Charly Reynolds today (Friday June 3rd) releases her Shania-meets-Carly themed summer anthem, ‘Rodeo’. Written by Reynolds, Nicole Croteau and Sean Cook, I had a big smile on my face the first time I heard ‘Rodeo’ with its infectious melody and relatable lyrics and knew I wanted to talk to this Florida native now living in Nashville all about it.
For anyone wanting to see Charly play the song live next week at CMAFest, you can find her at Miranda Lambert’s ‘Casa Rosa’ bar on Friday and Sunday between 2pm and 6pm up on the third floor. Come stop by on the Sunday and say hello to me too!!!
Thank you for giving us your time today. We got an advance copy of ‘Rodeo’ from your PR and we knew we had to talk to you all about it.
Oh my gosh! (laughing) Thank you for reaching out – I love that!!! I’m glad you like it.
It’s a great summer song, a real Shania-meets Carly Pearce vibe. Is the story inspired by one particular guy or is it a series of experiences you’ve had?
So, honestly. It was my friend, Nicole’s idea. I feel like it’s something a lot of girls (or maybe even guys too) can relate to. That smooth kind of guy at the bar, who comes over expecting you to fall head over heels for him. Whatever!
I know what you’re doing, you know, this ain’t my first rodeo! (laughing) That was the idea behind the song which we made up a story for although I feel everybody has had that experience somewhere down the line.
Was it an easy write?
It was super easy. We started writing it at night around 6pm and went until midnight. We were all friends rather than it being a scheduled daytime write. We went and ate at some point as well. The chorus came first, which is the most fun part of the song.
A few months later we went back and changed the bridge, which was initially the same as the pre-chorus and we came back in with some different lyrics. Those easy writes are the best kind and I knew it was destined to be my next single.
It’s not too far away in tone from ‘BS I Need’ and ‘Sand Bar’, which were your summer songs last year. Is that your thing, a summer vibe? Is that your Florida upbringing coming through?
I think so! (laughing) Florida definitely inspires my music. I love beach Country. On Apple music they have a ‘Sand Bar’ playlist, which I love too.
I love that you said ‘Shania Twain and Carly Pearce’ vibes earlier, that makes my day. I love Shania and that was definitely somebody we were channeling in the writing session for ‘Rodeo’. I love Carly Pearce too.
‘Rodeo’ is definitely going to be a part of our summer playlist, for sure. If you were putting a summer playlist together, what artists or songs would you have on there? It would be ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night’ and ‘Cruise’ for me.
Yes!! Those are two great songs. I love Kenny Chesney, ‘Summertime’ or something like that. Also, how about ‘Day Drinking’ by Little Big Town, that’s such a good song. I sing ‘Pontoon’ or ‘Wine, Beer and Whiskey’ at my weekend shows but the other day, ‘Day Drinking’ came on and it made me remember how much I love that song.
How does a girl from Florida end up doing what you are doing in Nashville?
I grew up in Orlando and I never thought that I would ever leave, I’m such a family girl. I was going to go to college in Alabama and be a news anchor originally! I had conversation with my parents and decided that college could be something that I could go back to any time whereas Country music wouldn’t always be there so Nashville was where I needed to be and I needed to give it 100%.
The first year was very hard. I was 18 and I’d only just graduated from high school! (laughing) I didn’t know anyone or know anything and I couldn’t go to any events because I was under 21. I worked at Chick-Fil-A here in Nashville!
I branched out through social media a little and began to meet people and then Covid hit! That was a tough time and I went back home to Florida for a while during the lockdown and I was a little depressed but I stuck it out and came back and started working hard again.
Have you got a favourite place to play in Nashville?
Oh yes! My favourite place is Miranda Lambert’s bar, ‘Casa Rosa’. I play there every Friday and Sunday between 2-6pm. I fit in there better than I do in some of the other bars. There’s a sound guy named Clay who is incredible too, I’ve told him that if I ever go out on tour, he’s coming with me, for sure! (laughing)
Your cover of ‘Neon Moon’ was used by FOX in the season finale of ‘The Resident’ recently. How did that come about? You must have been thrilled?
That was so crazy. I’ve never done anything like that before. FOX reached out to me about the cover on Youtube. The wanted me to re-record it and I thought it was a scam at first! (laughing) I had a little viewing party with a few friends on the evening that the episode aired! The video has 35,000 views on Youtube now too, which is really cool. I want to do that all the time now!! (laughing)
‘Rodeo’ is available to stream and listen to everywhere right now.
