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Kaitlin Butts – ‘What Else Can She Do’ review

Tulsa native and current Nashville resident Kaitlin Butts’s new album, ‘What Else Can She Do’ partakes of a substantial tradition in country music of women singing about the problems of everyday, working-class women. It’s a tradition that, while they may not embrace the feminist label, is exemplified by Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. Butts references Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 90s classic ‘He Thinks He’ll Still Keep Her’ as a reference point. Though it’s not mentioned by the artist, the fantastic songwriter Gretchen Peters’s ‘Dancing With Beast’ went deep on some of the same issues this album explores, delving into considerably darker territory.

Butts’s greatest strength is as a vocalist. She’s worked with major bands like Flatland Cavalry in that capacity, and her twangy Oklahoma-accented voice shines throughout the album. She knows how to do a hardcore-country singing style, and she pulls it off with flare and panache. Listen to Kaitlin sing is truly a delight.

The album gets off to a strong start with the first track, ‘It Won’t Always Be This Way,’ which packs a punch with lyrics like, “waiting for the next turn of the knife in my gut.” But the line “wish you were a better man” is a little too vague. It’s a sentiment that could be shared by anyone in any kind of relationship with any man, and it doesn’t give us the kind of specificity we’d like in this story.

Butts’s writing has a tendency to paint in these kinds of overly broad strokes, rather than concrete details. In the album’s second track, ‘Bored If I Don’t’, the protagonist describes herself as “a young girl in a small town who settled down too soon.” This is a fine description, it’s accurate, but it’s also rather generic, and doesn’t give us a sense of this particular character.

In ‘What Else Can She Do’, we get a description of a waitress getting off of work after a 12-hour shift and heading out in the dark, threatening night where unspecified dangers await. The problem with this is just that–the dangers are unspecified. It’s a little bit unfair to compare Butts to a master songwriter like Peters, but when she tackled these subjects, you always knew exactly what the nature of threat was, and it chilled you to the bone. 

‘Jackson’, as Butts has mentioned, alludes to the duet of the same titled by Johnny and June Carter Cash, and takes a hard look at how women love difficult men. From a songwriting standpoint, the album’s high point is ‘Blood’, a collaboration with Angeleena Presley.

In addition to cowriting with Presley, Butts borrowed her producer, Oran Thornton, who does strong work on bringing together the album’s sound. There are strong similarities to his work with Presley, and fans of her work will likely enjoy this album.

Considered as an LP, the album is, at 7 tracks, a bit shorter than I would have liked. I enjoyed everything that was here, but, when it was over, I was left wanting more.

Track list: 1. It Won’t Always Be This Way 2. Bored If I Don’t 3. What Else Can She Do 4. Jackson 5. She’s Using 6. Blood 7. In The Pines Record label: Kaitlin Butts / Soundly Music Release date: 15th April 2022 Buy ‘What Else Can She Do’ now

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