She doesn’t miss.
Today, Kaitlin Butts released the next song from her forthcoming fourth studio album, Hello, Honky Tonk, which will be out everywhere on Friday, October 30th. It will be her first major label record via Republic Records, and features 15 tracks, including the already-released “Never Really Mine”:
Kaitlin has become one of the buzziest female stars in the genre, thanks in part to the virality of her 2024 single, “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me),” and she is also featured on Flatland Cavalry’s certified-gold hit, “A Life Where We Work Out.” Her 2022 project, What Else Can She Do, was downright phenomenal (#3 on our 2022 Albums of the Year list), and she followed it up with, in my opinion, her best work to date in 2024 on Roadrunner!
Kaitlin is such a talented and authentic artist, and it’s exciting to see her finally starting to launch into the mainstream with this major label album… and “I Wanna Be Bad” is exactly what you’d expect with a record titled Hello, Honky Tonk, in terms of the production and the lyrics.
Kaitlin wrote it with Natalie Hemby, and it finds her going a little crazy after walking the straight and narrow for a little too long without letting her hair down, so to speak:
“Oh and sometimes…I wanna go crazy
Oh and sometimes I wanna go maniac mad
I wanna smoke and drink and party
and dance all on the floor
Maybe kiss a cowboy
Maybe even more
Sometimes I wanna be bad”
The music video is super fun too, which she directed with Chris Beyrooty and filmed at Nashville’s Cross-Eyed Critters karaoke bar.
Kaitlin says that the album as a whole was inspired by Chicago’s Roxie Hart in terms of dreaming up a show, and she pictures the whole thing happening at the Skinny Dennis in Nashville, which is a popular honky tonk in town:
“The thought behind the concept was how in Chicago, the character Roxie Hart is dreaming up what her show would look like and all the people in it. When Teddi Barra came down from the ceiling on her swing, my mom and I just looked at each other and I was like, ‘That is me.’
I picture all of this happening at Skinny Dennis here in Nashville. These are all the different people in the room. There’s the bar fight that’s happening. There’s the bad girl that just got off work. There’s me being the entertainer. There are so many people that really love the night life. It’s a connector for people.”
Kaitlin is an incredibly gifted writer, performer and vocalist, and I can’t wait to hear everything she has cooked up for this record. She’s primed to launch into stardom as she puts out this first major label album, and she’s more than deserving of it so definitely keep your eye on her.
You can check out “I Wanna Be Bad” here:
“I Wanna Be Bad”
“Never Really Mine”
Kaitlin Butts Tour Dates
August 13 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
August 14 – Corpus Christi, TX – Hilliard Center Arena
August 15 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena
August 16 – Dallas, TX – Village Beach Club
August 19 – Nashville, TN – ACM Honors
August 21 – Dallas, TX – Muskogee Hot Air Balloon Festival
August 25 – Fairlee, VT – Lake Morey Summer Concert Series
September 10 – Lubbock, TX – West Texas Hero Homes Benefit Concert
September 17 – Toledo, OH – Huntington Center
September 18 – Charleston, WV – Charleston Coliseum
September 19 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
September 26 – Louisville, KY – Bourbon & Beyond 2026
