EXCLUSIVE: Rookie Of The Year ”The Goodnight Moon Part II’ Track-By-Track

Rookie Of The Year have a brand new album out today titled, The Goodnight Moon Part II— and it rules. The 11-track LP is filled with heart, and Ryan Dunson is giving us an inside look at each track. Fans can pick up the album today and find something to relate to in these beautiful songs.

Take a look at this exclusive feature and let us know what you think of the album below.

Buy The Goodnight Moon Part II on iTunes here.

1. Everything: The first song summarizes the tone of the entire record. For me, this past year has had a lot of ups and downs. Most of my inspiration is born in my downs. Call it therapy. Call it a release. I call it trying to make something beautiful out of darkness. In this song and in this record, I try to capture the emotions I went through everyday after the day I lost the solid ground I stood on. Everyone has lost that person—that someone you let inside. When you lose them, you lose a part of yourself. This song is not about the actual loss of what you’ve had, but losing what you know it could have been.

2. Love/ME/Crazy: After I lost her, I came to one solid conclusion: I am crazy. Anyone that knows me will attest to that. I spent a lot of time reflecting on the past and all the ridiculous stuff I’ve done over the years. Finding someone that accepts that AND loves me for it is rare. Crazy needs a support system. Someone that when my head is in the clouds, they ground me. Or who at least flies around up there with me in a hot air balloon or something. I think the best part about this story is that everyone is a little crazy. This song is about everyone’s crazy. The moments you have when you think no one is looking. The moments when people are human. Ill always write about it.

3. Light Years Away: Its no secret I am on the road a lot. This song is about when I’m not. Don’t get me wrong, I love touring. But that final drive home from a long tour is one of the best feelings in the world. So good in fact, I have often wondered if I leave just to come back. This song is for the feeling of going 85 miles an hour to get home to the one person that gives me butterflies. I’m exhausted, hungry, and of course the gas light is on. Touring makes relationships run on empty. Its hard and sometimes you run out of gas. But if her face is at the end of it, Ill make the drive a thousand times.

4. Three Little Words: I think the worst thing about breakups aren’t the fights, it’s the silence. Your mind will make up stories in your head, whether they are happening or not. In my case, I felt like I was floating in space, in a vacuum high away from Earth. I couldn’t hear anyone if it wasn’t her voice. I was at the mercy of my own mind. Singing about it was my only coping mechanism of silence. This song is about the silence of only person in the world that I can hear.

5. Wild and Free: In the constant flip of emotions in the hard times, one of the stages is convincing yourself you can move on. Meet new people. Dance. This song is Friday night.

6. Colors of Summer: As a get older, I spend a fair amount of time thinking about when I was teenager and hanging out with friends all summer. A life perfectly balanced on blissful carefree memories and stress of the unknown. This song is to capture that dichotomy.

7. Save Me: One of the worst feelings in the world is hearing about ex moving on to someone else. The one person you love grew their roots in someone else’s ground. Your mind goes from fury, to disbelief, to sadness, back to fury, to revenge, to longing, and probably back to fury. This song is about that flip. Its about emotional walls and tearing them down as fast you build them because you don’t know what else to do. If nothing else, this song reflects how high my walls are and how much it hurt to have to build them again.

8. Leave It All Behind: This song is about growing up and making constructive choices. All my life, I have always had music as my priority. Until her. I think this is relatable song for anyone at that stage where priorities shift. When you look in the mirror and you understand yourself.

9. Raleigh: This is about the first day You hear her voice again. It doesn’t matter how mad you are at a person if youre scared. This song is about fragile moments.

10. Love and War: When I wrote this song, it was in one of those low moments of break up. I was wondering if we were officially done. There are so many games and levels to ending a relationship. Mistakes are rampant from sloppy emotion filled decisions. This song is about the battles, war and forgiveness.

11. 444: My personal favorite on the record. If I tried to explain 444, you wouldn’t believe me.

What do you think of the new album?