First and foremost, there’s her pyrotechnical vocals, which routinely rocket high in the sky and burst into elaborate, multi-colored displays of notes and emotions. Her voice cascades and ripples across melodies, akin to a choreographed light show booming like an over-caffeinated heart one moment and quieting like a sleepy kitten the next. Whether speaking or singing, weeping, or slinging sly (and not so sly) jokes, Kaitlin Butts stokes smoldering embers into flames again and again, and again after that.
The followup to her Oklahoma!-inspired Roadrunner!, Hello, Honky Tonk again embraces a specific conceit. The Wednesday prior to the album’s October 30th release, she explained on Today With Jenna & Sheinelle—which we tuned in specifically to catch her—that it was inspired by the musical Chicago. Instead of Roxie Hart envisioning the inner thoughts/musical acts of others, however, HHT’s engaging narrator—the night’s entertainer—imagines the lives of the saloon’s patrons via a series of colorful vignettes. “I’m turning the spotlight to different corners of the honky tonk,” she told Jenna.
The album opens with the narrator reflecting on how the bar in question has been open since the early 1900s—“1993 to be exact.” (AKA, the year of Butts’ birth.) The rip-roaring “I Wanna Be Bad” is a lungful of fun, capturing the sentiments of many a weekend reveler. “The Bartender” ups the rock quotient, while “Never Really Mine” is a soulful lament about a gal whose guy has a wandering eye. “I Make Cowboys Cry” focuses on a self-proclaimed femme fatale: “What is it ‘bout love/That makes me wanna bust out of prison?” “The Joker” flips that script somewhat, relaying the problem that some women face: finding a good man. The fiddle-fronted “Everyone Wants to Sing a Country Song” is an old-school tune that captures and conveys the humorous Nashville songs of yesteryear.
Speaking of days of yore: The heartfelt “What More Could You Want” is the musical’s emotional centerpiece, I think, the moment when the main character stands alone in the spotlight and bares her soul. “Still Got It,” another slow burner, maintains the mood. As the title indicates, “Crazy I Can Be” kicks up both the oomph and jokey quotient, while “That Makes One of Us” hones in on a bar regular who’s not out to do anything but drink the night away. The acoustic “Hell, I Don’t Know”—which is excluded from the vinyl version for reasons of space, not unruliness—is another lament that ponders life and love. “Bacon Naked (Take It From Me),” which follows, flicks the switch into flat-out silliness while simultaneously imparting solid life advice; for some reason, it reminds me of Hank Jr.’s “Buck Naked” from his classic (says I) 1987 Born to Boogie album. The album closes with “Midnight, I’ll Always Be Yours,” which finds the showgirl packing up her gear and hitting the road to the next town.
All in all, it’s a solid outing—not as stellar as Roadrunner!, though certain songs (“What More Could You Want,” especially) equal that album’s best. In short, it’s a remarkable fireworks show that colors the night sky with one jaw-dropping display after another; even at its worst, which for me is “Bacon Naked,” it’s still a helluva lot of fun.
(The 14-track LP or 15-track CD, which both come with signed inserts—can be purchased via Kaitlin’s online store; it can also be streamed from the usual suspects, of course.)
