Diving into the new album.
Though mainstream country and country radio as a whole have failed to give female artists the time and attention they so desperately deserve — outside of the likes of Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson — the independent and alternative country scene has been nothing short of thriving off the hard work and talent of women in the genre. From Sierra Ferrell and Molly Tuttle to Noeline Hofmann and Willow Avalon, you don’t have to look far to find stellar acts.
Recently, none other than Kaitlin Butts 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).”
Known primarily for her feature on Flatland Cavalry’s certified-gold hit, “A Life Where We Work Out,” Butts has proven time and time again that she brings a whole lot more to the table than simply being a collaborator with her husband, Cleto Cordero’s, Texas band. Her 2022 project, What Else Can She Do, was downright phenomenal, and she followed it up with, in my opinion, her best work to date in 2024 on Roadrunner!
Today, she’s back with another stellar outing with her brand new album, Hello, Honky Tonk, and she sat down with us here at Whiskey Riff to dive into all the details surrounding it.
Like Roadrunner!, which was heavily inspired by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical, Oklahoma!, Hello, Honky Tonk is also drawing inspiration from art outside of the country music world. This time around, she pulled from the likes of the 2002 noir film adaptation of the musical, Chicago, as well as Country Bear Jamboree, the classic animatronic stage show at Walt Disney World, which features country and bluegrass stylings throughout.
While the pairing of the two may seem like quite an odd pairing to some, it makes a whole lot of sense when you consider Butts’ background in theater from a young age.
“I grew up doing musical theater as a young girl. I’m trying to figure out, in my music, kind of what makes me “me” and put that into what I’m doing. I love showing people musical theater, even if they claim not to like it.”
To her, the combination of Chicago and Country Bear Jamboree was finally blending what drives her as an artist — the stylistic, narrative numbers found in the musical and the traditional, country roots found in the Disney classic.
“I like to show them ‘Chicago’ because I feel like they do a great job of breaking out into song; they don’t just do it for no reason. It’s really just so [the main character] can visualize what that character’s song is about. Whatever she’s singing, all of a sudden, it’s the act, and that’s what I wanted to do with ‘Chicago.’
When it comes to ‘Country Bear Jamboree’ and in that world, I feel like that’s my brand in a way. I’m on a stage, and it’s all the red curtains and the show business aspect of it but with bluegrass and country bears and banjo.”
In fact, the Country Bear Jamboree inspiration actually came from her mother. As Butts recalls, they took what she describes as a “divorced Disney trip” recently. During her stay at Disney, she watched the stage show for the first time since she was a child, which immediately prompted her mom to make the comparison between her music career and the main character, Teddi Barra.
Diving into the album itself, you can feel it immediately, especially from the highly cinematic intro, “Introducing, Hello Honky Tonk,” which is narrated by none other than reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, Lainey Wilson. For Butts, who has opened for the “Watermelon Moonshine” singer on her recent Whirlwind Tour, she couldn’t think of a better voice to bring listeners into the project.
“I feel like that’s what music is for — to kinda check out a little bit and to be brought into a different world. And my world is ‘Hello, Honky Tonk.’ Like a Disney ride, I want something where it just lets people know exactly what they’re about to listen to with the most country voice that you can think of, which is Lainey Wilson.’
From there, you get one of the centerpieces of Hello, Honky Tonk, the high-energy romp that is “I Wanna Be Bad,” a pre-released track that is all about letting loose, saying to hell with being a “good girl” and yearning for a “Texas-sized” drink. Given that the 33-year-old singer/songwriter pictured the album as a whole taking place at one of Nashville’s favorite honky tonks, Skinny Dennis, it served as a bit of a conceptual end goal for her after a grueling creative process.
“‘I Wanna Be Bad’ was the one that I most see a whole night there. I had worked so hard writing these songs in a short amount of time. I was fiending for cocktails, to be entertained, to dance.
One night, I was like, ‘I’m going to Skinny Dennis. I do not care. I’m going to smoke, drink whatever I want. I’m going to go full Koe Wetzel with it — get wild. I had a lot of fun, but that’s where ‘I Wanna Be Bad’ stemmed from was a night that I did not care and I wanted to go buck wild.”
Immediately following that up is a surprise collaboration with Brothers Osborne’s TJ Osborne on “The Bartender.” In what’s bound to be a fan-favorite from the album, Butts delivers a sultry ode to all the bartenders around the world, likening them to therapists who won’t tell your secrets (unless you don’t tip them, of course).
For Osborne’s inclusion on “The Bartender,” Butts would explain that she knew the song needed a sultry, deep voice living underneath hers, joking that it’s ironic since TJ, who is a great friend, has some of the best baritones in the genre despite being the most “gay man in country music.”
“We made that song, but I just kept hearing this really, really deep voice that lived underneath there… I couldn’t visualize anyone else’s voice except TJ, which is funny because he’s the most gay man in country music to hear. But to be the most masculine voice on the album, I felt like that was hilarious. I asked him to be on it, and he automatically just said yes. He’s a good friend.”
Adding on to Hello, Honky Tonk’s jam-packed first half is none other than “Never Really Mine,” the lead single from the project and one that she performed at the platform stage at Nissan Stadium at CMA Fest. The steel-filled track, which was written by Butts, Maggie Antone and Lola Kirke, was one of the earliest songs written for the album.
For Butts, finishing the track alongside Antone and Kirke, who are longtime friends, was a huge moment for her during the creation of the project.
“I’m so proud of that song. They just brought the right amount of country to it and that ‘girl feeling,’ where you’re silently noticing that the person that you’re with is noticing someone else… I would say it’s one of my favorites on the album, for sure.
Another high-profile co-write and standout track on the record is none other than “That Makes One of Us,” which was written by Butts and the legendary Lori McKenna, a 3x Grammy winner who has written smash hits like Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush,” Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind,” Parker McCollum’s “Burn It Down,” “Always Remember Us This Way” from A Star is Born and many more.
Diving into the writing process, Butts would call McKenna’s pen “incredible,” saying that she was “lucky” to get to write with her.
“She just was fully able to paint a picture with me. I came in with that hook, ‘That makes one of us…’ She was able to help me kind of paint this picture. When I think of ‘Chicago,’ I really do think of that song too.
Her writing is just incredible. I felt lucky to get to write with her and so many of the other people that I wrote with. I was just so nervous too because they’re high-stakes. You only get one day to write that song, and you hope that you can go in and write something that you think is good.”
At its core, Hello, Honky Tonk is a phenomenal, world-building project that finds Butts truly finding herself planted firmly in her sense of artistry and sound as a whole — an intentional choice for the Oklahoma native who wanted to prove that her signing to a major label (Republic Records) wasn’t going to change her sound one bit.
“I feel like my sense of humor and kind of who I am as an artist is kind of shock value. I’ve always loved shock value humor and just thought that this was the best way for people to know.
I signed with a major label, but there’s nothing changing about what I’m going to do. This is hardcore country, and that’s how I feel about the whole album. It’s very straight up… All of these songs feel so exactly how I wanted them to sound and very, very very country.”
Overall, Hello, Honky Tonk is everything you’d want and more from Butts. Taking the foundation set on 2024’s Roadrunner!, she doubled down and honed in on everything that made that album so special once again. If you’re a Kaitlin Butts fan, the record is nothing short of a must-listen. Furthermore, it’s a late contender for Album of the Year.
Check out the standout tracks below.
“Never Really Mine”
“The Bartender”
“That Makes One Of Us”
