful distraction from the very noise it’s poking fun at, but beneath the humor is a more personal story.
Finlay co-wrote “A Little Too Much” with his late longtime friend and songwriting collaborator Robert K. Wolf, giving the track an added emotional resonance. Their creative partnership continues through the music they made together, making the new release not only a commentary on the present but also a continuation of a musical relationship that mattered deeply to Finlay. The song also represents a creative first for the veteran performer. After years of incorporating a loop pedal into his acoustic performances, Finlay brought the technique into the studio for the first time, using it to build the rhythmic foundation of the recording.
That experimentation comes from an artist with more than three decades of experience navigating the blues, rock and roots music worlds. Over the course of his career, Finlay has shared stages with an eclectic lineup of legendary performers, including James Brown, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Chris Isaak and Charlie Daniels. “A Little Too Much” arrives following June’s “Shut the Hell Up” and continues a steady run of new material from Finlay as he looks toward his seventh studio album. For an artist who has spent decades making music, the subject of “A Little Too Much” feels particularly timely. The world may be giving us more information than ever before, but Finlay’s latest contribution is a reminder that sometimes the best response to all that noise is simply to turn it into a song — and have a little fun with it.