The Sit Down with Caylee Hammack
After successful appearance at both C2C: Country to Country and The Long Road Festival, Caylee Hammack will be heading back to the UK in May where she will appear at this years Highways festival at The Royal Albert Hall. However, prior to that, there is a new album to be excited about and “Bed Of Roses” will be released via Capitol Records Nashville (Snakefarm in the UK) on March 7th which is available to pre-save HERE.
The album which sees production credits shared between Dann Huff and John Osborne, tracks five years of patient growth for the Ellaville, Georgia native which traces the universal story of a 20-something’s coming of age with a mix of gypsy soul, 70’s twang, and heel stomping red-dirt rock across the thirteen tracks so much so that it is a story that would be worthy of appearing as a novel. New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown agrees and March 7th will not only see the release of the album but a must read counterpart in print. We never need an excuse to catch up with this feisty redhead but with a new chapter about to open (both musically and in a literacy sense) Caylee hung out with Jamie on Zoom for a deep dive into some of the tracks on the record and look ahead to her playing at one of the world’s most iconic venues.
Let's talk about Highways firstly. The Royal Albert Hall is obviously the most stunning and iconic venue in London, probably the entire world so how excited are you about not just getting to play there but playing Eric Church doing his whole one man, Springsteenesque storytelling show?
“So, it really has inspired me. I have been practicing at a crazy capacity recently on top of doing media for a book, for an album for all of it, you know, but I've had such a passion come over me to practice up my solo gig and make it the absolute best that it is. There is something that feels sacred about Royal Albert Hall, about playing this show and something even more sacred about finding out that Eric Church was playing it solo acoustic. I was like, I have to as well, I need to be able to do this. I'm doing it by myself and I've just been practicing like crazy because I want to be able to give my best show. I don't get many opportunities, it’s not as easy for me to get across the pond, come see y'all and get to connect with my fan base there. If I'm coming over, I'm gonna damn well do it right and hopefully I will give them a special show. There is just something in me leading up to certain shows where you just know they're going to be special in a way that some other shows can't quite be, like it's going to be a once in a lifetime moment and experience. There’s something in me that's telling me that's going to be one of those that you remember the rest of your life and it's not even here yet. I'm just so excited, there's not one ounce of nerves, It's true just straight adrenaline and I'm thrilled. I'm so freaking pumped and also I connect so much with my fan base over there and I've noticed like any time I do something online, like an ask me anything, ask me any question you want about an album or tour or whatever. Seventy percent is people asking when are you coming back to the UK? When are you coming to Europe? When are you coming over here? Finally, I get to so, me and my team have been trying to fill up the calendar. I literally told them, I said, give me a few days off so I can hike somewhere but other than that, fill up every single day that you possibly can so that I can see as many people as I can. It's gonna be more club shows, more intimate stuff, because that's where I am, but I love that stuff because then I actually get hang out with people after the shows versus just zipping in the back of the van and heading out. I like getting to experience y’all’s town with you after shows.”
It's not just a return to play over here, but you’ll have some new music that you’ll get to perform here for the first time. It’s not just an album though because you’ve been writing a book to go with it. So, chicken and egg kind of scenario question with that, when did the book idea come along and how did it link in with the tracks on “Bed Of Roses”?
“It's honestly a universe that I never thought I'd ever get a chance to really explore the way I wanted to and then share with others. When I was a kid, when I was 13, I started my first book, it was about this magical land where I created this whole universe but by page sixty-five, though I gave up. Then at fifteen, I started reading Jane Eyre, Dracula and all this gothic romance horror stuff, so I had to write another book at fifteen and I got to like page seventy-three. There was just some voice in me that was like, this is never going to pay off, you'll never get finished with this and you just give it up. I hate how that voice spoken to me, but those two books, you know one fourth completed little things have just kind of wasted away in an old laptop of mine. Now at thirty years old, I got the chance, a literary agent said they were interested if I wanted to bring it to life in a book and I went into a hole for four days by myself, I grabbed my best friend who lives with me, yanked her in and said, so what if I recreated the album? What if the album as you play it all the way through, track by track, the way it is when I give it to you on March 7th, that's my story. It is sad song centric, but I aimed to put a silver lining in all the storm clouds. What I wanted was songs that if you're feeling sad, you could sing along to it but feeling a little bit of strength by the end. Telling my story was really cool, but then I found out that, if I could write a book in time, I can put it out, they can look to publish me. It was the craziest thing. I sat for eight, ten, twelve, sometimes fourteen hours a day writing by myself. I started working on this book and I decided that it would be really cool if I could play the album in reverse and if you listen to it in reverse, you get Sam's story, you get the protagonist story through the book. Every single chapter is the name of the song, it’s inspired by that song and the coolest thing is that I kind of get to tell Easter eggs about the album. Where did this idea for “Cleopatra” come from? Well, the dialogue in chapter six and seven talks about that, and he explains that for people. All of the bad traits in the bad characters are off all of my exes and the most beautiful thing is that I got to base all of the good characteristics in the main love protagonist on the man, sleeping in my bed right now, I love this man. Jamie, I finally have good love in my life and it feels so good because at thirty years old, I've been making this record and it's taken me five years to make it, it's taken ten years to write it. It's a story, it's a catalogue of the heartbreaks I went through, things I went through and the things I've learned through every experience. Now having a romance novel out that I actually got to base some of it off the romance that I'm getting to experience versus faking it, just felt the truest as a songwriter. I get to tell my real experiences whether it's to a melody or whether it's chapter by chapter so, it's cool and it's like I got to explore a whole new world. I'm hoping with the book, I can add more to the experience in the world.”
The album which sees production credits shared between Dann Huff and John Osborne, tracks five years of patient growth for the Ellaville, Georgia native which traces the universal story of a 20-something’s coming of age with a mix of gypsy soul, 70’s twang, and heel stomping red-dirt rock across the thirteen tracks so much so that it is a story that would be worthy of appearing as a novel. New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown agrees and March 7th will not only see the release of the album but a must read counterpart in print. We never need an excuse to catch up with this feisty redhead but with a new chapter about to open (both musically and in a literacy sense) Caylee hung out with Jamie on Zoom for a deep dive into some of the tracks on the record and look ahead to her playing at one of the world’s most iconic venues.
Let's talk about Highways firstly. The Royal Albert Hall is obviously the most stunning and iconic venue in London, probably the entire world so how excited are you about not just getting to play there but playing Eric Church doing his whole one man, Springsteenesque storytelling show?
“So, it really has inspired me. I have been practicing at a crazy capacity recently on top of doing media for a book, for an album for all of it, you know, but I've had such a passion come over me to practice up my solo gig and make it the absolute best that it is. There is something that feels sacred about Royal Albert Hall, about playing this show and something even more sacred about finding out that Eric Church was playing it solo acoustic. I was like, I have to as well, I need to be able to do this. I'm doing it by myself and I've just been practicing like crazy because I want to be able to give my best show. I don't get many opportunities, it’s not as easy for me to get across the pond, come see y'all and get to connect with my fan base there. If I'm coming over, I'm gonna damn well do it right and hopefully I will give them a special show. There is just something in me leading up to certain shows where you just know they're going to be special in a way that some other shows can't quite be, like it's going to be a once in a lifetime moment and experience. There’s something in me that's telling me that's going to be one of those that you remember the rest of your life and it's not even here yet. I'm just so excited, there's not one ounce of nerves, It's true just straight adrenaline and I'm thrilled. I'm so freaking pumped and also I connect so much with my fan base over there and I've noticed like any time I do something online, like an ask me anything, ask me any question you want about an album or tour or whatever. Seventy percent is people asking when are you coming back to the UK? When are you coming to Europe? When are you coming over here? Finally, I get to so, me and my team have been trying to fill up the calendar. I literally told them, I said, give me a few days off so I can hike somewhere but other than that, fill up every single day that you possibly can so that I can see as many people as I can. It's gonna be more club shows, more intimate stuff, because that's where I am, but I love that stuff because then I actually get hang out with people after the shows versus just zipping in the back of the van and heading out. I like getting to experience y’all’s town with you after shows.”
It's not just a return to play over here, but you’ll have some new music that you’ll get to perform here for the first time. It’s not just an album though because you’ve been writing a book to go with it. So, chicken and egg kind of scenario question with that, when did the book idea come along and how did it link in with the tracks on “Bed Of Roses”?
“It's honestly a universe that I never thought I'd ever get a chance to really explore the way I wanted to and then share with others. When I was a kid, when I was 13, I started my first book, it was about this magical land where I created this whole universe but by page sixty-five, though I gave up. Then at fifteen, I started reading Jane Eyre, Dracula and all this gothic romance horror stuff, so I had to write another book at fifteen and I got to like page seventy-three. There was just some voice in me that was like, this is never going to pay off, you'll never get finished with this and you just give it up. I hate how that voice spoken to me, but those two books, you know one fourth completed little things have just kind of wasted away in an old laptop of mine. Now at thirty years old, I got the chance, a literary agent said they were interested if I wanted to bring it to life in a book and I went into a hole for four days by myself, I grabbed my best friend who lives with me, yanked her in and said, so what if I recreated the album? What if the album as you play it all the way through, track by track, the way it is when I give it to you on March 7th, that's my story. It is sad song centric, but I aimed to put a silver lining in all the storm clouds. What I wanted was songs that if you're feeling sad, you could sing along to it but feeling a little bit of strength by the end. Telling my story was really cool, but then I found out that, if I could write a book in time, I can put it out, they can look to publish me. It was the craziest thing. I sat for eight, ten, twelve, sometimes fourteen hours a day writing by myself. I started working on this book and I decided that it would be really cool if I could play the album in reverse and if you listen to it in reverse, you get Sam's story, you get the protagonist story through the book. Every single chapter is the name of the song, it’s inspired by that song and the coolest thing is that I kind of get to tell Easter eggs about the album. Where did this idea for “Cleopatra” come from? Well, the dialogue in chapter six and seven talks about that, and he explains that for people. All of the bad traits in the bad characters are off all of my exes and the most beautiful thing is that I got to base all of the good characteristics in the main love protagonist on the man, sleeping in my bed right now, I love this man. Jamie, I finally have good love in my life and it feels so good because at thirty years old, I've been making this record and it's taken me five years to make it, it's taken ten years to write it. It's a story, it's a catalogue of the heartbreaks I went through, things I went through and the things I've learned through every experience. Now having a romance novel out that I actually got to base some of it off the romance that I'm getting to experience versus faking it, just felt the truest as a songwriter. I get to tell my real experiences whether it's to a melody or whether it's chapter by chapter so, it's cool and it's like I got to explore a whole new world. I'm hoping with the book, I can add more to the experience in the world.”
Let’s dive into some of these chapters so, seeing as you mentioned it and it’s my favourite song on the record, let’s start with “Cleopatra” which is definitely a great candidate for you to open your shows with when you are playing full band. That’s a big rockier one which along with “What My Angels Think of Me” you wrote with Jake Mitchell and Meg McRee, who since I came across her at The Long Road last summer, she has quickly become one of my new favourite artists and everything about her just oozes cool. You are both from Georgia but how did you and Meg start collaborating and where did this banger come from?
“I knew Meg and her boyfriend Ben were from Georgia and I had heard about their Peach Jam show that they do in Nashville. I was intrigued because I kept writing with people that I'd always write with, my OGs and they would go, have you written with Meg? Have you written it with Ben? You need to write with them. One day I went into my publisher and said, hey, do you know Meg McRee? She said yeah, she's great so I said let's write with her so, we set up some scheduling and “Cleopatra” came from maybe what could be fake news. I don't know if the story is true anymore, but I heard this story about how Cleopatra used roses to seduce Mark Antony and made him agree that he would never, ever invade Egypt as she was pharaoh, because she seduced him in a room full of flowers. The reason why she did this, the reason why she sailed into Rome with her sails having been dipped in rosewater was so the smell of roses came with them and her thought was that every single time that he smells a rose, he will remember our rendezvous and our agreement that he will never invade as long as I’m queen. I remember that I watched this video one night, I was a little inebriated, I won't lie and then I sat down with my guitar and automatically wrote the first verse and chorus, thinking this is it, there’s something here. I already had it going and I just could not let it go, normally if I have a song already kind of at that point, I'll wait and try to write it myself but the next day I woke up and I had that thing in me and I was like, I cannot let this song set, so I came in like a psychopath. What’s so funny is one night Jake started drinking and he got a little inebriated that night and he goes, you need to come in more like that, just crazy, just crazy about the song and I was like, wait, is that how it came across? I just had like a death grip on it. Meg and Jake are both just great thinkers then Meg has this such innate finger on the pulse of what is cool long before I think even people realize how cool it is. She just naturally a cool human being and has great taste. I remember bringing “Cleopatra” in and I think that was our first song that us three had wrote together then we wrote “What My Angels Think of Me”. That one was based off of this like hypnosis meditation session I have, where I felt as if I saw my guardian angels walking around me and in the meditation, I started freaking out because I kept thinking, what are they thinking of me right now? Are they disappointed? I mean, what are they thinking about me? As I'm explaining all the story to her, she goes, what my angels think of me, that's the song Caylee, that’s it, we need to write that. I started thinking about talking to a guy at that point where I was hiding my spirituality. I'm a very spiritual person, not very structurally religious, but very spiritual. I noticed that I was dating people who were not spiritual whatsoever and I noticed that I stopped myself, I would quiet down, I wouldn't talk about the things that would bring me joy, bliss and this connectivity that I felt because they didn't believe in it. I was dating a guy and going, like my star sign is this and so on where I just remember him looking over as we were driving on the road and he goes, I don't believe in all that stuff. I realized, like how many times have I made my belief smaller or seen more insignificant to make someone else feel more comfortable in being nearer to me. It was really cool to get to write a kind of a barn burner with her on “Cleopatra” and then also write a song that for me has a lot of introspective little niblets of information and thoughts in “What My Angels Think of Me”. She's just so freaking good, dude and just sweet, sweet as sugar, I love her.
Whilst that is a big rocky number, we will move along to a slower and more reflective track but a track with a British co-writer. I genuinely am the biggest Lucie Silvas fan you will find, I went to the twentieth anniversary show of her “Breathe In” record last year and have just adored her like for ever. “How Long” is the track which her and John (Osborne) were involved with, John had a big part through other parts of the record too as the time in the chair was split between him and Dann Huff. In terms of the timeline of piecing this five-year project together, when did this one come to life?
“I knew Meg and her boyfriend Ben were from Georgia and I had heard about their Peach Jam show that they do in Nashville. I was intrigued because I kept writing with people that I'd always write with, my OGs and they would go, have you written with Meg? Have you written it with Ben? You need to write with them. One day I went into my publisher and said, hey, do you know Meg McRee? She said yeah, she's great so I said let's write with her so, we set up some scheduling and “Cleopatra” came from maybe what could be fake news. I don't know if the story is true anymore, but I heard this story about how Cleopatra used roses to seduce Mark Antony and made him agree that he would never, ever invade Egypt as she was pharaoh, because she seduced him in a room full of flowers. The reason why she did this, the reason why she sailed into Rome with her sails having been dipped in rosewater was so the smell of roses came with them and her thought was that every single time that he smells a rose, he will remember our rendezvous and our agreement that he will never invade as long as I’m queen. I remember that I watched this video one night, I was a little inebriated, I won't lie and then I sat down with my guitar and automatically wrote the first verse and chorus, thinking this is it, there’s something here. I already had it going and I just could not let it go, normally if I have a song already kind of at that point, I'll wait and try to write it myself but the next day I woke up and I had that thing in me and I was like, I cannot let this song set, so I came in like a psychopath. What’s so funny is one night Jake started drinking and he got a little inebriated that night and he goes, you need to come in more like that, just crazy, just crazy about the song and I was like, wait, is that how it came across? I just had like a death grip on it. Meg and Jake are both just great thinkers then Meg has this such innate finger on the pulse of what is cool long before I think even people realize how cool it is. She just naturally a cool human being and has great taste. I remember bringing “Cleopatra” in and I think that was our first song that us three had wrote together then we wrote “What My Angels Think of Me”. That one was based off of this like hypnosis meditation session I have, where I felt as if I saw my guardian angels walking around me and in the meditation, I started freaking out because I kept thinking, what are they thinking of me right now? Are they disappointed? I mean, what are they thinking about me? As I'm explaining all the story to her, she goes, what my angels think of me, that's the song Caylee, that’s it, we need to write that. I started thinking about talking to a guy at that point where I was hiding my spirituality. I'm a very spiritual person, not very structurally religious, but very spiritual. I noticed that I was dating people who were not spiritual whatsoever and I noticed that I stopped myself, I would quiet down, I wouldn't talk about the things that would bring me joy, bliss and this connectivity that I felt because they didn't believe in it. I was dating a guy and going, like my star sign is this and so on where I just remember him looking over as we were driving on the road and he goes, I don't believe in all that stuff. I realized, like how many times have I made my belief smaller or seen more insignificant to make someone else feel more comfortable in being nearer to me. It was really cool to get to write a kind of a barn burner with her on “Cleopatra” and then also write a song that for me has a lot of introspective little niblets of information and thoughts in “What My Angels Think of Me”. She's just so freaking good, dude and just sweet, sweet as sugar, I love her.
Whilst that is a big rocky number, we will move along to a slower and more reflective track but a track with a British co-writer. I genuinely am the biggest Lucie Silvas fan you will find, I went to the twentieth anniversary show of her “Breathe In” record last year and have just adored her like for ever. “How Long” is the track which her and John (Osborne) were involved with, John had a big part through other parts of the record too as the time in the chair was split between him and Dann Huff. In terms of the timeline of piecing this five-year project together, when did this one come to life?
“How Long” came on the beginning cusp of some of the heartbreak songs on the record. The same person that “How Long” is about is the same as “Tumbleweed Men” and also “No I Ain’t”. It came along before the others, it's like before anything gets serious or anything can get swept up in a relationship, you know what I mean? Right on that edge, right before you kiss each other for the first time, that energy was what we were trying to get in that night. I met Lucie or I found Lucie Silvas through Natalie Hemby. I did not realize that her and John were married, I went to a showcase of hers, I just loved her music and I became obsessed with her since Natalie told me about her. Then one day I saw her and John out together and I was like, oh my God, the talent that their children will be injected with at birth! Anyway, I really got close with John from touring with the brothers and there's something I always say on the road, if you take one thing from my show, take this, if you never ask the question that you really want to ask, the answer will always be no. However, if you do ask it, the literal worst thing they can say is no but they might just say yes. I asked John to come in and be a part of this album after we had already written “How Long” and I'd already produced that with Dann. It was cool to come in and get to kind of flesh it out with him but I'll never forget the day that we wrote “How Long” as we were in the front room of John and Lucie's house in their little studio. Lucie brought in scones and that was the first time I'd ever had clotted cream, so it was a real British experience for me but I just love her to death. Oh my God, she has such soul, also her and John are just genuinely great people. It's really nice when you meet incredibly talented people, but also they're nice people, they’re good people, they're who that they put out that they are and I could not speak higher about both of them.”
To mix things up, “Mammas” is the only track which you didn’t write so how did you come across the song and what was it about that one that you really connected with to make you want to go and cut it?
“Well, honestly, it was fate. It truly was fate. I wasn't looking for an outside cut at that point, it wasn't in my mind, I already had so many songs where I was trying to decide which ones needed to be on the album and which one beat out the others out.I was throwing pottery, I've made all the dishes, the bowls and stuff at my house with one of my best friends named Mia Mantia who is a songwriter here in Nashville. If she ever plays a songwriters round, you have to go see her because I'll never forget the first time where it was me, Lainey Wilson, Ashley McBryde and Mia. This was right before Lainey popped off, Ashley was already in her Belle of the Ball like time at the awards and everything and there was this random fourth put on the round. None of us knew her and she was so quiet, she kept to herself in the in the dressing room, and then she got up there and it was the funniest thing where all three of us, our heads went and leaned over the side so we could look down the stage, look at her and go, wait a minute, who is this? I feel like she’s a young Lori McKenna. Anyway, I get a call from my dad and he calls twice in a row, we have a rule in the family where if you’re called twice that’s an emergency. I'm covered in mud because I was making a bowl so I washed my hands off, I answer it and he told me that really one of my only musical cousins that I've had in my life, had passed away. He was perfectly able bodied at 34 then got diagnosed with MS and all of a sudden went from being just like us, being able to live a normal life to being bedridden, not being able to get out of bed ever. He lost the ability to really write the way that he used to and it wrecked me, then the worst part was not just losing him but realizing in that conversation, that the day of the funeral was the day of my CMA Fest, the day of my two shows on Riverfront, then I'm going on the road right after so there's no physical way that I could be there in the way that I want it to be with my family. I get off the phone with my dad, I walked back into the garage where Mia is still throwing pottery and she saw I was crying. She asked what was wrong so I told her and she said, do you need to go home? I said no, I can't go home, like I can just go to my house in Nashville and be by myself and cry, so just play me something to distract me. Play me something that you've written lately which you love, just distract me because we would always play work tapes for one another as we made pottery. The first song she played with that one and just some feeling came over me, this resounding gut feeling of Matthew would have loved this song. He loved old country and I loved the idea of taking old country, doing something new with it and telling that little bit of a different story while still paying homage to the song before, by crediting the songwriters and talking about that song and where this song comes from. I really did it because of Matthew, Matthew Rue. I love the saying where they say that you die twice, you die once when the mortal core can't handle the soul anymore and when the body just gives up, but you die the second time when the last person that loves you utters your name for the last time. I feel like through this song, I get to make sure that Matthew lives forever because I get to talk about him every time I talk about this song and that helps me, so I'm glad that you brought it up."
Lastly, it’s always obligatory that when we hang out, we spend some time fangirling over Tenille Townes and I remember hearing “The Hill” for the first time and just being speechless, thinking to myself I know how good you both are as writers but what the actual fuck? This is something else! I just think lyrically it is so good and it’s so cool how it has that Celtic vibe, however hashtag unpopular opinion, whilst I think Foy Vance sounds great on there, I think I prefer the just you version over the duet. When you were writing that with Tenille and Logan Wall, we’re you guys specifically writing for this project and if you were not but just writing songs to see what you create, how did you manage to convince Tenille to let you cut it rather than her?
To mix things up, “Mammas” is the only track which you didn’t write so how did you come across the song and what was it about that one that you really connected with to make you want to go and cut it?
“Well, honestly, it was fate. It truly was fate. I wasn't looking for an outside cut at that point, it wasn't in my mind, I already had so many songs where I was trying to decide which ones needed to be on the album and which one beat out the others out.I was throwing pottery, I've made all the dishes, the bowls and stuff at my house with one of my best friends named Mia Mantia who is a songwriter here in Nashville. If she ever plays a songwriters round, you have to go see her because I'll never forget the first time where it was me, Lainey Wilson, Ashley McBryde and Mia. This was right before Lainey popped off, Ashley was already in her Belle of the Ball like time at the awards and everything and there was this random fourth put on the round. None of us knew her and she was so quiet, she kept to herself in the in the dressing room, and then she got up there and it was the funniest thing where all three of us, our heads went and leaned over the side so we could look down the stage, look at her and go, wait a minute, who is this? I feel like she’s a young Lori McKenna. Anyway, I get a call from my dad and he calls twice in a row, we have a rule in the family where if you’re called twice that’s an emergency. I'm covered in mud because I was making a bowl so I washed my hands off, I answer it and he told me that really one of my only musical cousins that I've had in my life, had passed away. He was perfectly able bodied at 34 then got diagnosed with MS and all of a sudden went from being just like us, being able to live a normal life to being bedridden, not being able to get out of bed ever. He lost the ability to really write the way that he used to and it wrecked me, then the worst part was not just losing him but realizing in that conversation, that the day of the funeral was the day of my CMA Fest, the day of my two shows on Riverfront, then I'm going on the road right after so there's no physical way that I could be there in the way that I want it to be with my family. I get off the phone with my dad, I walked back into the garage where Mia is still throwing pottery and she saw I was crying. She asked what was wrong so I told her and she said, do you need to go home? I said no, I can't go home, like I can just go to my house in Nashville and be by myself and cry, so just play me something to distract me. Play me something that you've written lately which you love, just distract me because we would always play work tapes for one another as we made pottery. The first song she played with that one and just some feeling came over me, this resounding gut feeling of Matthew would have loved this song. He loved old country and I loved the idea of taking old country, doing something new with it and telling that little bit of a different story while still paying homage to the song before, by crediting the songwriters and talking about that song and where this song comes from. I really did it because of Matthew, Matthew Rue. I love the saying where they say that you die twice, you die once when the mortal core can't handle the soul anymore and when the body just gives up, but you die the second time when the last person that loves you utters your name for the last time. I feel like through this song, I get to make sure that Matthew lives forever because I get to talk about him every time I talk about this song and that helps me, so I'm glad that you brought it up."
Lastly, it’s always obligatory that when we hang out, we spend some time fangirling over Tenille Townes and I remember hearing “The Hill” for the first time and just being speechless, thinking to myself I know how good you both are as writers but what the actual fuck? This is something else! I just think lyrically it is so good and it’s so cool how it has that Celtic vibe, however hashtag unpopular opinion, whilst I think Foy Vance sounds great on there, I think I prefer the just you version over the duet. When you were writing that with Tenille and Logan Wall, we’re you guys specifically writing for this project and if you were not but just writing songs to see what you create, how did you manage to convince Tenille to let you cut it rather than her?
“So, we actually wrote that during 2020, it was one of THOSE writes. It's so cool that this song somehow survived and also that we got to do a music video for it, that we actually got to do things around it because we wrote so many songs at that time where we were stuck at home more so than getting to go out and you never really knew what was going to happen. There was a little bit of a disconnect because we were having to write it over Zoom most of the time, where it was me, her and Logan Wall who I had never written with before but he was a friend of Tennille's. We started writing and we wanted to do something with a kind of a Celtic war chant almost, something about it needed to sound like we were almost going to war. I don't really know where it all came from, I don't know if me and her were really experiencing true heartbreak at that time, but I think that I had just had a sputtering out of a relationship on arguments where at the end I looked back and I went, we broke up over that? How we fought over this small thing when the giant elephant has already broken a hole in the floor in the middle of the room, but we're yelling at each other about burning the curtains. It was just this situation where it came together, it just rolled out of us over a Zoom call and then I put it away because I thought it may be too Celtic, I don't know if people are going to connect with it. At that point, I'd only got to hit Berlin, London, Dublin and Scotland so I didn’t really realise that I was slowly building a fan base over there. When we got to the point of production, I had already been back over there, I'd spent a week in Scotland listening to the local radio stations, hiking, meeting people every day and spending time between tour dates in different places. I realized, well, I can put that Celtic influence, I can go a little bit outside my normal realm for this so, I asked Tenille would she be willing to let me cut it and she said, of course. Honest to God, I'm so glad that you brought up all the songs that you did and I'm talking about one I've wrote with Tenille because I just text her yesterday and I was like, dude, we're really fucking good! It's nice because she's one of my people, I just text her and I'm like, hey, do you have any time this week, do you want to write because I feel inspired. The stuff that we come up with, we never sit here and go, was this commercial, would someone want to drink beer to this, you know, blah, blah. We just write what we're feeling and some of these songs, I go back and I listen to our work tapes all the time thinking we're so good, we should write more! It's just so cool, I feel like it's kind of when Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt got together and started creating stuff, I get that feeling when I'm around Tenille and Ashley (McBryde), it's so cool to have female friendship and family in this industry, you know?”
I just find her mesmerising to watch play guitar and how special her voice is but what I really love about the three tracks we talked about in particular is how all three of those tracks are one hundred percent you but I can’t just imagine it but can definitely see Meg McRee strutting her stuff singing “Cleopatra” or Lucie’s version of “How Long” in a stunning church with a deadly quiet audience and how “The Hill” would be so perfect in Tenille’s live show. That’s what’s really cool about this record, you feel those three ladies, John, Luke Dick, Tofer Brown, Gordie Sampson and SWJ but it is so you and all together it’s such a beautiful and creative story. I want to read the book, actually it’s probably because I’ve already heard the record but I’m more excited about reading it.
“I’m excited about the book, I’m still waiting on a physical copy. I just approved the picture and all that for the paperback, I just kept staring at it because it’s real. It was a lot of work but it lived on my iPad and my laptop, so I’m still waiting for a physical copy but I can tell you that on March 7th we will have an eBook and an audio book ready to be delivered with the album, then we will have physical copies coming in June. You’re saying you are excited about it but if I had these prints, I would have already given the whole world one because I’m so excited to read the words because I like a tangible copy. I have to get a Kindle because I’ll have to read my own book on eBook but I cannot wait for June.”
I’ve just got the image of you stroking it like a little kitten when you get your hands on it.
“I will scream, it’s so crazy. I’m a gamer now, I’m a “Gamer Girl” but I have loved The Sims since I was a kid and on my Sims account, I have played two thousand hour, it’s bad. My dad was like Caylee, that’s a work year but I have a song in The Sims 4, it’s “Small Town Hypocrite” in Simlish and now I’m building the entire town of Homestead. I was explaining to people about Dennis Linde who inspired Ashley’s Lindeville project, he was known as a writer for creating towns and I want to do that. I’m on Twitch and slowly starting to grow but technically launching it next week so right now I’m building all of the town, I’m having to build a little trailer park because two of the characters live there so, I’m just really diving into this world and I hope that people can dive into it too!
That’s so cool, this has been as wild and amazing as ever. I cannot wait to see you again for plenty of hugs and some cheeky drinks in May.
“Bed Of Roses” Tracklist:
1. ‘Bed of Roses’ (Caylee Hammack, Benjy Davis and Jeff Hyde)
2. ‘Breaking Dishes’ (Caylee Hammack, Mikey Reaves and Gordie Sampson)
3. ‘What My Angels Think of Me’ (Caylee Hammack, Meg McRee and Jake Mitchell)
4. ‘Back Again’ (Caylee Hammack, Tofer Brown and Lauren Hungate)
5. ‘Mammas’ (Ed Bruce and Patricia Bruce, Mia Mantia, Sj McDonald ,Trent Wayne )
6. ‘No I Ain’t’ (Caylee Hammack, Mark Trussell and Stephen Wilson Jr.)
7. ‘The Hill’ (Caylee Hammack, Tenille Townes and Logan Wall)
8. ‘The Pot & The Kettle’ (Caylee Hammack, Connor Thuotte and Stephen Wilson Jr.)
9. ‘Bread & Butter’ (Caylee Hammack, Luke Dick and Jeff Hyde)
10. ‘Cleopatra’ (Caylee Hammack, Meg McRee and Jake Mitchell)
11. ‘How Long’ (Caylee Hammack, John Osborne and Lucie Silvas)
12. ‘Oh, Kara’ (Caylee Hammack)
13. ‘Tumbleweed Men’ (Caylee Hammack, Joe Clemmons and Benjy Davis)
Caylee Hammack will release her new album “Bed Of Roses” via Capitol Records Nashville (Snakefarm in the UK) on March 7th and is available to pre-save HERE. Caylee returns to the UK in May where she will be performing at The Royal Albert Hall as part of Highways festival on the 16th and 17th and you can find further information about the event and ticket availability on their WEBSITE. To keep up to date with all that Caylee is up to, you can follow along with her socially on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK X & FACEBOOK.
I just find her mesmerising to watch play guitar and how special her voice is but what I really love about the three tracks we talked about in particular is how all three of those tracks are one hundred percent you but I can’t just imagine it but can definitely see Meg McRee strutting her stuff singing “Cleopatra” or Lucie’s version of “How Long” in a stunning church with a deadly quiet audience and how “The Hill” would be so perfect in Tenille’s live show. That’s what’s really cool about this record, you feel those three ladies, John, Luke Dick, Tofer Brown, Gordie Sampson and SWJ but it is so you and all together it’s such a beautiful and creative story. I want to read the book, actually it’s probably because I’ve already heard the record but I’m more excited about reading it.
“I’m excited about the book, I’m still waiting on a physical copy. I just approved the picture and all that for the paperback, I just kept staring at it because it’s real. It was a lot of work but it lived on my iPad and my laptop, so I’m still waiting for a physical copy but I can tell you that on March 7th we will have an eBook and an audio book ready to be delivered with the album, then we will have physical copies coming in June. You’re saying you are excited about it but if I had these prints, I would have already given the whole world one because I’m so excited to read the words because I like a tangible copy. I have to get a Kindle because I’ll have to read my own book on eBook but I cannot wait for June.”
I’ve just got the image of you stroking it like a little kitten when you get your hands on it.
“I will scream, it’s so crazy. I’m a gamer now, I’m a “Gamer Girl” but I have loved The Sims since I was a kid and on my Sims account, I have played two thousand hour, it’s bad. My dad was like Caylee, that’s a work year but I have a song in The Sims 4, it’s “Small Town Hypocrite” in Simlish and now I’m building the entire town of Homestead. I was explaining to people about Dennis Linde who inspired Ashley’s Lindeville project, he was known as a writer for creating towns and I want to do that. I’m on Twitch and slowly starting to grow but technically launching it next week so right now I’m building all of the town, I’m having to build a little trailer park because two of the characters live there so, I’m just really diving into this world and I hope that people can dive into it too!
That’s so cool, this has been as wild and amazing as ever. I cannot wait to see you again for plenty of hugs and some cheeky drinks in May.
“Bed Of Roses” Tracklist:
1. ‘Bed of Roses’ (Caylee Hammack, Benjy Davis and Jeff Hyde)
2. ‘Breaking Dishes’ (Caylee Hammack, Mikey Reaves and Gordie Sampson)
3. ‘What My Angels Think of Me’ (Caylee Hammack, Meg McRee and Jake Mitchell)
4. ‘Back Again’ (Caylee Hammack, Tofer Brown and Lauren Hungate)
5. ‘Mammas’ (Ed Bruce and Patricia Bruce, Mia Mantia, Sj McDonald ,Trent Wayne )
6. ‘No I Ain’t’ (Caylee Hammack, Mark Trussell and Stephen Wilson Jr.)
7. ‘The Hill’ (Caylee Hammack, Tenille Townes and Logan Wall)
8. ‘The Pot & The Kettle’ (Caylee Hammack, Connor Thuotte and Stephen Wilson Jr.)
9. ‘Bread & Butter’ (Caylee Hammack, Luke Dick and Jeff Hyde)
10. ‘Cleopatra’ (Caylee Hammack, Meg McRee and Jake Mitchell)
11. ‘How Long’ (Caylee Hammack, John Osborne and Lucie Silvas)
12. ‘Oh, Kara’ (Caylee Hammack)
13. ‘Tumbleweed Men’ (Caylee Hammack, Joe Clemmons and Benjy Davis)
Caylee Hammack will release her new album “Bed Of Roses” via Capitol Records Nashville (Snakefarm in the UK) on March 7th and is available to pre-save HERE. Caylee returns to the UK in May where she will be performing at The Royal Albert Hall as part of Highways festival on the 16th and 17th and you can find further information about the event and ticket availability on their WEBSITE. To keep up to date with all that Caylee is up to, you can follow along with her socially on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK X & FACEBOOK.
