I’d been keeping my eye on Caitlyn Smith ever since I discovered the hit songwriter on Twitter; it turned out that despite being relatively unknown she had several huge cuts to her name, including the Grammy and CMA-nominated ‘You Can’t Make Old Friends’, recorded by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. She also helped pen Danielle Bradbery’s ‘The Heart of Dixie’, Cassadee Pope’s ‘Wasting All These Tears’, Jason Aldean’s ‘It Ain’t Easy’, Hayden Panettiere’s ‘Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet’ (from the soundtrack to ‘Nashville’), Lady Antebellum’s ‘747’ and has at least one cut on the upcoming Garth Brooks album ‘Man Against Machine’ (‘Tacoma’ seems to be the track in question). Quietly moving up on the back stretch like the darkest horse of them all, Caitlyn has begun to have some pretty successful cuts – and not just any cuts either – ones that are also critically acclaimed. So when I heard that she was finally releasing her own EP, entitled ‘Everything To You’ (drops today), I could hardly wait. I loved the tracks that she had had a hand in writing and the amount of those seemed to be multiplying every week. If any songwriter is set to be the breakout star of 2014 and 2015 without a bro-country smash to their name, it could well be Caitlyn Smith.
But she’s more than just a songwriter. This ‘Grown Woman’ (as the song says) is a fabulous vocalist; with the light quivering vibrato of Lee Ann Womack and Ashley Monroe, the slightly smoky pop power of Taylor Swift and a huge injection of soulful and technical proficiency, Caitlyn’s voice not only betrays her natural talent but also a raw expression that makes itself at home in the gentle notes as much as the big ones. This comes to an incredible climax with the EP’s closer ‘All My Lovers’, that finds itself busting out of the genre box and into its own territory of fabulous performing and songwriting. It is quite simply a beautifully delivered and well-structured song, taking a well-trodden path in newfound love being better than those prior to a whole new level, managing to eschew clichés or boring same-old techniques.
This seems to be something that Caitlyn is very good at. Listening to the seven tracks available on this collection, it might be easy to forget that bro-country and laundry list country-rap-alt rock songs ever existed. There are no endlessly revisited scenes with token words and phrases thrown around like confetti, and the closest she comes to the mood-board-style word painting that has been cropping up in the mainstream is on the title track. However, this articulates itself in more insightful thoughts and metaphors than what radio offers up, and it actually resembles a far more traditionally country mode of songwriting and lyricism than pretty much all of her contemporaries. Too, while she is clearly drawing from a commercial country/pop vein, this manifests itself with traditional instrumentation, pretty winding melodies, acoustic sensibilities and southern sass. ‘Novocaine’, an early acclaimed track from the record, is a perfect example of this, twang restrained and subtle but there nonetheless.
In fact, this stripped back approach to country pop (with the emphasis on country) is something that radio is really lacking. Nowhere is this more evident than on her own version of Cassadee Pope’s ‘Wasting All These Tears’. While the song is far from acoustic-led, it is far less in-your-face polished wall of sound than Cassadee’s rendition, and as a result injects more of a dark, brooding, almost southern gothic vibe to the work. The same can be said for record opener ‘Fever’ (which also channels bluegrass and gospel influences), pushing heat and drama in a way that is human instead of digitally-enhanced. This provides Caitlyn with credibility and allows more space and attention for the breadth and depth of her voice, which really lets loose and puts her in control.
The ‘Everything To You’ EP feels like the tip of the iceberg, the prologue in a book of epic proportions. While ‘Dream Away’ (very Lee Ann Womack-esque) looks up at the sky with wide-eyed innocence and youthful wonder, ‘Grown Woman’ asserts some confidence and maturity, and we often feel like Caitlyn is hovering on the cusp of becoming that grown woman. At times, she seems young and just finding her feet, while at others it feels like she’s coming into her own. There is a beauty to such a moment in time, and it is captured perfectly on these seven tracks while whetting the appetite for more. For now, I’ll just have to be content with knowing that just as this EP is wonderful, Caitlyn has an even brighter future ahead of her.
