Each Measure Feature: James Stephen & The Good Ones

FEATURE

With their debut single, “Growing Up,” James Stephen & The Good Ones deliver a timeless but bittersweet anthem of the inevitable.

The Stockport, UK-based band – including frontman James Stephen along with Elliot Robertson and Sam Lord – released their first-ever single on June 6th, 2025. It was recorded at Whitewood Studios in Liverpool and sets the tone for a highly resonant musical journey. Mixed by Danny Woodward, “Growing Up” show cases the band’s masterful songwriting and irresistible chemistry as a group.

Musically, the single represents a compelling blend of country, folk, and rock influences. Energetic harmonies bolster a spirited acoustic instrumentation and an irresistible melody. It’s a song you can’t help tap your feet to, worthy of a cross-country road trip playlist or a good old campfire singalong.

Adding the song’s charm, Liverpool-based artist BANNERS contributed a special counter melody to the outro. It’s this inspired touch that completes the musical picture, and because of it, the song finishes on a triumphant dénouement. Introducing something new right at the end of a song is a delicate art, but Stephen & The Good Ones manage to leave us feeling like they’ve opened up another door for us – a new beginning rather than an ending.

These musical choices elegantly compliment the single’s poetic themes. As a song about growing up, “Growing Up” is as honest and unpretentious lyrically as it is musically. This singer uses a series of familiar and evocative images to reconcile a universal irony: when we’re young, we’re in a hurry to grow up, and when we grow up, we miss our childhood. Finally, he arrives at the conclusion “that growing up ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be.”

It's a bittersweet message, but “Growing Up” isn’t a sad song. Rather than dwelling on regret, it leaves us with the realization that it’s better to live in the present than to rush towards the future or linger in the past.

Timelessness is a difficult thing for songwriters to achieve, but James Stephen & The Good Ones have certainly done it with “Growing Up.” If they carry this momentum into their future releases, we have a very exciting body of work to look forward to, but for now, let’s just live in the moment and turn up the volume on “Growing Up.”

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