I met Kirstie Kraus on a bright spring afternoon in Yorkshire to get the run-down of her latest release, her tour and adjusting to life in the UK. We took our interview outside and sat on an old wooden bench amongst the picturesque landscape of Woodsome Hall Golf Club; a grand manor-style house in front of us and a small blue lake behind us, we were grateful that the golfers were pitching their balls in the opposite direction. She disarmed me instantly, “I love that you’re wearing your boots – I wish I had mine,” she said as she walked over to hug me, pointing out my beloved white cowboy boots. She was smiley and welcoming and, for someone who has been on the road and living out of a suitcase for weeks, very relaxed and open.
Almost a month ago, on Friday 8th March, Kirstie kicked off her five-week ‘Get Out from Under My Rock’ tour by returning to London’s Country 2 Country (C2C) festival for a second time, where she played The Observatory with friend and duet partner, Thomas Kavanagh. It was a busy weekend for her as she split her time between performing and hosting for CountryLine. “I was doubling up this year…so I was running upstairs for an interview then running down to get back to Thomas,” she laughs as we discuss the stresses of trying to make interview times and see artists and keep up with your friends – not to mention throwing in a few performances from her!
Travelling across the pond a week after releasing her Spring Break ready, ‘Beaches Be Crazy’, Kirstie has had – and continues to have – a jam packed schedule including the release of the infections and uplifting tribute to Dolly Parton, ‘Dab a Dolly’, with duet partner, Christie Huff. Kirstie and Christie met through the organisation, Women of Country, in Nashville and LA doing shows and writers rounds together. “I bought her to my home state for a run of shows and I had the writing session planned in the tour,” Kirstie tells me as she recalls how the pair wrote the song. There is a cheeky turn to her smile while she tells me how Christie accepted her 9am invite to write a song, grateful that she was a ‘go with the flow’ kind of girl.
“It was a saying I used to have on stage if I covered a Dolly song. I’d say, ‘there’s a dab a dolly for ya’. On stage, Christie turned to me and said, ‘let’s write that’.” Kirstie added it to her Google notes and the song was born.
Adding an extra dimension of stress, the girls released the song over 5000 miles apart. “It has been wild,” she says, “I don’t think it hit me that I was going to release a song from another country”. With the clocks changing in the UK for British Summertime, Kirstie and Christie (you get the hang of the names eventually) are now working with an eight-hour time difference. The logistics don’t seem to have hindered the reach of the song as it has amassed almost 16000 streams since its release on 29th March. They’ve also made it onto an editorial playlist on Spotify – New Music Friday Country – which they’re very proud of.
The timing of the Dolly Parton inspired duet is something to behold – competing with the release of Beyoncé’s highly anticipated album, ‘Cowboy Carter’. “I didn’t know Beyoncé’s album was going to be coming out,” Kirstie says about their release dates coinciding. “I was not tipped off in advance.” The Grammy nominated ‘Jolene’ is Dolly’s most covered song and, although not tipped off about the actual release, the girls did get an inside scoop while they were in the studio. “I did know that two days before we were in the studio, Dolly was in the studio as well doing a ‘re-imagined version of Jolene’ and that’s all they said. I didn’t ask any further questions but now we know!”
Dolly is yet to acknowledge the song, although Kirstie does have a meeting with Dolly’s producer when she’s back in Nashville. “He has made verbal promises to me so I’m going to do everything in my power to hold him to that,” she says, her excitement difficult to contain. “If I had an opportunity to meet Dolly in person and play her my song – I would be very excited.” Kirstie has been manifesting this moment and working out the best way to infuse herself with Dolly’s ‘awesomeness’ – hopefully not the creepy rubbing method she demonstrated on our bench!
On the theme of Beyoncé and the controversy that has been exacerbated by the media, Kirstie found herself on the BBC Breakfast show discussing exactly that. A spontaneous call from the BBC studios started the ball rolling and two days later, she was on the infamous red sofa. Kirstie calls it a ‘great adventure’ and while it is an important conversation to be part of, it was also a nice bit of bonus exposure for her as an artist. “I have no idea how it happened,” Kirstie tries to recall how she might have got herself such a prevalent media slot, an element of disbelief still sitting in her storytelling making her even more endearing.
Nearly four weeks into her tour, Kirstie still hasn’t committed to the time zones. “I’m a little tired,” she says, “I’m still kind of playing between the time zones…I’m staying up ‘til 1-1.30 each night.” With most of her team working on Nashville or LA time, Kirstie finishes her shows then catches up with correspondence from that day. “Their prime time is when I’m busy, so I need to get back to them. It’s good but I’m kind of in this limbo between both.” It’s incredibly humbling to hear about Kirstie’s work ethic – you should hear the fuss I make if I don’t get eight hours kip…it’s difficult to make excuses when you’re in the presence of someone who is grafting from literal sunrise to sunset – and beyond.
Before ‘Dab a Dolly’, Kirstie released the fun-filled, ‘Beaches Be Crazy’, a song that she’s excited to celebrate with over 700 ‘parrot heads’ (Jimmy Buffet’s fan base) at Panama City Beach (PCB) where she is playing when she gets back from this tour. “I think I’m back in Nashville for four days and then I go to Tampa and Key West,” she says, “so there’s more happening for Beaches Be Crazy – it’s just a fun release”. Kirstie wanted the mariachi inspired song to be ready for Spring Break and for her fans to have some fresh music that was just on her channel after a run of duets.
There is every chance that ‘Dab a Dolly’, with all its current traction, could outshine ‘Beaches Be Crazy’, but Kirstie isn’t worried or phased by it. “I’d love that,” she tells me with a smile as big as the lake we’re sat next to, “if one grows more than the other then there’s growth and that makes me happy”. There is a lot of energy, focus and planning going into the latest release including a spot on the Opry radio station, WSM, and a music video that starts filming on 25th April.
Kirstie said that this tour has been “everything she wanted it to be” with “moments that were hard – figuring out the trains – and moments where I could meet awesome people in person – like Chris Bray – and hang out and play music together. It’s been wonderful”. Chris is sat just a few feet away – also soaking up the glorious March sunshine – and Kirstie gives him a nod of appreciation. They are friends and she refers to him as her ‘caretaker’ while she’s up this way – he also owns The Holmfirth Tavern where she is playing that evening.
Original plans for the tour included Germany, Ireland and Scotland but delays meant that Kirstie had to restrict the tour to just England this time. “That’s my next move,” she says as she talks about future plans, “I’d like to visit France and do some shows with my friends in Germany and Ireland”. This girl has friends all over (nope, not in Low Places) – probably because she instantly puts people in her company at ease. “It’s a blessing from our shut-down time,” she says, “this is all through online!” Her good friend and duet partner, Thomas Kavanagh, came about through a chance introduction via Twitter. Kirstie helped him find his way in Nashville and the two ended up writing and recording, ‘Who am I Gonna Love,’ together. She talks of him fondly, crediting some of her success to him, “he’s the reason I played C2C the past two years.”
It's hard to imagine topping a five-week headline tour in another country, but Kirstie still has big plans this year. I got a little insider info that there is new music coming from her and someone else – “we did our vocals…that’s right, I said we”. Kirstie confirmed that the ‘we’ is a ‘he’ and that she’s working on that as soon as she gets back, along with the summer festival season that she’s playing.
One thing is for certain, Kirstie is not letting up anytime soon. She is relentless in the most positive way. Her passion for both song writing and performing is at the heart of every decision she makes. She is taking herself to the top and she’s bringing as many people as she can with her.
This interview was conducted in collaboration with Clewes' Country and wouldn’t have been possible without their support and encouragement.
Comentários