Caylee Hammack
Early life[edit]
Hammack started playing music at age 13.[4] While not getting much of a music education or vocal lessons at a young age, she self-taught by listening and singing songs on the country radio.[5] The first time she had to turn down potential tennis scholarships was at age 15, after a surgery to remove a tumor. She wrote her first song, "Addictive", about the pain pills she had to take after the surgery.[6]
While her brother played Southern rock and her sister Britney Spears songs, she discovered the country genre for herself and counts the Chicks and SHeDAISY as her early inspirations.[7]
She received a full music scholarship to Belmont University in Nashville at age 18, but declined because her boyfriend persuaded her to stay in Ellaville with him. After she broke up with her boyfriend and was noticed by Luke Bryan,[8] she moved to Nashville at the end of 2013 with about $1,000 of savings, a high school diploma, and her clothes in trash bags.[9] She ran out of money and slept in her car. With a fake ID, she entered the music venues and bars and, after asking a bass player at the Honky Tonk Central on Broadway, she started to sing cover versions there weekly.[7][9] Before signing a recording contract, she performed several original songs, including "Redhead".[10]
Career[edit]
After about two years of playing and writing songs, she was introduced to Universal Music Publishing Group by Robert Filhart, where she started as a staff writer.[11] During a writers' retreat, she found out that her house in Nashville had burned down due to an electrical fire that destroyed about 70% of her belongings. Tenille Townes was at the retreat with her and helped her during this time which was the start of their friendship.[5]
In 2018, she signed a recording contract with Capitol Nashville.[11]
Her debut song "Family Tree" was released on January 18, 2019, and was the most-added debut song by a female artist at country radio in the previous three years.[12] On May 29, 2019 she performed the song on the Today show in her national television debut.[13]
In 2019, she was the opening act for Lanco, Dierks Bentley, Trisha Yearwood, and Miranda Lambert.[14][15][16]
Hammack wrote "Small Town Hypocrite" while still being a staff writer, together with Jared Scott, about the breakup with her boyfriend who cheated on her, which eventually brought her to Nashville. Later she found out that he lived in a double-wide trailer, which made its way into the song's final verse.[17] The song was released on February 21, 2020 [18] and received praise from Billy Dukes of Taste of Country calling it "a product of courageous songwriting".[19] She sent a recording to Chris Stapleton, who agreed to sing vocals on the song for a re-release in 2021[20]
In February 2020, Hammack learned about her first ACM nomination for New Female Artist of the Year for the 2020 ACM Awards while waiting for a plane at the airport.[21]
Hammack was scheduled as the opening act for Reba McEntire and Luke Bryan in 2020 but the tour was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The opening acts for McEntire were postponed, which left Hammack and her band with no income. During this time they offered a landscaping service to make up for the lost income.[22] After the pandemic prevent her from opening for Reba McEntire and Luke Bryan in 2020, she got the chance to open for Luke in 2021 [23] and in 2022 for Brad Paisley for some of the US stops during his World Tour.[24]
Hammack hosted a Facebook event together with Ashley McBryde called CMT Next Women of Country Goes Live on April 7, 2020[25] and appeared on Country Outdoors LIVE special from Outdoor Channel on May 8.[26]
Her debut album If It Wasn't For You was released in August and contains 13 songs. She co-wrote 12 of them and wrote one by herself. The album features duets with Reba McEntire, Ashley McBryde, and Tenille Townes.[27]
On August 13 a new version of "On the Road Again" with Willie Nelson, Hammack, and nine other Academy of Country Music nominees was published as "On the Road Again (ACM Lifting Lives Edition)" with proceeds from downloads to benefit a COVID-19 fund from ACM.[28]
In February 2023 Caylee announced a second album when releasing the first single "All or Nothing" which she wrote together with Tofer Brown and Thomas Finchum and produced with Dann Huff.[29]
In March, she was part of C2C: Country to Country 2023 and had her debut performance in Europe.
Influences[edit]
Hammack cites Kacey Musgraves, David Bowie, Tom Waits as her influences in her adult life.[9]