The third single from So Much I Still Don’t See, the Chet Atkins-inspired, upbeat “The Real Thing”, is the second track on the album and an example of the varied energy across the collection of ten songs. “The Real Thing” began with a lyrical groove – driving out of a certain American city on tour, thousands of miles from home, with a 12 hour drive ahead, the spark of inspiration hit. The groove of the first line, “I’m sailing smooth highway under soft suburb lights/ where an Applebee’s oversees every corner” led to the rest of “The Real Thing” being written all in one night at a hotel in the middle of nowhere, USA. The song is a lighter take on the existential questions present throughout the album. Diving into questions of environmentalism, man’s place in the world, and the writer’s place in the world, “The Real Thing” is the upbeat kickoff to the soft, cutting, inquisitive “So Much I Still Don’t See”.

Sonically, “The Real Thing” is a tribute to one of Robbins’s main influences on guitar, the great fingerstyle player Chet Atkins. With Chet’s signature thumping thumb technique, Robbins built a sonic palette that utilized this classic sound but twisted it with his own modern take. The thumping, western-style groove emulates the vibe of the lyrics – the quintessentially American feeling of driving fast down a dusty highway, to get to anywhere but where you are.