SONG PREMIERE: Carolyn Kendrick Hits the Road with Warm Country-folk Tune “Walker Clay”

Photo credit: Natalie Petersen

Carolyn Kendrick is a lifelong musician weaned on Willie and Billie (Nelson and Holiday, respectively) who has nurtured a signature aesthetic that draws on both of these artist’s traditions, all the while adding in sprinklings of her love of old-time music, bluegrass, and indie-rock. In the last five years, the North California-based fiddler, singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer has blossomed as a solo artist, boldly venturing beyond her role as an eclectic and virtuosic instrumentalist.

Since issuing her debut EP in 2020, Carolyn has homed in on a bittersweet, Americana-flavored songwriting sensibility brimming with understated virtuosic instrumental elegance and intriguing metaphors. Carolyn has been favorably compared to Anais Mitchell, Aoife O’Donovan, and Madison Cunningham. In addition to her solo career, Carolyn has produced and written music for the award-winning podcast You’re Wrong About (Podcast of the Year, iHeart Radio) and You Are Good—in 2021 she issued a collection of musical vignettes culled from her You Are Good compositions.

Today Glide is excited to premiere the single “Walker Clay.” The tune hits that sweet spot between singer-songwriter jazz and Texas twang, recalling artists such as Peggy Lee, Norah Jones, and Dolly Parton. The sweet and swinging work of country-folk finds Carolyn penning a fictionalized love song based on an on-the-road encounter in Arkansas. With its playful guitar and earnestly soulful vocals, the song feels warm and laid back with its lyrical imagery of the American landscape that exists along our highways.

Carolyn describes the inspiration behind the tune:

I wrote Walker Clay a few years back, right before the pandemic, when my car had broken down in the middle of Arkansas on Superbowl Sunday. The next day, with nothing to do but wait for the mechanic to finish nursing his hangover, I went to the Cracker Barrel near my hotel and met the real-life Mr. and Mrs. Walker-Clay, who were so delightful I decided to write a song for them on the spot. They eventually drove away in their big rig, and I finished the song right in my hotel later that evening. Recording Walker Clay was such a delight. We recorded it at Great North Sound Society in southern Maine, and I got to really sink into the song with my dear friends Ethan Setiawan (of Corner House), Isa Burke (of Lula Wiles, Aoife O’Donovan), and Sean Trischka (Stash Band, Corporate Punk), and Brittany Karlson.

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