There’s something quietly compelling about Clover County—a sense that her music has been lived in long before it ever reached an audience. Now, that lived-in storytelling is heading across the Atlantic for the very first time. The Georgia-born singer-songwriter will make her UK and Ireland debut this May, co-headlining a run of intimate dates with Jack Van Cleaf before stepping onto one of the most prestigious stages in the world at the Highways Festival at Royal Albert Hall. We caught up with her to talk all about it!
Thank you for taking time to talk to me today, particularly as though it's still very early over there in Nashville right now!
I’m good, definitely just woke up though, I won’t lie. It was a late night at the Ryman last night. I got to sneak into the third night of Haley Williams’ residency and it was incredible. Sold out, just packed with energy. It’s such a special place, it really is unlike anything else I’ve experienced. Every time I go there, I feel like I’m stepping into something sacred. It’s not just a venue, it’s like… a moment. The history in that room, the way it sounds, the way people listen—it’s all just so intentional. It reminds you why you fell in love with music in the first place.
It really is one of those spaces. And now you’re about to play the Royal Albert Hall on your UK tour, which is another iconic venue. Have you been able to wrap your head around that yet?
Not really, no. I keep trying to. I’ll go to sleep at night and I’ll try to picture it, what it’s going to feel like, what it’s going to look like and I just can’t quite visualise it yet. It still feels a little out of reach in my brain. But I know it’s going to be incredible. The whole tour feels like that, honestly. I’ve never left North America before, so this is a huge step for me. I’ve only ever used my passport to go to Toronto and Montreal, so the idea of flying overseas, playing shows, and doing a full run over there, it just feels massive. And the fact that it’s a co-headline tour makes it feel even more special, like I’m really stepping into something new.
You’re going to be over here for a good amount of time. What are you most looking forward to experiencing outside of the shows?
I’m really excited just to be immersed in it all. I love showing up somewhere new and pretending I’m a local, that’s kind of my thing. I want to find the good food spots, the cool neighbourhoods, the places that aren’t necessarily on the tourist map. And I definitely want to try a proper Guinness, I feel like that’s essential!
And then I’m actually taking some time after the tour to go to Paris for about eight days, which I’m really excited about. My dad is French and Italian, and his family is Parisian, so there’s a part of me that’s curious to explore that and maybe even track down a bit of family history. It feels like a really meaningful trip, not just a fun one.
You’ve been on the road a lot recently, really living that touring life. Do you feel like you’ve figured out whether you prefer being on the road or in the studio?
I genuinely love both, but I think if I had to choose, I definitely have more of the road dog in me. I could stay out there forever. This last run felt like that: it was something like 30 shows with maybe two days off and even on those days we were still travelling. It’s intense, but I love the rhythm of it.
What’s funny is that now I’m in Nashville this week, writing and recording, and I’m exhausted. We’re only a couple of days in and I’m already feeling it. It’s just a different kind of energy. Being on the road is physical, you’re moving, performing, feeding off the crowd. But being in the studio is mental and emotional. You’re really digging into yourself, trying to pull something meaningful out of your experiences, and that can be a lot. There’s so much that happens before you even get into the room, and then when you’re there, you’re kind of unpacking all of it at once. It’s cathartic, but it can definitely be draining too.
That emotional depth really comes through on ‘Finer Things.' When you were recording it, especially during that quiet winter period, what did that experience feel like for you?
It was such a specific moment in time. It was January, it was snowing in Nashville, and everything felt really still. The city wasn’t as busy, so it was easy to kind of hibernate and lock in. It felt peaceful, like I had the space to really focus.
And the songs themselves had been written across different periods of my life, some of them years apart. So recording them felt like revisiting all these different versions of myself. It was emotional in that way: like I was honouring the girl who wrote those songs, making sure she was still heard in the final version.
You mentioned your parents earlier – was music something that was always around you growing up? When did you realise this was what you wanted to do?
Yeah, I think I knew really early on that music was something special. I have this very clear memory of being in the backseat of my mom’s car when I was in kindergarten, and ‘Landslide' came on. I watched her trying to hide that she was crying, and I just… I felt it. I didn’t fully understand it, but I knew that a song had the power to do something really deep to a person. That stuck with me.
My dad played guitar, he taught himself, and I eventually taught myself too when I was around 13. It became this really special way for us to connect. And for me personally, I wasn’t great at school, so music became the thing I could retreat into. I’d go into my room, write a song, and then come out and play it for my parents. That was the first time I felt like I was making them proud and myself too.
There’s such a strong sense of emotional lineage in your music. Which artists have shaped your sound and perspective the most?
For this album, I was really thinking about artists like Adrianne Lenker, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton—women who are incredible storytellers. Taylor Swift is obviously a huge influence too, and Kacey Musgraves. I was thinking a lot about what I want to say as a young woman in music, especially when I’m recording songs I wrote years ago. I wanted to honour that younger version of myself.
And right now, I’m really inspired by Haley Williams and Suki Waterhouse. They just feel so authentically themselves. I saw Haley last night and she just carries so much light and energy, it’s really inspiring to watch.
The name Clover County feels like more than just an artist name, it feels like a world. Where did that come from?
I was living in Athens at the time, and there’s a really strong music scene there: posters everywhere, all these interesting band names. I noticed I was always drawn to names that made me curious, that felt like they meant something.
Growing up in the South, my real name is sweet, but I wanted something that felt like an invitation, like when someone saw it on a poster, they’d think, “What is that? I want to go check it out.” Clover County, to me, is like a place. It’s somewhere people can come and feel safe, feel their feelings, feel accepted.
I also didn’t know what it would become, whether it would always just be me or maybe turn into a band. And I liked that it could exist beyond me if it needed to. It’s a space more than just a name.
There’s been a lot of discussion around the term ‘bootgaze' when describing your sound. How did that come about, and what does it mean to you?
It started as kind of a joke, honestly. I was working in a guitar shop in Athens and talking about my sound, and someone said, “Well, it’s not shoegaze…………it’s like bootgaze.” (laughing)
And the idea is that instead of staring at your shoes like in shoegaze, I’m up there looking down at my boots, thinking through these really thoughtful, poetic lyrics. It’s a little tongue-in-cheek, but it actually fits. It captures that blend of country and indie and something dreamy and introspective.
And honestly, I’m just waiting for someone to call me out and say I’m not “real shoegaze” but it’s like… we made it up. It’s fine! (laughing)
One of the standout things about ‘Finer Things' is how cohesive it feels, especially in the way it flows. How intentional were you about the sequencing?
There were definitely a few different versions of the sequence, but what’s really interesting is that the songs weren’t written with each other in mind at all. They came from completely different moments in my life.
And yet, when we put them together, they just… made sense. The first track feels like this open-hearted, hopeful place—like, “I’m not going anywhere.” And then the last track is more like, “I’m leaving this town, I’m good.” It feels like a full journey.
To me, it really does feel like a coming-of-age movie. You start out wide open, thinking love is easy and by the end you’ve learned a lot more about yourself: about heartbreak, about boundaries, about self-worth.
Was there a particular song that helped you understand something new about yourself while writing it?
‘Virginia Slim' was a big one. I wrote that after my first tour, and it was a moment where I realised I had been a little reckless with my own heart. I think that song was me acknowledging that I needed to take a step back and really focus on loving myself before I could give that to anyone else.
And do you have a personal favourite on the album?
I really love ‘Sweeter.' That song felt like a breakthrough for me. It was one of the first where I felt like, “Oh, this is the album. This is the sound.” I love people who love ‘Sweeter' too, we seem to really connect with each other.
There’s something about it that feels very me: there’s a bit of Dolly in there, a bit of Shania. It’s playful, it’s clever, but it’s also rooted in something real. The idea that if you give something time, it becomes sweeter, like fruit or jam, that metaphor just felt really honest to me.
It came from a real situation where something just moved too fast and fizzled out, and it made me realise that sometimes you have to let things grow at their own pace.
Your songwriting feels very grounded in real life. Where do you tend to draw your inspiration from?
It’s all from real life. I’ve always been inspired by love, that’s kind of the core of everything for me. I try not to focus too much on heartbreak as a concept, but more on the ways we experience love, even when it goes wrong.
A lot of the songs come from moments where I maybe trusted too much or gave too much. And I’m very detail-oriented, I notice little things, and I like to weave those into my songs because that’s what makes them feel personal and real.
You’ve released a lot of music in a relatively short time. Are you constantly writing? And what’s next?
Yeah, I write every day, multiple times a day. It honestly keeps me up at night sometimes. I just always have something I want to say or figure out.
I’d love to make another album soon and just keep putting music out. It’s always a bit of a balancing act with timing and how things are released, but there’s definitely more coming. I just want to keep growing and sharing as much as I can.
Finally, if ‘Finer Things' and your ‘bootgaze' sound were a physical place, what would it look like?
It would be really lush, like somewhere between a forest and a coastal town. Every little beach house would be painted pink. There’d be soft serve ice cream, fairies, cute dogs running around… And there’d be spaces for people to sit and make art. Just somewhere where everyone feels safe, inspired and a little bit magical.
Catch Clover County out on tour with Jack Van Cleaf starting in Glasgow on May 6th and then see her at The Royal Albert Hall at the Highways festival supporting Carly Pearce on Saturday 16th May. Tickets here.
