Introducing Caylee Hammack
When an artist gets recognised for having US country radio’s most added debut single upon impact by a female in over three years it’s time to sit up and take note.
And that’s exactly what I did when I read that Caylee Hammack’s ” Family Tree” holds this honour , one listen to this hilarious and relatable gospel-tinged song and I was hooked and wanted to find out more! It’s a song she says is one of the most personal she has written, inspired to a large extent by her sister who really did smoke Camel cigarettes pretty heavily just as in the opening lines. Released back in January on Capitol Nashville it was sent to radio in April to coincide with the premier of the song’s brilliant video which stars many of her actual family members.
It seems that like so many of my favourite artists 25 year old Caylee is no overnight success story. She has been singing in public since her teens, auditioning for a local talent show in her home state of Georgia ( singing Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”, which she totally messed up from the start! ) when she was 13. Not deterred, she continued to perform but began to focus on writing after a medical scare aged 16, when she wrote ” Addicted” about the pain pills she was prescribed. Commuting on a regular basis to Nashville to play the bars on lower Broadway, she relocated there in 2013 signing a publishing deal with Universal Music a couple of years later and focusing on writing for other artists.
She is creating quite a name as an artist in her own right these days though, making her national television debut in May on NBC’s Today show and being included in Bobby Bones ” Class of 2019″ artists to watch.
Her recent live shows include touring with LANCO and performing at the Billboard Live featuring CMT Next Women of Country Showcase Event in Nashville, hosted by Leslie Fram. She has string of dates coming up including Chicago’s Lakeshake Festival later this month and support slots for both Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert on her Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars tour in September.
Her follow up single ” Just Friends” was released in May, inspired by the aftermath of a breakup she had recently gone through, and like her debut was co-written/co-produced by Caylee. I love this video in which she tells us more about the track which cleverly combines the two very different melodies she had in mind
I’m really excited to see what this all round talent comes up with next, there is apparently an album on the way, but what she has given us so far is definitely more than enough to win me over!
More information and all her news can be found at cayleehammack.com
Article written by Lesley Hastings (twitter.com/lesleyhastings)
