One second you’re singing Jason Aldean, the next you’re singing with Jason Aldean.
For all its pitfalls, Nashville is a cool town. Sure, the bachelorette parties can be a bit excessive, the “industry standard” of music is in a lower world than the independent scene (though improvements are being made daily), and the never ending sounds of Blink-182, Bon Jovi, and “Chicken Fried” can be heard on loop while strolling Broadway, but it still is one of the greatest towns for random but special moments to happen.
Remember when Ernest played “Flower Shops” with a local artist in the airport, a dad ran into Morgan Wallen while humming his song, and Peyton Manning trying to sing “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” at Losers after the CMA Awards? Those are just three examples off the top of my head and nearly every night someone is bound to walk away from a night on the town with a story that’s nearly too good to be believed.
Well, the other day a local musician playing a Broadway bar got to experience one of these chance encounters for herself and made the absolute most of the moment.
Cay Aliese is a 26-year old aspiring country artist from Knoxville currently living in Nashville. She first found a taste of success thanks to American Idol, where she made it to the Hollywood rounds before being cut. She then moved full-time to Nashville and is doing her best pursue music as a career while being a mother to her 2 kids.
Her Idol audition was a tear-jerker as she spoke about losing her father to a drug overdose just two month earlier:
Cay has only released a number of singles to this point but I have a feeling her luck may be changing a little bit thanks to one of the country’s biggest stars of the past decade or so dropping in on her gig a few days ago.
Jason Aldean and his wife Brittany were out on the town when they just so happened to stumble upon Cay playing and they liked her sound so much that Brittany walked up and asked her if she’d play Miranda Lambert’s “Tin Man,” which was released on her 2016 double album The Weight of These Wings and redone during her Marfa Tapes project with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, who she wrote the song with.
Not only did Cay have the opportunity to play for the Aldean’s (and perhaps earn a big tip), she ended up getting to play “Tin Man” with Jason, who joined her on stage and played backing guitar while Cay played the keys and took the lead on vocals.
Not going to lie, Cay’s voice seems to be made for this song… sure, it’s one of the prettiest songs written in recent memory but the intonation and inflection of her vocals shows she’s got some real talent and this video may make some Nashville execs take note:
Great job by the Aldean’s here. It doesn’t take too much to make a big impact on those trying to get where you are and if nothing else, Jason does a good job supporting the up and coming artists.
Here’s Cay’s latest single, “my father’s daughter”, which was released earlier this month.
