Caylee Hammack was one of our favourite discoveries here at EF Country when she burst onto the country scene back in 2019 with her first single ‘Family Tree’, and it’s safe to say we’re still big fans.The Georgia native released her debut album, ‘If It Wasn’t For You’, in August 2020 to critical acclaim and has since performed alongside artists including Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton. Caylee was a co-collaborator on Ashley McBryde’s ‘Lindeville’ album last year and we last saw her in the UK in March when she played at the C2C festival. She has also released three great songs, ‘All or Nothing,’ ‘History of Repeating’ and ‘That Dog’ this year ahead of a new album coming in 2024. When Caylee played the Long Road festival in August we were thrilled to catch up with her and talk all about it.
It’s great to see you at the Long Road festival today, Caylee. You really rocked that main stage. We last saw you, in sit-down, acoustic mode at the C2C festival in March. Which way do you prefer to perform: full band, rocking out or storyteller round acoustic mode?
That’s a hard question. I love rocking out at shows and seeing people getting into it but, honestly, I love telling stories. I’m a songwriter at heart. My dad always told me I talked a lot and that I had to figure out a job to do where I could do that! (laughing)
What memories did your visit to the UK earlier in the year leave you with when you headed back home?
Oh my gosh! The C2C festival, to me, is very special. I love coming over here to play anytime I can because the fans here are just the best, they have such an interest, a genuine interest, in the stories behind the songs. They learn the words to each song and get so excited about my music. As an emerging artist I get tremendous support over here in the UK in a way that only get from certain places in America.
I love some of the venues that we get to play over here too – they are full of such rich history, I mean, look where we are today, it’s like playing at Downton Abbey. (Stanford Hall) I just told one of my friends that I am having my Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice) moment! (laughing)
When you were here last March you stayed in a Scottish castle. What’s your accommodation like this time?
I’m actually going back to the same place this week! (laughing) I’m going back to Scotland and hiking around for a week and a half. Something ghostly happened when I was there last time and something is pulling me back. I want to go into the same room where it happened and play some music in there by myself and see what happens. I wonder if the ghost would like ‘Chattahoochee’ by Alan Jackson? (laughing)
What draws you to Scotland?
Honestly, I don’t know. I feel an odd kinship to it. As a child I spent a lot of time in the Appalachian mountains. What’s really cool is that when I was here last, driving through the Cairngorm mountains it all felt so familiar. The land felt like I knew it and I looked it up and it turns out that the Appalachian and the Cairngorm mountains were once the same range before they broke apart. It feels like I am staying in the sister range to the mountains that comforted me as a child.
The original people that populated the Appalachian mountains were Irish and Scottish and, supposedly, when they saw the range it made them feel at home from the land they just left. I’m drawn to that spiritualism. I want to see the standing stones and sink my body into a fairy pool!
You need to be careful of the Fae folk though, right?
Ok, yes. My family did tell me that I needed to video myself doing all these things in case I disappeared! (laughing) I know I’m not supposed to take any trinkets and maybe even leave some gifts behind. I wonder if they would like Buckfast? (laughing)
You are good friends with Tenille Townes but you’ve been cheating on her with another Tenille after playing some shows in the UK with Tenille Arts. How did those go?
I know! The shows were great. We did Glasgow, Manchester, London. Glasgow was so loud. You couldn’t really hear yourself through the audio system, we were jet-lagged and yet the warmth that I felt from the crowd was just tremendous. The next night we had it on the spot but the crowd in Glasgow saw us through that night.
There is a girl in Manchester that has been following me for a little bit. Her Instagram handle is ‘signingwithsarah’ and she was signing some of the songs from the front row of the show and I asked her to come up on stage and sign ‘History of Repeating’ for me. It was so beautiful, such a special moment. Thats’s what life is all about, right, human connection and life experiences and I’m certainly getting those on this trip.
We’ve had three new songs from you this year. I love your vocals on ‘All or Nothing’. Was that a hard song to record or did it all just come naturally?
It kinda just came naturally. I will say, if I’m a little hoarse after a great show somewhere like Glasgow and I show up in London the next morning a song like ‘All or Nothing’ might be a little hard to pull off right away! (laughing) Some of my best songs have just fallen out in the most beautiful way and that one was perfect.
I also love ‘That Dog’. Are you a dog or cat person at heart?
Hmmmmm. Ok. I grew up loving both but as I’ve got older, for some reason, I’ve become allergic to cats. We have little barn cats at home but they can’t come in and sleep on my pillow anymore. Thankfully, I’m not allergic to dogs! So my dog is all good for that!
I notice on your social media that you take pride in doing a lot of gardening and growing things. Is that something you do as a respite from the music industry?
Yes, very much so. I’m really into traditional methods of gardening and I’m deep into botany. I have a botany journal that I record everyday in. I’m really excited and intrigued by the fact that all around us, everywhere, God did not forget a thing. Everything around us is there for a purpose. 85% of edible vegetation we don’t even consume, did you know that? One in five people in America are suffering from malnutrition and it’s something that we can do something about. I want to encourage people to grow their own food and become more self-sufficient. I’m not, like, one of those crazy doomsday preppers or anything but it’s my healthy way of handling stress so grow some beans, it’ll make you feel good.
You worked with some stellar writers on your first album. People like Natalie Hemby and Laura Veltz. Have you been writing with those people again or branched out into other avenues?
Man, you know your stuff! (laughing) Yes, I have been writing with my friends again. I wrote ‘That Dog’ with Aaron Raitiere and Jake Mitchell. Another person I’ve enjoyed writing with, who is an artist in their own right, is Meg McRee. She is tremendously talented, as is her boyfriend, Ben Chapman. They have a sort of Allman Brothers thing going on which I like very much.
I’m aiming for a sort of second quarter of 2024 release for the album. Right now, it’s coming in at 12-13 songs. I’m an album person and I’m all about tracking and sequencing. I spend more time listening to how the songs blend with one another than I do anything else when it comes to producing the final product. The writing is finished but I’m working a little more with John Osborne, who I love dearly. We worked together on Ashley McBryde’s ‘Lindeville’ album and got on so well so I’m really excited to do some more work with him soon. When John plays there’s such an energy and magic that happens and I said to him, ‘Can you do that with me? Can you help me figure that out?’ (laughing)
Talking of Ashley McBryde, let’s finish with a silly question. Who would win in a wrestling match between you and her?
Oh my gosh, Ashley for sure! (laughing) Unless I was drunk on Buckfast and then that might give me some sort of edge! (laughing)
