Singer-songwriter Caitlin Cannon’s move to Music City has been a worthy venture. The one-time Durango resident starting splitting her time between Nashville, Tennessee, and the Southwest in 2017-2018, socking away money made cutting hair so she could afford a home in Nashville.
Since she moved to Nashville, she’s dipped into comedy, appearing on the comedy podcast Kill Tony, while also teaching songwriting to inmates of Tennessee Correctional Facilities. She also continues to pursue music, dropping the EP “Beggar” back in April, while also waiting to release her next record titled “Love Addict.” All of this comes on the heels of her stellar 2020 release “The TrashCannon Album,” touring with the now laid to rest Side Pony, and playing solo shows.
Her next local solo show will take place on July 11, when Cannon plays at the clubhouse at Hillcrest Golf Course.
If you go
WHAT: Roots Americana with Caitlin Cannon.
WHEN: 6:30-8:30 p.m. July 11.
WHERE: Hillcrest Golf Course, 2300 Rim Drive.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit caitlincannonmusic.com or www.golfhillcrest.com.
While she still has local ties, for now Nashville is home, and it’s influencing and educating her on music in every which way.
“It’s been really good for me, has changed the way I think about music, and not in a way that I would think it would have changed it. You know, I used to try a lot more, I would say now I think that if I’m trying too hard I’m probably getting in my way,” Cannon said. “So, it’s become this thing where I think I’m a better listener and I think my approach to music is now more about feeling and less cerebral. It sounds hippie-dippie, but it isn’t. This city is built on music; it’s the only way it could survive. Otherwise everybody would kill each other over their political disagreements.”
Cannon spent last fall and winter in the studio banging out songs. With 14 new tracks the result of those sessions, she released four as the aforementioned EP “Beggar,” and she’s sitting on the other 10 for “Love Addict”; that record is currently waiting for funding to give it a proper release. While “The TrashCannon Album” was what she refers to as “ratchet,” meaning more rocking and even a bit bawdy, “Beggar” walks a more mellow line, recorded on the quick and efficient. The result is a stand-up EP that’s emotional and gutsy with the fat trimmed.
“I had 14 songs, and I took four and said ‘this is the EP.’ Now I have 10 songs in the can for the album; I would say it’s vibey, it’s sexy, it’s definitely more vibes and less sort of ‘ratchet’,” she said. “Everything was tracked live, and the players only heard the song maybe once or twice, and they played it once or twice, and those are the tracks.”
Cannon continues to learn the art of the song, a pursuit of many in a town where the industry is based on creating something from nothing, a product that you can only feel and hear, not hold. Making a living from songwriting isn’t easy.
“Songwriting I think is a language I’ve learned, but its hard for me. Brevity is not my strong suit,” she said. “It’s hard for me to zone in on a three-and-a-half-minute thing and get to the point. So it’s helped me do that; there’s a song on the record called ‘The Alchemist.’ It’s like an alchemy thing. Even if you can’t make something beautiful, I can always make something funny, or something I can rock to.”
Her local show will dip into her Nashville ventures – those ventures include her songwriting, comedy inspired by her time on the comedy podcast and songs from her students from the Correctional Facility.
“You’re going to hear at least one minute of dirty humor, and some songs that the inmates wrote,” Cannon said. “We’ll just go all over the map. Light blue humor and sad bastard songs.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
