Nation artist Caylee Hammack surrenders to unhappiness and embraces development on her brand-new album and novel of the identical title, ‘Mattress of Roses,’ a deeply private exploration of heartbreak, therapeutic, and the knowledge gained alongside the best way.
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 Data), the Georgia-born nation artist leans into the normal nation sounds that first formed her, crafting a file that feels each deeply private and timeless.
It’s a marked shift from her glossier debut, whose R&B and pop parts gave it a extra ‘fashionable nation’ really feel. Mattress of Roses, then again, recollects 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” along with her “Mamas.” Hammack’s songwriting has additionally grown, one thing she attributes to her writing an accompanying guide of the identical title, the place every chapter is a few 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 chance had been extinguished immediately.
Born and raised within the small city of Ellaville, Georgia, Hammack taught herself to sing and play guitar as a young person. At age 18, she obtained 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
After 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 acquired the trace
For those who 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 possibly can solely expertise as a youngster. “Small City Hypocrite” confirmed Hammack’s prowess as a songwriter and vocalist, and in my view, it’s the stand-out observe on her debut.
They are saying it takes your entire life to put in writing your first file, 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 one of the best choice.
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 offended, 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 lined in handstitched yellow roses, her fiery crimson 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 file, the accompanying guide of the identical title, and the significance of studying to like your self earlier than making an attempt 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 totally different to a variety of nation music popping out at the moment. Your new album could be very totally different to your earlier file. You’ve mentioned you needed to return a conventional nation sound, as you felt like the primary file was possibly barely too pop, a bit too polished. I’ve listened to each information side-by-side – If It Wasn’t For You appears like a younger unhappiness, whereas Mattress of Roses is extra about accepting of the unhappiness, moderately than preventing towards it.
Caylee Hammack: I’m getting higher at discovering the blessings throughout the issues that I may even see as heartbreak loss, you already know, the cursed second of my life, questioning why it’s taking place. It’s good to be form of be on the opposite aspect of it.
I’ve had 5 years to actually come to phrases with a few of the heartbreaks I’ve skilled and the teachings I’ve realized alongside the best way. With the ability to look again and discover the silver linings or see that a few of hurricanes I’ve by means of have helped me dramatically, so I attempted to translate that into the file as a result of I feel that at the very least once I’m hurting, it’s with the ability to sing alongside to a tragic tune that’s one way or the other just like the state of affairs I’m in. The file has some sort of melancholy with optimism simply twisted into the unhappy. That’s the stuff that will get me by means of. I’m a I’m a bit of little bit of a melodrama addict, I suppose.
I can’t imagine it’s been 5 years since your final album. Wow!
Caylee Hammack: I had a Wile E. Coyote second simply because we had been on cloud 9, you already know, 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 had 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 so much, I realized so much about myself.
I realized so much about my backyard too. It stored me actually. I do know this sounds foolish, however gardening and the birds in my yard that got here each time I whistled and crammed the hen feeder, that stored 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 might 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 acquired to develop these songs organically. I wasn’t actually rushed. I’ve all the time heard that you’ve got your whole life to put in writing your first album, then you definately’ve acquired a 12 months to put in writing the subsequent, and I acquired 5 years.
I all the time foolheartedly imagine that an artist just isn’t supposed to interrupt or make it large till they’ve the correct 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 throughout the a number of months or one thing. I can return and dive by means of 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 they usually 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 an excellent 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 possibly can determine who you let in it, and you’ll determine who you kick out of it, however you can also make it up or you possibly can depart it messy. You get to make each day both heaven or hell for your self by your decisions, even when life throws issues at you, you will have the selection to try to look on the constructive aspect.
I’m simply obsessive about nature. I really like rising issues. I really like studying how you can 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 pieces form of rising collectively. Lots of vegetation truly 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 mates’ information or singing vocals behind the scenes, and as a lot as I beloved that, it didn’t absolutely full me the best way a full album did, so I beloved that I might retreat to my backyard throughout that point.
When did you begin writing for this file?
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 mission or that mission’, however the tune is actually me and I have to put it out.
“Breaking Dishes” got here round like that. There’s one other one on the file, “The Pot and The Kettle,” which was written in 2020-21. A few of them are more moderen. “Mattress of Roses” got here to be one of many final ones I wrote for the album.
I went in wanting on the songs I needed to create. I knew I needed the sensation of the file 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 deliver me roses, not simply on a vacation, however as a result of he solely he considered me, and the entire time I might 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 study the exhausting means of how you can love myself greater than I give like to somebody I met a number of months in the past. You already know?
I needed to discover ways to dwell 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 put money into myself.
I feel I’m lastly at a degree, you already know, as somebody who, proper now I’m in a relationship that’s the sturdiest and finest man I’ve ever met in whole life.
It’s lovely to get to return and share these songs and go, ‘hey, there’s a constructive aspect of it, you possibly can really feel that means and in the future you’re going to be completely happy and also you’re gonna be capable to snicker about that heartbreak that you simply went into the foetal place once you performed it on your finest buddy after writing it.’
What made you determine to put in writing a guide 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 guide. I feel I acquired to web page both 73 or 65, after which at 15, I began the subsequent guide and that was the identical. I simply do not forget that this folder was stored of those two books I began at this younger age, and I gave up sooner or later as a result of one thing in me advised me, ‘You received’t by no means be capable to write this guide’, you already know? 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 preserve it in case possibly I can save them in the future and look again and snicker.
It was so cool to get to put in writing a guide for me. I attempt to put a silver lining into my songs, even the unhappy ones, and I lastly acquired 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 correct selections and when she doesn’t, she walks down the improper 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 making an attempt to determine love.
Each single chapter is likely one of the songs and that was a very 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 file known as “Cleopatra” and Chapter 6 can be known as Cleopatra. Within the Cleopatra chapter, I inform the story behind the tune by means of the character speaking to certainly one of her mates and that was a cool little tie-in I acquired to do. I’m so excited for individuals to hearken to the album and skim the guide and put collectively the little items that I’ve specified by there for them to seek out and revel in.
Did you discover it simpler to put in writing a guide, or was it only a totally different?
Caylee Hammack: It’s humorous, it was a major distinction however on the identical time it was… I get three minutes and 30 seconds usually to inform my story, that’s what they all the time inform you as a workers author to purpose for, or much less, that may be even higher, you already know? However as an alternative, I’ve as much as 300 pages, and it simply allowed me to actually 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 making an attempt to create silence.
When I’ve silence, my mind needs to make one thing. It’s determined. It’s annoying and aggravating. For those who simply wish to sit nonetheless, I’ve to have one thing always operating in my thoughts to simply preserve 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 individuals would say, the smallest colloquialism we’d say, I’d sit there and go ‘oh, that’s the way you specific that feeling’.
I advised my boyfriend I used to be like, you already know, this isn’t the final guide I’m gonna write. I’m gonna write one other guide. We, Carolyn Brown and I, went into it realizing that it usually takes a 12 months at the very least, and we solely had two and a half months, as I needed it to come back out with the file.
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 appeared round and I realised I had a hoarder home *laughs*. I’d get a bundle, and I simply sit it on the bottom and return, you already know? I’d cook 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 fingers.
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 nice life move you by, and it was so lovely, and I had began form of making an attempt 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 already know? He simply was emotionally unavailable for me, which was a godsend ultimately, however on the time didn’t really feel prefer it, and I had my claws in. I used to be, ‘please love me’, you already know?
I used to be telling my therapist about it, and he minimize me off as I’m saying, ‘oh, however he’s an excellent man, he’s just a bit confused, he simply doesn’t know what he needs in life’. And, he mentioned, “you gotta discover ways to let go of the tumbeleweed males. They’re not gonna catch root, and also you’re speculated to have somebody that wishes to take root, and for those who preserve chasing these, you’re simply gonna preserve operating from when the correct man comes alongside that wishes to calm down and make these routes with you”, and it was true. I used to be I used to be operating after it, and I realised that I’ve to understand that tumbleweeds are speculated to move by means of the surroundings of my life, and I’ll watch them fade into the sundown.
That’s lovely. It’s a really visible tune and the bit on the finish the place the display screen door opens, and also you say, “And years from now, you’ll hear the display screen door slam, and surprise if it’s him, nevertheless it’ll solely be the wind.” It’s so heartbreaking. It additionally has a really ‘70s sound to the tune. After I was listening, I stored considering of Carole King and Joan Baez, however in fact, Bobby Gentry. The tune “No I Ain’t” appears 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 had been listening to a variety of Bobby Gentry. John Osborne and I had 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 the explanation why I picked Mattress of Roses because the title, however life is about studying how you can respect the bloom of the flower and discover ways to respect it sufficient to seize it in the correct locations and never minimize your self on the thorns.
I feel that as a lady there’s a talent and a divine present that we can provide ourselves when you’ll be able to blossom and develop and permit your self to bloom in the correct backyard, with the correct gardener serving to maintain your coronary heart. Additionally realizing which you can have wholesome boundaries and that’s the thorns that preserve you protected from undesirable pests or the undesirable issues coming into your life. There’s one thing lovely 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 file it in a single session or was it in segments?
Caylee Hammack: When John (Osborne) and I acquired collectively it was a concentrated cluster of time. When Dan (Huff) and I acquired 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 a variety of the writing in that interval had 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 turn out to be extra of the artist I wanted to be. Artists discover themselves in each tune they ever write, they usually ever produce, after which you end up much more once you play them each single evening. There’s a continuous development within the strategy of that change.
I can inform I realized a lot. It’s extra so earlier than and after of myself as a author, as a musician, as an artist, and likewise a producer on issues. I acquired to study 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 capable of write and actually focus in on, ‘how else do I wish to inform this story?’
I wish to discuss concerning the previous ten years of discovering myself as a result of what number of ladies and men are going by means of these identical 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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