With its bittersweet lyricism and warm Americana tone, George Collins’s “By the Time” has already earned praise as one of his most evocative tracks to date.

Now, the newly released music video gives the song a cinematic heartbeat, placing Collins in a dimly lit Prague steakhouse as he strums, sings and pens a final farewell letter to a soon-to-be ex.

Directed by Thomas Cruz and Jarda Malina, and featuring a cameo by Max Munson – the real-life owner of Max’s Steakhouse – this video is full of intimate details. From the half-finished whiskey glass to the knowing glances of a friendly bartender.

Look closer, and you’ll even spot a Dave Matthews Band poster tucked into the scenery, a nod to one of Collins’s lifelong inspirations, and hear his previous single Open Up drifting faintly in the background.

In this conversation, Collins opens up about the song’s origins, the creative choices behind the video and why capturing its acoustic, roots-driven soul on screen was just as important as getting every chord change right.

Watch the Official Music Video here:

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

I came up with the riff while I was noodling around on my acoustic guitar many years ago, and it immediately struck me as extremely catchy.

The opening line, “By the time you’ll be getting ’round to reading this,” popped into my head at the same time, as those lyrics seemed to fit the riff very well in rhythmic terms.

I filed it away for a long time and started writing the song in earnest last year.

The chord changes are quite interesting, full of unresolved tension by deliberately moving outside the key and employing lots of seventh chords, to match the troubled tone of the lyrics.

From the outset, I was hearing the influence of Tom Petty on this tune, and when I started working with my producer to bring the song to life in the studio, I specifically suggested we aim for a similar Americana vibe as Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers,” which was produced by the legendary Rick Rubin, who is an absolute genius and one of my favorite producers.

As we developed the track, the influence of other great songwriters such as Chris Stapleton, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, George Strait, Ray Davies (one of the finest storytellers in all of music) and Jimmy Buffett (ditto) also became apparent.

Although I have written almost all my songs on my acoustic guitar, this is the first fully produced acoustic track that I have released.  In the past, we took my acoustic demos and fleshed them out with a band in the studio, and I have recorded stripped-down acoustic versions of my previous singles, but this is the first time I deliberately kept the track close to its acoustic roots, to better capture the Americana/Outlaw Country vibe of the song. So you’ll hear many influences in this song, but I also hope that “By the Time” is recognizably me.

What was the inspiration behind this new video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

In my mind’s eye I imagined a scene like that of the cover art for Led Zeppelin’s last studio album, “In Through the Out Door,” in which a man is sitting on a stool in a dingy dive bar burning a “Dear John” letter.

With the phrase “By the time you’ll be getting ’round to reading this” in my head, I realized that the narrator of my song would not be reading or burning a “Dear John” letter, but rather writing one to his soon-to-be-Ex.

In a bar, of course.Once I imagined the scenario, the lyrics flowed quite naturally — fortunately, and unlike most of my other songs, this one has no autobiographical connotations whatsoever!

What was the process of making the video?

One of my closest friends in Prague, Max Munson, owns Max’s Steakhouse, a classic steakhouse modeled on those from his native Chicago.

He runs a lot of great ads for his establishment, which are created in conjunction with Thomas Cruz of Thomas Cruz Studio and Jarda Malina of Moneyshot Studio in Prague.

Once I decided that I wanted a live music video for “By the Time” (rather than the animated lyric videos for my other tracks to date), and that I wanted it to be shot in a bar, I knew that Max’s Steakhouse would be the perfect location, and that Thomas and Jarda, with their previous experience of filming in the Steakhouse, would be perfect for creating this video.

I met with Thomas several times to discuss the song and exchange ideas for the video, and I invited Max to make a cameo appearance as the friendly bartender.  We agreed early on that there would be two major features of the video:  Me singing the song with my guitar, and me writing the letter at the bar.

I arrived early at the Steakhouse early on a Saturday morning, when the restaurant was closed.  Thomas and Jarda were already setting up lights in the main dining room, and I helped move tables and chairs away to clear a space for my solo performance.  I’d brought several of my guitars and a variety of shirts, which Thomas tested under the lights before choosing a creamy color that would match the warm hues of the room.

With Jarda handling the lights, I sat on a barstool and sang “By the Time” over and over as Thomas filmed me from a variety of angles – I probably played the song fifty times before Thomas was satisfied that he had enough to work with.

Then we moved into the barroom. Max and I chose a bottle of Elijah Craig as a prop – I actually drank apple juice during the filming, though Max did have to pour several glasses of whiskey so we could show the bottle getting progressively emptier.  I enjoyed those glasses, however, only after the filming was completed.

I had written several versions of the lyrics on parchment, each showing the “letter” in various stages of completion.  Again, with Jarda manning the lights, Thomas filmed me from numerous angles as I sat and sipped and wrote and pondered:  Close-ups of my hand moving across the page, close-ups of me stroking my chin and staring off into space, long shots of Max carrying a rack of glasses from the kitchen to the bar before offering me a refill of my bourbon.

Overall, we must have filmed for eight hours for what was eventually edited into a video that clocks in under four minutes.

In the editing process, Thomas had the brilliant idea to have my previous single, “Open Up,” playing in the background as I’m sitting at the bar.  That song, about remaining vulnerable and open to love in spite of disappointments, is the perfect setup for “By the Time,” which is ultimately about liberation and moving hopefully into the future.

I am grateful to Thomas, Jarda and Max for capturing this vibe and helping me bring my song to life so beautifully.

Keep up with George Collins on his Website