“Do The Fireworks Still Feel The Same?” came from comparing two American milestones I have lived through: the 1976 Bicentennial and the 250-year anniversary.

I was a boy in 1976, and I remember that summer feeling different. America was not perfect then, and we certainly were not all the same. We had different beliefs, different backgrounds, different politics, and different lives. But somehow, back then, it still felt like being American was something big enough to hold all of us.

This time around, I did not feel that same spirit. The fireworks are still bright. The flag is still flying. The songs are still playing. But something feels different inside the country. It felt less like a shared celebration and more like a country arguing over who gets to belong.

That is the heart of this song. It is not about hating America. It is about missing the feeling that America once gave me — the feeling that we could disagree and still recognize each other as neighbors, as regular folks, and as Americans.

The line “Can we hush the noise long enough to remember who we are?” says what I was really trying to ask. I still believe in regular folks — the kind that will lend a hand. Teachers, farmers, truck drivers, nurses, working people, neighbors — they are still the heart of this land. But somewhere along the way, it feels like too many of us were taught to see the enemy as living next door, while somebody else kept score and used that score to figure out how to divide us rather than unite us.

Musically, I wanted this song to move with a classic 1970s country feel. I was thinking about the kind of plainspoken country storytelling that does not need to shout to make its point — songs with a steady two-step pulse, acoustic guitar, walking bass, light shuffle drums, piano, steel guitar, and fiddle. The feel was influenced by that older country tradition where the story comes first, the melody carries it cleanly, and the emotion is honest without being overblown.

This song is patriotic in the only way I know how to be patriotic right now: by telling the truth about loving a country that can still break your heart.

I do not know exactly where we lost what made us shine.

I just know I sure miss the days when America felt big enough for all of us.