A truly one-of-a-kind artist, Tulsa native Kaitlin 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.
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!, out June 28th via Soundly Music, whose 17 powerhouse songs show the full force and extraordinary depth of Butts’ artistry for the very first time – featuring the lead single ‘Hunt You Down’, out now-
“Every summer when I was a kid my parents would take me to see a performance of Oklahoma! at a local amphitheater, and I’ve felt such a strong connection to it my entire life,” says Butts, who first conceptualized Roadrunner! during a pandemic rewatching of the film with her husband, Flatland Cavalry frontman Cleto Cordero. “It’s a love story but there’s also a murder and a little bit of an acid-trippy feel to it at times; it’s set in the same place where I come from. Once I got the idea for this album I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before, and it turned into something that completely encompasses who I am and what I love.”
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).
