Her website biography starts off with saying “Cowgirl hippie and sometimes kind of trippy are just a few ways to describe emerging star Carter Faith” and an introduction that I don’t think I can do any better with. She was a member of CMT’s Next Women of Country class in 2023, spent time at Belmont University in Nashville on their songwriting programme and last year released her sophomore EP “Man” which you can listen to HERE.
The North Carolina native made her maiden voyage across the pond in 2022 for UK shows in Glasgow, Manchester and London as she joined Twinnie, Robyn Ottolini and Kalie Shorr as part of Nashville based all-female writers round Song Suffragettes first tour overseas. Fast forward eighteen months and Carter is heading back to the UK to play C2C: Country to Country in London in addition to playing the festival in both Rotterdam and Berlin, where she spent some time with us when we both were visiting Berlin for the first time.
Hey Carter, how are you doing? “I’m so good and I love your bandana by the way. I think purple is a very underrated colour.”
I agree, the world definitely needs more purple ha-ha. I can already tell that this is going to be a lot of fun. “Ha-ha, I think so too. You and Luke (her tour manager) have the same accent.”
I think compared to everyone you will speak to in London, my accent is a lot softer and probably one of the easier British accents to understand. “I agree with that. Where is yours from?”
I live in Croydon but grew up in Essex, so I do have a bit of the East London and TOWIE nastiness that creeps in every now and again. “Is that like where Twinnie is from?”
No Twinnie is the exact opposite end of the country, hers is a really broad northern accent as she’s from Yorkshire. “I love her, she’s so fun and crazy but it’s so American of me to be comparing accents, places and literally everything to things back at home.”
I’m pretty much doing the same here as it’s my first time in Germany. “Really? Me too!”
That’s awesome, high five to that! “Yay. Guten tag ha-ha.”
That’s one of the few bits of German that I can understand. I haven’t learnt much German but Alli Walker has been playing here too and she plays the bagpipes and the German word for bagpipes is “dudelsack” “Dudelsack? Ha-ha, shut your face. I love that.”
I like that and it’s one of those things that when you hear in a different language, you think that’s cool and better than what we call it. “I like that one, danke schön. I think that means thank you."
Yeah, I’ve got that one too but beyond that I can count to ten and know the words “bier bitte” which means beers please so I can do the most important thing and order as many beers as I need at the bar. "That’s so smart, I love that.”
It’s cool to be here and very weird to be here as a Brit, talking to an American in Germany. “Yes, it sounds like the start of a joke.”
Oh my God, yeah it does but probably not a very funny one if I’m telling it. This is the first time for both of us in Germany but you came over before to grace us with your presence in London once before. That was a fun night where you played that round with a friend of mine who is a very bad influence. “I’m literally thinking which one are you talking about because that could everyone that I was with.”
You’re right I could be talking about any one of you but I’m specifically talking about young Kalianne. “Ha-ha ok, Kalie (Shorr) was like guys, you have to go out, when else are we here and we’re like yep, you’re right about that so, we did and had some fun.”
It was a fun night, that was pretty wild for a Song Suffragettes show but on that, you do come with the highest recommendation. The first time I properly spoke to Todd (Cassetty) was a bizarre Zoom call when we trying to do some press for when they were launching in London but just ended up having a chat for over an hour that had no relevance to what we were trying to do and I’m thinking how can I make this into something that anyone would want to read. One of the productive things from it was he asked me about girls from the UK that should be on his radar and when I flipped it round to him, you were the girl he put forward as his champion. “Awh, that’s sweet. He’s been so good to me. He’s a good man which is hard to find in the music industry for real, so I’m really grateful for him.”
I want to see more girls getting the fair shot that they rightfully deserve so having people like him and Leslie (Fram) at CMT, where you were part of last year’s Next Women of Country class so it is so good to have people like that who are taking up that fight. “Absolutely and that they are in positions that matter. There is not all bad in the music industry obviously but I think when you attach so much of yourself to it, the people who are a little harsher it hits harder. Then when you meet people like Todd and Leslie it reminds me this is why I’m doing it, I have a place to be here and people appreciate me, which is meaningful.”
I know you did two sets here today and were in Rotterdam yesterday, I have found from my time here in Germany that the audience in mainland Europe is so much more attentive than the UK audience. Everyone in Nashville talks about British crowds being these mythical beings who sit there being so respectful where they are quiet until about a second after a song finishes and they all start clapping. The fact that they are engaged and don’t react is so alien, it’s almost like you guys sat there thinking do these people think I really suck or something. “I literally felt that today. I was like do they hate me or whatever but I think I’m not used to people actually listening to me and caring what I’m saying.”
As much as anyone tells you that before you come and you get an expectation, people don’t seem to be truly prepared for it until they actually see it for themselves. “Totally, it’s like even in Nashville which is Music City people are wanting to have a good time or get rowdy and I don’t make that kind of music all the time so being here is just such a different experience but it’s great though. I’ve loved it, I literally don’t remember the last time I played a set weren’t talking during it, which was crazy.”
Next weekend in London is a very different experience. This is a beautiful walk through the countryside with loads of really pretty stuff to see where London is twenty thousand people at the arena where you will end up walking round that ring of the dome more times than you will think is physically possible until you get your bearings eventually and remember you need to be near Nando’s. “That is so funny. The place I really want to go in London is Dishoom."
This is not funny anymore. You are the fourth person I have spoken to today that has said they want to go there. “That’s what Twinnie said, she was like why does everyone want to go to Dishoom?”
I am firmly in Twinnie’s camp on this and don’t get me wrong it’s pretty good but as locals we wouldn’t go there. Particularly the one in Shoreditch where you are round the corner from Brick Lane, it’s like why would anyone go and queue for an hour when you have so much more choice that has no line and is cheaper. There is nothing wrong with Dishoom but it is more of a tourist spot and it’s sort of our equivalent of what Hattie B’s is in Nashville. “Ha-ha ok, I get it now. The other place that I want to go because Kalie took us there last time is Blame Gloria which is a bar in Covent Garden."
Ooh that’s a new one for me. “Is Covent Garden like a touristy spot?”
It’s a market with a lot of bars around the plaza where they have a lot of street performers during the day but yeah, it’s a tourist hotspot right in the middle of town. “We were pretty drunk when we were there ha-ha so I don’t remember what the vibe was but I want to go back and grace them with my presence again.”
Mainly though, you’re coming over to grace us with your presence on stage again in our city next weekend. “I’m so excited.”
Are you playing on your own over here or have you got anyone on stage with you? “It’s just me and my guitar player Tofer who I write with all the time and he produces my records which is very fun. He’s like my forty-year old man best friend so we’re having a great time playing some songs and drinking wine.”
I’m not sure we’ve actually talked much about your actual music so just to finish up you had a duet with Sam Williams called “’Til I Can Make It On My Own” with Sam Williams drop last month and “Man” came out last year so what are we looking at going through 2024 for more Carter Faith music being on the way? “I’m going to start putting out more songs and will definitely have a record coming. I’m very excited for that, it will be my first record which I feel I’m ready to put it out now and get on with it. That’s what I feel like I have been working towards this whole time so I’m really excited.”
That’s great to hear, this has been wild and so much fun. “This has been awesome. Thank you, you’re so much fun and we just need to hang out.”
Sounds good to me girl and we’ll see you next week in London.
Carter Faith will be appearing at C2C: Country to Country in London this weekend (March 8th to 10th) where she will be performing on Saturday March 9th on The BBC Radio 2 Stage in the Indigo (13:00) and The Barrelhouse in the Town Square (16:30) then again on Sunday March 10th as part of The Bluebird Café along with Charlie Worsham and Ben Chapman at 10:30 (separate ticket required for this show) before two further sets of her own in The Saloon (13:30) and the Spotlight stage in the main arena at 17:30. Full festival information and details of any remaining tickets can be found on the event WEBSITE or socials (INSTAGRAMTWITTERFACEBOOK.
C2C Country to Country Berlin will return in 2025 for three days over the weekend of March 7th to 9th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE or on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK where you will also be able to relive highlights from this past weekend.
The latest EP “Man” from Carter Faith is available to listen to HERE. To learn more about Carter and be the first to find out about her upcoming projects you can check out her WEBSITE or follow her socially on INSTAGRAMTIKTOKTWITTER or FACEBOOK.