For Oklahoma-native Kaitlin Butts, getting Country Music Hall of Fame member and fellow Okie Vince Gill to sing on her new song ‘Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)‘ is a bit of a dream come true.
Gill’s soaring tenor intertwines with Butts’ powerhouse alto on the song’s chorus, a stunning compliment to the slow-burning song. It’s a standout from Butts’ upcoming album Roadrunner!, out June 28th via Soundly Music.
“As an artist, there are accomplishments that you dream about, but to have such a legendary Okie artist like Vince Gill feature on ‘Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)’ is something I could have never even dreamed up,” shares Butts. “I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to meet Vince and I feel privileged to get to say that I have one of the most angelic, iconic voices on a song of mine.”
“Unafraid to test boundaries” (Rolling Stone), Butts has a deep affinity for country music’s more theatrical side: the extravagant storytelling, dazzling showmanship, songs embedded with both unbridled emotion and quick-fire humor. After discovering her passion for performing as a little girl, the Tulsa native later brought her boundless energy and radiant voice to her own unapologetic yet soulful songwriting. When it came time to create her third album, the Nashville-based musician leaned into her lifelong love of musical theater and dreamed up a modern-day reimagining of the soundtrack to her all-time favorite musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! The result: a high-concept but candidly autobiographical LP called Roadrunner!, whose 17 powerhouse songs show the full force and extraordinary depth of Butts’ artistry for the very first time.
Produced by Oran Thornton (Brent Cobb, Logan Brill), Roadrunner! marks a major tonal shift from Butts’ 2022 sophomore LP what else can she do, a character-driven exploration of complex matters like addiction, domestic violence, and generational trauma. “With the last album I wanted to write about the struggles I’d seen people go through or experienced myself, so a lot of the songs had a sadness or darkness to them,” she says. “I feel like Roadrunner! is much closer to what I’m like onstage, where there’s real emotion and truth but also humor and a tendency to poke fun. It’s all those different versions of me at once.”
Made with A-list musicians like multi-instrumentalists Russ Pahl (Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves) and Lex Price (Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum), Roadrunner! ultimately matches that multidimensionality with a lush and fiery sound informed by Butts’ eclectic influences (outlaw country, strong-minded country-pop, timeless rock-and-roll, and more).
Kaitlin Butts – 2024 Tour Dates
June 23 – Columbus, OH – Buckeye Country Superfest
June 28 – Pendleton, OR – Jackalope Jamboree
July 5 – Segovia, Spain – Huercasa Country Festival
July 9 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown
July 10 – Fargo, ND – The Hall at Fargo Brewing Company
July 12 – Billings, MT – Thirsty Street Brewing
July 14 – Whitefish, MT – Under The Big Sky Festival
July 17 – Boise, ID – The Grove Plaza
July 19 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
July 20 – Telluride, CO – Telluride Americana Fest
Aug 3 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
Aug 4 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
Aug 6 – Philadelphia, PA – MilkBoy
Aug 7 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Made
Aug 8 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion+
Aug 9 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center+
Aug 10 – Uncasville, CT – Xfinity Center+
Aug 25 – Leicestershire, Eng – Long Road Festival
Aug 26 – Brighton, Eng – Concorde 2*
Aug 27 – London, Eng – Scala*
Aug 29 – Bristol, Eng – The Fleece*
Aug 30 – Manchester, Eng – Manchester Club Academy*
Aug 31 – Paisley, UK – Neste Live!*
Sept 5 – Houston, TX – The Heights Theater
Sept 6 – Fort Worth, TX – Billy Bobs Texas
Sept 8 – Wichita, KS – The Wave
Sept 10 – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads
Sept 11 – Columbia, MO – Rose Music Hall
Sept 13 – St. Louis, MO – The Golden Record
Sept 15 – Lexington, KY – The Burl
Sept 26 – Indianapolis, IN – HIFI Indy
Sept 27 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
Sept 28 – Chicago, IL – Joe’s On Weed
Sept 29 – Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
Oct 1 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
Oct 4 – Greeley, CO – Moxi Theater
Oct 5 – Salt Lake City, UT – Redwest Fest
Oct 20 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Music Hall
Oct 22 – Washington, DC – The Union Stage
Nov 2 – Roswell, NM – The Liberty
Nov 3 – Tucson, AZ – The Maverick
Nov 6 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues – Voodoo Room
Nov 7 – Los Angeles, CA – The Moroccan Lounge
Nov 8 – San Jose, CA – The Ritz
Nov 9 – San Francisco, CA – Cafe Du Nord
Nov 10 – Sacramento, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
Nov 13 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
Nov 21 – Bloomington, IL – The Castle Theater
Nov 23 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
Dec 7 – Beaumont, TX – 7 Oak Event Garden
Dec 8 – Austin, TX – Antone’s
Dec 13 – Oklahoma City, OK – Tower Theatre
Dec 14 – Tulsa, OK – The Vanguard
+ supporting Dierks Bentley
* Supporting Flatland Cavalry