Kaitlin Butts

Artist Information

A truly one-of-a-kind artist, Kaitlin Butts has a deep affinity for country music’s more theatrical side: the extravagant storytelling, dazzling showmanship, songs embedded with both unbridled emotion and quick-fire humor. After discovering her passion for performing as a little girl, the Tulsa native later brought her boundless energy and radiant voice to her own unapologetic yet soulful songwriting. When it came time to create her third album, the Nashville-based musician leaned into her lifelong love of musical theater and dreamed up a modern-day reimagining of the soundtrack to her all-time favorite musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! The result: a high-concept but candidly autobiographical LP called Roadrunner!, whose 17 powerhouse songs show the full force and extraordinary depth of Butts’ artistry for the very first time.

“Every summer when I was a kid my parents would take me to see a performance of Oklahoma! at a local amphitheater, and I’ve felt such a strong connection to it my entire life,” says Butts, who first conceptualized Roadrunner! during a pandemic rewatching of the film with her husband, Flatland Cavalry frontman Cleto Cordero. “It’s a love story but there’s also a murder and a little bit of an acid-trippy feel to it at times; it’s set in the same place where I come from. Once I got the idea for this album I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before, and it turned into something that completely encompasses who I am and what I love.”

Produced by Oran Thornton (Brent Cobb, Logan Brill), Roadrunner! marks a major tonal shift from Butts’ 2022 sophomore LP what else can she do, a character-driven exploration of complex matters like addiction, domestic violence, and generational trauma. “With the last album I wanted to write about the struggles I’d seen people go through or experienced myself, so a lot of the songs had a sadness or darkness to them,” she says. “I feel like Roadrunner! is much closer to what I’m like onstage, where there’s real emotion and truth but also humor and a tendency to poke fun. It’s all those different versions of me at once.” Made with A-list musicians like multi-instrumentalists Russ Pahl (Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves) and Lex Price (Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum), Roadrunner! ultimately matches that multidimensionality with a lush and fiery sound informed by Butts’ eclectic influences (outlaw country, strong-minded country-pop, timeless rock-and-roll, and more).

After opening on the sweeping strings and splendor of “Overture,” Roadrunner! launches headfirst into its gloriously freewheeling title track. A fast-talking anthem fueled by galloping rhythms and nimble fiddle melodies, “Roadrunner” speaks directly to Butts’ own life story while echoing one of Oklahoma!’s central themes: the dogged pursuit of dreams against the backdrop of the American heartland. “I was living at my mom’s house during quarantine, and one day I was missing the road so bad—missing my band and Love’s gas stations and all the quirky, funny things that happen when you’re out on tour,” Butts recalls. “I started scribbling everything down on paper, which turned into my little love song for being on the road and how fast and crazy that lifestyle can get.”

Although the plot to Oklahoma! hinges on the budding romance between cowboy Curly and farm girl Laurey in the early 1900s, Roadrunner! draws much of its power from Butts’ forward-thinking perspective on femininity and independence. In creating a track called “That’ll Never Be Me,” for instance, Butts co-wrote alongside Angaleena Presley and penned a self-possessed response to Oklahoma!’s lovelorn “Many a New Day.” “In that scene all the women are so pretty and poised; they’re living in an era where their whole purpose is to become wives and take care of the household,” she says. “I wrote ‘That’ll Never Be Me’ from the point of view of someone who’s resisted being pigeonholed into that role, and who wants to step outside the expectations of how women are supposed to be.” Co-written with Natalie Hemby, “Other Girls (Ain’t Havin’ Any Fun)” puts a brilliantly subversive twist on Oklahoma!’s “I Cain’t Say No,” bringing serpentine riffs and ravishing vocal work to Butts’ hypnotic anthem of empowerment. And on “Spur,” Roadrunner! takes on a haunting intensity as Butts presents a sorrowful portrait of abuse and coercive control (from the chorus: “She doesn’t notice anymore ’cause she’s callused by the pain/She don’t feel a thing/Why do you give her the spur/When you know she needs the reins?”). “I actually had written ‘Spur’  before Cleto and I watched Oklahoma!, and during the scene when Laurey kicks Jud out of his wagon a lightbulb went off,” Butts points out. “By the time we finished the movie I’d thought up other songs that could fit into the storyline;  everything just built from there.”

While many of the songs on Roadrunner! came to life through Butts’ careful revisiting of Oklahoma!, a number of tracks emerged from sudden bursts of creative inspiration. An unforgettably lovely slow-burner featuring guest vocals from country legend Vince Gill, “Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)” began as a lyric idea jotted down at the Two Step Inn festival in Texas. “I saw this gorgeous girl wearing a tank top that said ‘Cowboy Pillows’ right across her chest, which I thought was so hysterical,” she explains. “But then when I went to write it, it became this sweet song about being a source of comfort and safety for a man.” One of Roadrunner!’s most wickedly funny moments, “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me)” spotlights her supreme talent for crafting scathing one-liners. Meanwhile, on “Hunt You Down,” Butts lays down a raw and rowdy cover of a country-flavored deep cut from Kesha’s 2017 album Rainbow. “I’m all over the place when it comes to inspiration, and Kesha is definitely one of my favorite artists,” she says. “For a long time I had ‘Hunt You Down’ on my list of songs I wanted to cover someday, and as I was working on the album I realized it goes perfectly with ‘All Er Nothin’’ from Oklahoma!”

With its tracklist also including Butts’ spellbinding rendition of “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” and an update of Oklahoma!’s “People Will Say We’re in Love” (on which Cordero joins his wife in a tender duet), Roadrunner! closes out with its most heartrending offering, a lovingly detailed tearjerker called “Elsa.” “I wrote that when I was living in Oklahoma City and used to play at a nursing home once a month,” says Butts. “I’d play songs by Patsy Cline and Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams, and whenever the residents recognized a song they loved their eyes would just light up. There was a woman named Elsa who was always in the front row and used to play guitar too, but she had dementia and had forgotten how. I was always so excited to see her and listen to whatever stories she wanted to tell me, but one day when I went to play I found out she’d passed on. It totally wrecked me, and on the ride home I started writing this song.”

As Butts reveals, the making of Roadrunner! served as an essential milestone in her journey as an artist, allowing for the fullest expression yet of the larger-than-life vision she’s long brought to her work (e.g., her cinematic videos, high-wattage stage presence, exquisitely curated costumes reflecting her fondness for sequins and fringe). “Some artists get up onstage in their T-shirts and jeans and do their thing, but what comes naturally to me is the drama and going that extra mile to try to create an immersive experience,” she says. “The more I pull from my musical-theater background, the more emboldened I am. Making this album showed me that little ideas can grow and take on a life on their own, and it’s so exciting to know that sticking with my vision can lead to something bigger than I ever even imagined.”