Nation artist Caylee Hammack surrenders to unhappiness and embraces progress on her brand-new album and novel of the identical identify, ‘Mattress of Roses,’ a deeply private exploration of heartbreak, therapeutic, and the knowledge gained alongside the way in which.
Stream: ‘Mattress of Roses’ – Caylee Hammack
Caylee Hammack has by no means been one to hurry the method, and her long-awaited sophomore album proves that good issues take time.
With Mattress of Roses (out March 7th by way of Capitol Information), the Georgia-born nation artist leans into the normal nation sounds that first formed her, crafting a report that feels each deeply private and timeless.
It’s a marked shift from her glossier debut, whose R&B and pop components gave it a extra ‘fashionable nation’ really feel. Mattress of Roses, alternatively, remembers the sounds of Bobby Gentry, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Hammack even reimagines The Highwaymen’s tune, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Infants Develop As much as Be Cowboys” together with her “Mamas.” Hammack’s songwriting has additionally grown, one thing she attributes to her writing an accompanying e book of the identical identify, the place every chapter is a couple of tune on the album.
Hammack’s debut album If It Wasn’t For You got here out as COVID hit in 2020, and like many artists, she felt like all that potential and risk had been extinguished right away.
Born and raised within the small city of Ellaville, Georgia, Hammack taught herself to sing and play guitar as a teen. At age 18, she acquired a scholarship to go to Nashville-based Belmont College, however turned it down for a boy she was in love with, and whom the tune “Small City Hypocrite” is about:
And that scholarship was a ship that sailed
Once I selected you and daddy gave me hell
I made myself into another person
simply to like you, rattling I beloved you
Took all my plans and I put ’em in a field
Phantom pains for the wings I misplaced
Had me circling rings within the catalogs
For seven years and also you by no means obtained the trace
In the event you haven’t heard the tune, we recommend you sit down with a field of tissues. Hammack tells the story of that form of naïve love you may solely expertise as a teenager. “Small City Hypocrite” confirmed Hammack’s prowess as a songwriter and vocalist, and for my part, it’s the stand-out observe on her debut.
They are saying it takes your entire life to put in writing your first report, and solely a 12 months to put in writing your second. In Hammack’s case, she took 5 years, and in her thoughts, that was the very best resolution.
Co-produced by Hammack alongside Dann Huff and John Osborne of The Brothers Osborne, Mattress of Roses has been a very long time coming for her followers, however Hammack has been engaged on it a method or one other in these intervening years. Whereas her debut was indignant, passionate, and had a unhappiness that was like contemporary like a wound, Mattress of Roses is the older sister: Calmer, accepting, and unhappy, but with a melancholic twinge that involves life on songs like “No I Ain’t,” “Oh Kara,” and “Tumbleweed Males.”
Atwood Journal met Caylee Hammack one afternoon in New York. She was sporting a superbly knitted cardigan coated in handstitched yellow roses, her fiery pink hair tucked behind her ears.
Hammack joked, “I spent an excessive amount of cash on it to not put on it!” We talked about her sophomore report, the accompanying e book of the identical identify, and the significance of studying to like your self earlier than attempting to like anybody else.
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A CONVERSATION WITH CAYLEE HAMMACK
Atwood Journal: Thanks for agreeing to talk with us! I have been desirous to interview you for some time. I beloved your debut album, If It Wasn’t for You. It was so completely different to plenty of nation music popping out at the moment. Your new album may be very completely different to your earlier report. You’ve stated you needed to return a conventional nation sound, as you felt like the primary report was perhaps barely too pop, a bit too polished. I’ve listened to each information side-by-side – If It Wasn’t For You seems like a younger unhappiness, whereas Mattress of Roses is extra about accepting of the unhappiness, somewhat than preventing in opposition to it.
Caylee Hammack: I’m getting higher at discovering the blessings inside the issues that I might even see as heartbreak loss, you understand, the cursed second of my life, questioning why it’s occurring. It’s good to be form of be on the opposite facet of it.
I’ve had 5 years to essentially come to phrases with a few of the heartbreaks I’ve skilled and the teachings I’ve discovered alongside the way in which. Having the ability to look again and discover the silver linings or see that a few of hurricanes I’ve by have helped me dramatically, so I attempted to translate that into the report as a result of I feel that at the least once I’m hurting, it’s with the ability to sing alongside to a tragic tune that’s someway much like the scenario I’m in. The report has some sort of melancholy with optimism simply twisted into the unhappy. That’s the stuff that will get me by. I’m a I’m a bit of little bit of a melodrama addict, I assume.
I can’t consider it’s been 5 years since your final album. Wow!
Caylee Hammack: I had a Wile E. Coyote second simply because we have been on cloud 9, you understand, I used to be touring each single weekend, two to 3 nights; I used to be doing radio, press and media, and it simply felt like we have been on this curler coaster after which we went off the tracks. I form of insulated and remoted in 2020, whether or not by selection or pressured to throughout that point and I wrote loads, I discovered loads about myself.
I discovered loads about my backyard too. It saved me really. I do know this sounds foolish, however gardening and the birds in my yard that got here each time I whistled and crammed the fowl feeder, that saved me going. I used to be obsessive about nature at the moment as a result of it was the one place I felt consolation. We may solely go on one stroll a day, so it will imply one thing.
It’s a kind of issues that I’m grateful for it as a result of I feel I wanted to develop one thing. I obtained to develop these songs organically. I wasn’t actually rushed. I’ve all the time heard that you’ve your complete life to put in writing your first album, you then’ve obtained a 12 months to put in writing the subsequent, and I obtained 5 years.
I all the time foolheartedly consider that an artist is just not supposed to interrupt or make it huge till they’ve the precise songs and sufficient songs to look again on. I all the time joke that I really like discovering artist on the second or third album as a result of then I don’t have like a four-song EP that I’m gonna put on out inside the just a few months or one thing. I can return and dive by their discography and I get to know them higher.
I’m hoping that by attending to do a second album, fortunately not in a pandemic, I can get to know my followers higher and so they can get to know me as a result of they’ll see the place I’ve been and the place I’m now.
That is a superb perspective to have on it. I do know out of your social media gardening is a giant ardour for you. You have known as this album Mattress of Roses; did nature encourage this album?
Caylee Hammack: Very a lot so. I all the time say, life is a mattress you make, you may determine who you let in it, and you may determine who you kick out of it, however you may make it up or you may go away it messy. You get to make on daily basis both heaven or hell for your self by your decisions, even when life throws issues at you, you may have the selection to try to look on the constructive facet.
I’m simply obsessive about nature. I really like rising issues. I really like studying tips on how to develop issues and I really like natural farming and I’m somebody that loves permaculture. I’ve all of my roses in between my peas and my corn and my squash. I’ve all the things form of rising collectively. Quite a lot of crops really complement each other that we don’t learn about, and I feel with the ability to develop one thing, to place a seed within the floor and pour your time, endurance and love and care into it, after which see one thing develop and prosper.
For these 5 years, the one music I made was co-writing on buddies’ information or singing vocals behind the scenes, and as a lot as I beloved that, it didn’t totally full me the way in which a full album did, so I beloved that I may retreat to my backyard throughout that point.
When did you begin writing for this report?
Caylee Hammack: Earlier than 2018, and I returned to it in 2020. We revised some issues, and I realised there was one thing particular there. There are songs that typically get caught in a folder of, ‘it doesn’t match this challenge or that challenge’, however the tune is really me and I must put it out.
“Breaking Dishes” got here round like that. There’s one other one on the report, “The Pot and The Kettle,” which was written in 2020-21. A few of them are newer. “Mattress of Roses” got here to be one of many final ones I wrote for the album.
I went in trying on the songs I needed to create. I knew I needed the sensation of the report to be a mattress of roses, and as somebody who has waited – I’m 30 now and I’ve waited my entire life for a person to convey me roses, not simply on a vacation, however as a result of he solely he considered me, and the entire time I may have simply grown my very own!
And now that’s what I’m doing. I needed to try to create one thing that had a bit of silver lining. I needed to be taught the exhausting approach of tips on how to love myself greater than I give like to somebody I met just a few months in the past. You already know?
I needed to discover ways to reside with me and tending my backyard tended me. I’m restoring my home by hand myself, constructing, woodworking, constructing cabinets and placing in stair railings. It heals me as a result of I really feel as if I’m engaged on the within of me. I’m engaged on my coronary heart and my soul once I spend money on myself.
I feel I’m lastly at some extent, you understand, as somebody who, proper now I’m in a relationship that’s the sturdiest and finest man I’ve ever met in complete life.
It’s stunning to get to return and share these songs and go, ‘hey, there’s a constructive facet of it, you may really feel that approach and in the future you’re going to be comfortable and also you’re gonna be capable to snicker about that heartbreak that you just went into the foetal place once you performed it in your finest pal after writing it.’
What made you determine to put in writing a e book alongside the album?
Caylee Hammack: I used to be 13, and lengthy earlier than I ever thought I could possibly be a musician, I began writing a e book. I feel I obtained to web page both 73 or 65, after which at 15, I began the subsequent e book and that was the identical. I simply do not forget that this folder was saved of those two books I began at this younger age, and I gave up in some unspecified time in the future as a result of one thing in me advised me, ‘You gained’t by no means be capable to write this e book’, you understand? Like ‘why are you doing this? You’re losing your time on this.’ I hate that.
They’re someplace on a laptop computer that I can’t activate anymore, however I maintain it in case perhaps I can save them in the future and look again and snicker.
It was so cool to get to put in writing a e book for me. I attempt to put a silver lining into my songs, even the unhappy ones, and I lastly obtained to put in writing a fortunately ever after, and it felt great.
I needed to put in writing one thing that when ladies or ladies learn it, they realise that she must hearken to her intestine, as a result of when she listens to her intestine, she makes the precise selections and when she doesn’t, she walks down the mistaken paths. I feel that’s the one factor I actually needed to push ahead, is hearken to your self, particularly in moments of affection and attempting to determine love.
Each single chapter is without doubt one of the songs and that was a extremely cool factor, as a result of as somebody who loves Easter Eggs, oh man, it opened up a complete different world. I’ve a tune on the report known as “Cleopatra” and Chapter 6 can be known as Cleopatra. Within the Cleopatra chapter, I inform the story behind the tune by the character speaking to one among her buddies and that was a cool little tie-in I obtained to do. I’m so excited for individuals to hearken to the album and skim the e book and put collectively the little items that I’ve specified by there for them to search out and luxuriate in.
Did you discover it simpler to put in writing a e book, or was it only a completely different?
Caylee Hammack: It’s humorous, it was a big distinction however on the similar time it was… I get three minutes and 30 seconds usually to inform my story, that’s what they all the time let you know as a workers author to goal for, or much less, that may be even higher, you understand? However as a substitute, I’ve as much as 300 pages, and it simply allowed me to essentially dive into narrative and dialogue.
The cool factor was I seen I used to be listening to individuals extra. As a substitute of placing on my sound isolating headphones and attempting to create silence.
When I’ve silence, my mind needs to make one thing. It’s determined. It’s annoying and aggravating. In the event you simply need to sit nonetheless, I’ve to have one thing continually working in my thoughts to only maintain my mind from making chatter.
So, I began taking my headphones off much more and listening to individuals discuss and the smallest little issues that folks would say, the smallest colloquialism we might say, I might sit there and go ‘oh, that’s the way you specific that feeling’.
I advised my boyfriend I used to be like, you understand, this isn’t the final e book I’m gonna write. I’m gonna write one other e book. We, Carolyn Brown and I, went into it figuring out that it usually takes a 12 months at the least, and we solely had two and a half months, as I needed it to come back out with the report.
Wow, that is superb. Solely two and a half months.
Caylee Hammack: I sat in my home in entrance of my hearth, and I wrote for eight to 10 hours a day, and it was it was nice.
I seemed round and I realised I had a hoarder home *laughs*. I might get a package deal, and I simply sit it on the bottom and return, you understand? I’d prepare dinner dinner, put the dish within the seat, return as a result of the deadline quick approaching. I used to be like, ‘I can’t overthink it and I can’t sleep too lengthy, we gotta get this going.’ It feels so good it’s nearly in individuals’s palms.
One of many tracks that I actually love is “Tumbleweed Males.” Are you able to speak about a bit about that tune?
Caylee Hammack: It’s so enjoyable to sing. I used to be listening to Mama Cass and there was a bit of trill and please don’t let the great life go you by, and it was so stunning, and I had began form of attempting to choose one thing out.
I went right into a remedy session, and I used to be speaking about a particularly emotionally unavailable man. God bless him, you understand? He simply was emotionally unavailable for me, which was a godsend in the long run, however on the time didn’t really feel prefer it, and I had my claws in. I used to be, ‘please love me’, you understand?
I used to be telling my therapist about it, and he reduce me off as I’m saying, ‘oh, however he’s a superb man, he’s just a bit confused, he simply doesn’t know what he needs in life’. And, he stated, “you gotta discover ways to let go of the tumbeleweed males. They’re not gonna catch root, and also you’re imagined to have somebody that desires to take root, and when you maintain chasing these, you’re simply gonna maintain working from when the precise man comes alongside that desires to quiet down and make these routes with you”, and it was true. I used to be I used to be working after it, and I realised that I’ve to understand that tumbleweeds are imagined to go by the surroundings of my life, and I’ll watch them fade into the sundown.
That’s stunning. It’s a really visible tune and the bit on the finish the place the display door opens, and also you say, “And years from now, you’ll hear the display door slam, and surprise if it’s him, however it’ll solely be the wind.” It’s so heartbreaking. It additionally has a really ‘70s sound to the tune. Once I was listening, I saved considering of Carole King and Joan Baez, however in fact, Bobby Gentry. The tune “No I Ain’t” seems like a twin of “Tumbleweed Males.” It’s the tune the place you point out your therapist and say, “for as soon as my therapist can be happy with me” for having boundaries.
Caylee Hammack: We have been listening to plenty of Bobby Gentry. John Osborne and I have been speaking about Bobby Gentry and actually earlier than we had that dialog, I didn’t realise what number of cool sounds she had. We positively leaned into the ‘70s feeling. I’m actually glad you pointed that out.
I had many explanation why I picked Mattress of Roses because the title, however life is about studying tips on how to admire the bloom of the flower and discover ways to respect it sufficient to seize it in the precise locations and never reduce your self on the thorns.
I feel that as a girl there’s a talent and a divine present that we may give ourselves when you’ll be able to blossom and develop and permit your self to bloom in the precise backyard, with the precise gardener serving to maintain your coronary heart. Additionally figuring out you can have wholesome boundaries and that’s the thorns that maintain you secure from undesirable pests or the undesirable issues coming into your life. There’s one thing stunning about this savageness and the sensualness of roses.
Are you able to speak about the way you recorded the album with John Osborne and Dan Huff? Did you report it in a single session or was it in segments?
Caylee Hammack: When John (Osborne) and I obtained collectively it was a concentrated cluster of time. When Dan (Huff) and I obtained collectively it was the identical. There was an area within the center the place I used to be beginning up my Sirius XM present and I used to be actually devoted to that, after which I began diving into writing and plenty of the writing in that interval have been the songs I introduced in to John.
It’s taken 5 years to get right here, however I’m grateful for each single 12 months as a result of I really feel I wanted it.
Getting in with Dan helped me develop into extra of the artist I wanted to be. Artists discover themselves in each tune they ever write, and so they ever produce, after which you end up much more once you play them each single night time. There’s a continuing progress within the means of that change.
I can inform I discovered a lot. It’s extra so earlier than and after of myself as a author, as a musician, as an artist, and in addition a producer on issues. I obtained to be taught a lot from each of them. I used to be modified in between each of these segments, and I feel getting these 4 songs in with Dan actually helped me begin homing in on the place the album goes, after which I used to be in a position to write and actually focus in on, ‘how else do I need to inform this story?’
I need to discuss in regards to the previous ten years of discovering myself as a result of what number of men and women are going by these similar emotions and emotional processes of discovering themselves and looking for good love.
It it’s been a really transformational album for me. I’m so grateful for it. I hope another person feels the sensation I had making it.
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