The Spotlight is on Smith's Starfire
Caitlyn Smith. You might think you don’t know her, but I assure you, you do. She just came out with her debut solo album this year and is on her first headlining Starfire Tour. In the past she wrote for a wide range of country superstars, as well as making it onto the pop charts. Season 3 winner of the NBC singing competition The Voice, Cassadee Pope, cut Caitlyn’s song Wasting All These Tears. Caitlyn shared an anecdote with the crowd at her NYC show at the Mercury Lounge last Friday 4/13/18 about writing with this girl one day in Nashville. They had a writing session and then she didn’t see the co writer for a few years. One day she started seeing that writer on the top of the pop charts with All About That Bass. Now do you know who I am talking about? Caitlyn’s first number 1 song was Love Me Like Your Gonna Lose Me cut by Meghan Trainor and John Legend.
Caitlyn Smith is a powerhouse! Definitely a starfire that cannot be burned out and she’s finally getting her spotlight. She has an undeniable voice that flawlessly blends the styles of soul, blues, country rock, and Americana. Whichever genre you want to check for her you will walk away from a show or listening to the album blown away by her vocals. I would put money down on that, because damn this girl can sing! She hits notes on her songs Before You Call Me Baby and Do You Think About Me where she actually needs to stand back from the microphone to belt it out. Take advantage of the fact that you can see her on the Starfire Tour in these intimate general admission settings. The Mercury Lounge in the Lower East Side of NYC was like having a private show in your living room, you know with your closest 100 or so strangers of course.
Smith is from Minneapolis, she moved to Nashville 8 years ago to be a staff writer. She recalls that feeling of excitement driving to her big city when she was 17 in a yellow Wrangler with a bunch of CDs for a gig. St. Paul was her first city that started it all. She’s been to countless cities since, but of course she wrote a song to pay tribute to where it all began. Whether your big city is over the Mississippi river or the Hudson that energy and first time feeling of chasing your dream is perfectly described in this song.
Of course travelling as a musician and songwriter you see a lot of the country. She paid tribute to my St. Paul (New York City) with her next song Scene from a Corner Booth at Closing Time on a Tuesday. According to Smith on a day off in the city she and her crew “drank all the wine in Manhattan and smoked all the weed” and the best thing about New York when you have nothing to do is the people watching and this song is the scenes from that experience.
She followed that tribute with an ode to Nashville with This Town is Killing Me. Everyone knows the music industry is a tough one. All these writers go to Nashville, day in day out write and put their art on the line. And if doesn’t sound like a radio or commercial hit to the right people that song may never see the day of light. Caitlyn explained this frustration that all songwriters in Nashville feel either all the time or at least one point or another. However, she joked there really isn’t anything else she can think of (that she can do) or would rather be doing. So, as the song goes “Nashville you win Cause I’ll wake up here tomorrow and do it all over again even though you’re killing me”.
Besides her vocal talent (she plays killer guitar too) Caitlyn is such an authentic songwriter. Which is another reason I thoroughly enjoyed her show because I got to learn about her journey and the story behind the music, which I now get to share with all of you. Caitlyn really wants people to enjoy her music the way she loves to enjoy music. WIth a glass of wine (or drink of choice) and dropping the needle down on a record player. So lucky for us not only is her album Starfire coming to vinyl she is adding new songs to the vinyl edition! She did mention if she could she would write sad songs everyday of the week (which I’m all for as well!). She did play one of the additional songs If I Didn’t Love You in her set. Fair warning it is beautifully sad - see the clip above. Another new one she did for the crowd was an upbeat one called Good As Us. Here’s a lyric sneak peak ‘nothing makes me feel as good as us’ a sweet song that just makes you want to groove and think of that person who makes you feel like nobody else.
Back to sad authentic songs, Caitlyn shared the story of her song Tacoma. She had this song on her album and has never actually been to Tacoma (secretly she just thought it sounded cool, which it does). Well since she had a song about it she of course felt she ought to go there. So about 7 and a half months pregnant with her husband and four other writers she took an AMtrak from Memphis to Tacoma, which she doesn’t recommend again to anyone that far along fyi. However bad the timing the trip was extremely inspirational, and of course if you put five writers on a train together something is getting written. Not much these days on a tour van with a 1 and a half year old, but a song called Breakfast in the Afternoon came out of that trip to Tacoma. After the song she joked and sang ‘breakfast at 6am’ referring to her updated touring lifestyle.
There’s nothing like the energy and attentiveness of a New York City crowd. Smith started to introduce the next song, she actually said “I don’t know how to introduce this next one”. Someone in the crowd screamed “Sing a sad song”. Which gave way to the perfect intro to Caitlyn’s Minneapolis tribute to Prince. All she said in response was “This song ain't sad” and went into Prince’s song Kiss. That was the best intro and what followed was an awesome, high energy cover. Caitlyn killed it on vocals and got the whole crowd singing and dancing along. She was dancing all over the stage, it was so fun!
Continuing the help of the audience she finishes up Kiss and then says “Now it’s time for a sad song” and begins the encore with Tacoma. ‘I'm burning your memory one mile at a time all the way to Tacoma by then you’ll be out of my mind’. She ended the night with personally my favorite song Contact High. Smith has such great stage presence and really gets into every note she sings. You can’t help but feel the emotion flow through you.
And that's a wrap! Starfire is through and through Caitlyn Smith’s journey, her travels, her hardships, her memories, and her happiness. I’m thankful that there is nothing else Caitlyn would rather be doing because we are lucky to have her voice and to relive her relatable stories with her through her songwriting. I will continue to follow Caitlyn Smith through her art. Stay tuned for much more to come, but for now grab your tickets to the Starfire Tour and pick up the album (and the vinyl when that drops), grab your favorite drink and get lost in the songs. Until next time!
