Kaitlin Butts wears her musical theater nerd background on her rhinestone-dotted sleeves.
Her newest album, Hello Honky Tonk, has some common ground with its predecessor Roadrunner in that both take inspiration from musicals (Chicago and Oklahoma!, respectively.) But Hello Honky Tonk is a more direct interpretation of Butts’ life in show business.
She might be glammed-out, made-up and covered in glitter during these songs, but she doesn’t gloss over the grimier parts of life in the spotlight. If anything, on Hello Honky Tonk, those low moments are the star of the show.
Read More: Kaitlin Butts Doesn’t Think Singing About Family Estrangement Should Be Taboo
In this track list, you’ll find men who disappoint so predictably that it’s a cliché. You’ll find wanna-be cowboys and burned-out overachievers who let off steam at a bar after a too-long work week. And at the center of it all, you’ll find Butts at her most vulnerable, wondering if all her jazz hands and sequins are enough to keep the audience coming back.
Keep reading for a breakdown of the best tracks on Hello Honky Tonk, along with Taste of Country’s exclusive conversation with Butts about her new album.
The Top 5 Songs On Kaitlin Butts’ New Album, Hello Honky Tonk
No. 5: “Crazy I Can Be”
Fans who first met her music via her viral hit “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead to Me)” will recognize that Kaitlin Butts in this song. You can practically hear the glint of rage in her eye as she sings “You don’t know just how crazy I can be / But darlin’, would you like to see?“
Butts tells Taste of Country that that side of her is very real — in fact, that the inspiration for this song came from a moment of conflict out on the road that left her band mates telling her, “That man had no idea that you were gonna come back at him with the level that [you did.]'”
“It feels good to be able to meet that sometimes,” she admits, “Like, ‘That’s crazy that you would pick me to do that to, because I am not gonna back down.'”
No. 4. “I Wanna Be Bad”
Performers are, in a way, professional party-throwers, and fans only see what’s happening up on stage. They don’t see the long hours that go into travel, label meetings, press and more. Butts highlights the part of the job that’s a slog in “I Wanna Be Bad,” a song where she’s getting kind of desperate for a night off and “a drink that’s Texas-sized.”
No. 3: “Everybody Wanna Sing a Cowboy Song”
Parts of this song are funny, like when Butts pokes fun at country tropes by singing “It breaks my heart / Makes me wanna cry / That there are folks out there / That don’t have a cold beer / Or a jacked-up truck / Don’t know what it feels like to get hammered drunk…”
But for such a joke-packed song, it’s a pretty authentic take on the state of country culture — both bona fide and put-on — amongst its singers. Not everyone really grew up in the sticks, and that’s okay: Butts, who’s a pretty traditional country artist, admits “I was a city girl too.” (She grew up in Tulsa, and though she moved onto a 20-acre property in Lone Grove, Okla. after college, she still knows that Lone Grove natives would “laugh in my face” if she described herself as a country girl, coming from Tulsa.
The authenticity is refreshing, especially in genre where there can be a fair bit of competition about who’s countrier. As Butts says in her song, there’s something to be said for keeping country country — but there’s also something to be said for welcoming folks who may not have grown in the lifestyle, but have a genuine love for country music.
No. 2: “The Joker”
We’ve talked mostly about uptempo songs on this list so far, but two very best tracks on Hello Honky Tonk are ballads. Rolling in at No. 2 is “The Joker,” a song that perfectly sums up the disillusionment you feel after you date guy after guy (after guy!) who’s not investing in you back. “I’m tired of begging men to get sober / I’m tired of begging them to act older,” Butts sings in the first line, and it sounds like a big sigh.
No. 1: “What More Could You Want”
Kaitlin Butts ranks “What More Could You Want” as one of the best songs she’s ever written, and it’s easy to see why: This is the moment on the album, she explains, where the fourth wall folds and she sings straight to the audience, as herself rather than a character.
“I wanted to have a song that feels like you’re at the end of this show, and you have jazz hands and you’re out of breath, and you’re going, ‘Do you like me yet? Is this enough for you?'” she says.
“That song is really just me as a performer. But I also feel like moms could relate to it. Business owners, who have started things and are wondering if everything they do, no matter how much they do, will be enough,” Butts continues. “Everyone can kinda see themselves in that role no matter if you’re a performer or not.”
The Top 10 Kaitlin Butts Songs Every New Fan Should Hear
You might know her best as the honky-tonk spitfire behind the TikTok-viral “You Ain’t Gotta Die (to Be Dead to Me),” but this Oklahoma-born country upstart is every bit as colorful and dynamic as the 17 tracks on her newest album, Roadrunner. Keep reading for a primer on all the Kaitlin Butts songs a new fan should hear.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak
