Singled Out: Jonathan Paull Gertler's Unfinished Business

07-10-2026

Jonathan Paull Gertler just released his new single "Unfinished Business", the title track to his forthcoming album, and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

"Unfinished Business" was written at the height of the pandemic. My daytime job, well, actually, several jobs, are all pretty intense, but for once I could keep the guitar behind my desk and turn off the Zoom or Teams and write - whether moments of musical inspiration or snippets of lyrics. The whole album on which "Unfinished Business" sits and which it cornerstones was written over an 18-month period with this as the method and inspiration.

This song has several different storylines to it. The title itself is one. I had it kicking around for a long time because this concept of unfinished business is really the concept of life. We can never finish everything we start to do, and although we complete a lot of tasks and actions and grow relationships and do all the things that make us human, it is always and should be always a process. That was top of mind for me. The fact that the pandemic had so many of us separated, that we would communicate at a distance, that we lost a lot of the basic human contacts includes those things like affection, closeness, meals together, glasses of wine and shared food, that on which we all thrive, was central to the theme of the first two verses - grass growing wild and unkempt but still growing. The fact that isolation doesn't necessarily inhibit, but in fact can augment, human emotions, and that contact among people, whether romantic love or dear friendship or family, is the life blood of all with which we come together. As a former surgeon-scientist and someone who breathes the life sciences, I was extremely aware that the restrictions based on us were critical for the health of our population, but I'm also very aware of how much it separated people in ways that created stress and sadness. When we overcome that through whatever means, we really reemphasize our humanity.

The third verse, which is the verse that ultimately titled the song and album (not the original titles) was written right after JoHn Prine died. I've always loved just the brilliance of his lyrical simplicity and his ability to alter chords that are the most basic patterns which still surprise us all. I was truly saddened when he was lost to the musical world, and I was also very struck by how much more he had in front of him and how isolated it was for him to have died a respiratory death inside of an ICU. There is a direct reference to Prine in this third verse - "believing in this living" - which is, of course, a reference to his wonderful "Angel from Montgomery."

And yet, despite all of this, the song is profoundly optimistic. It speaks to dreams growing, love calling, willingness to make mistakes, the passion of the human touch ("when hands will shake"), and, at the end of the day, that love in whatever form is sustaining and, delightfully, always surprising.

This song is intentionally one of the most musically simple songs I wrote, with a 1-4-5 progression mostly, and a 2 minor and ascending set of inversions in the chorus. This is also a nod to the Lyle Lovetts and the John Prines of the world, who somehow take bluegrass and folk chord patterns and render them so compelling to the human spirit. And the studio experience was exactly as it was with every song recorded under Paul Ebersold's unbelievable guidance. Multiple takes wearing out my fingers and voice, starting with a large number of layers, and then cutting back to great simplicity. And then the simple genius of dobro and banjo as both melodic and percussive instruments, which is true on several of the songs, just transformed it for me. When I gig, I open with this song, and although it may not be conventional wisdom to have an album titled under the lead tune, I just felt so strongly that this was perhaps a central message of this group of songs written during a time when we all had to be certain that we remembered our humanity in the fullest.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here