Joseph Kuhl The Witness – A Song Written With Open Eyes

20/11/2025 21

There are songs that tap you on the shoulder, and other that sit across from you like an old friend who brings hard stories to the table. The Witness by Joseph Kuhl does that. I pressed play, and by the time the first verse rolled in – Look in the mirror, look in the stars… I felt I was stepping into something heavier than the usual Friday-release thing. There’s something heavy here, carried with both hands.

Maybe it’s because Joseph spent years living and working in the Middle East. Maybe it’s because the Gaza war sat on everyone’s screens with a kind of cold attitude. Or maybe it’s because some subjects have their own gravity, and you feel it whether you want it or not. I’ve been watching that conflict like many others, powerless in front of headlines, and this song brought that same pain back to the surface.

The artwork alone does half the talking. A black canvas. A red explosion. A burst frozen mid-impact, like someone pressed pause on violence itself. One shape, one message. It mirrors the song: direct, stripped of decoration, aiming straight for the truth rather than the comfort.

And Joseph Kuhl, out of Athens, Georgia, brings the story with a voice that means every word.

A Long Night In Athens, And A Band That Knew The Assignment

Joseph pulled in people who know how to carry emotional weight without drama. John Neff from Drive-By Truckers, Carlton Owens from Cracker, Jason Fuller on keys, and Micah Bennet shaping the whole thing with analog-rich texture at The Last House Studio.

The fun part? This whole track took shape during a single night session in the summer of 2025. They walked in with a folk-rock ballad and walked out with a rock track that breathes like a storm. I like imagining that room: those unforgettable late hours, cables everywhere, coffee or whiskey – or both.

Micah Bennett’s handmade gear leaves fingerprints all over this thing – tubes, circuitry, all that warm noise that digital tools try to imitate. You hear it in the dynamics, in the guitars, in the way everything feels alive. And Joseph had a sentence said to him by a long-time collaborator that stuck with me too: “You’ve been writing this song your whole life.”

Lyrics That Leave No Escape Route

The lyrics land like field notes written by someone who saw too much and refuses to bury it: Look in the graveyard for the last of Palestine / Listen to the last prayer – now it’s time. There’s no shielding, or any other metaphor labyrinth. Just the man’s voice saying: I saw this. You saw this. We all saw this.

The chorus hits even harder: No stopping the battles, no winning the war / They will kill and kill again / Until they can’t kill anymore. Writing about war is hard. Most songs slip into slogans or romance. But this one stays grounded. A witness report. Joseph mentions the fear some Middle-Eastern musicians carried about participating – real fear, the kind that comes with consequences. That alone tells you everything about the atmosphere surrounding this song.

A Statement Wrapped In Rock And Dust

The roots of blues, Dylan’s backbone, REM’s sparse melodic bones – they all run under the surface of The Witness. Joseph draws from decades in the Middle East, from friendships in Gaza, from stories that never return to silence once they settle in your head.

This is the first track of his upcoming second album. It opens the door, switches on the light, and says: Come inside, but keep your eyes open. The Last House Studio – once home to Davis Causey – gives the track that analog soul. I’m a sucker for that stuff. I feel it even if I can’t name it. Joseph sees this song as a call to pay attention. After listening a few times, I get why. Some songs exist to document.

A Few Final Thoughts From My Side

I kept thinking about the cover art while replaying the song. That red burst it’s a reminder – almost like a stain you carry out of the room. And maybe that’s the point. You don’t walk away clean after hearing The Witness. You carry a small piece of it. A brief record of someone else’s pain turning into sound.

Joseph Kuhl aimed for honesty and reached it. And in a world that moves too fast for grief, sometimes a rock song stops you long enough to feel something real. Meet the artist on his Facebook, YouTube,or Spotify. I’ll keep this one close for a while.