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Caitlin Rose

Certain Songs #173: Caitlin Rose – “Only A Clown”

April 25, 2015 by Jim Connelly

image

Album: The Stand-In.

Year: 2013.

One of my favorite pop music trends of the past few years is the plethora of dynamite post-Taylor Swift (or post Miranda Lambert) female singer-songwriters coming out of – or at least associated with – country music. Or alt-country. Or Americana, whatever. If you think that modern country music is all bro-country that gets the headlines, then you’re not paying attention.

Folks who have been paying attention probably know about Kacey Musgraves and (maybe) Lydia Loveless, but there are tons and tons more – people like Nikki Lane and Pistols Annies’ Angeleena Presley & Ashley Monroe come to mind – and I’m positive that I’m missing half of them myself.

And right now, Caitlin Rose’s “Only A Clown”  might be my favorite recent song to come from any of them. A simple story of going to a party by yourself, it’s also highlighted by an arrangement that pits a pedal steel guitar in one speaker with a jangly guitar that wouldn’t be lost on Reckoning in the other.

 But that’s not so uncommon, of course, but when she sings:

Put your record on
Let the band play a song
All about love and believing
Good for you
Cause if that’s true
Then it’s only a clown that’s leaving

It’s her big sad voice – that reminds me a lot of Kathleen Edwards, speaking of alt-country – over a big sad melody over a big sad lyric that puts it over. 

Video for “Only a Clown”

Filed Under: Certain Songs, Hot Topics, Music Tagged With: Caitlin Rose, Only a Clown, The Stand-in

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2625: Talking Heads – “Crosseyed and Painless (Cherry Hill 11-08-1980)”
  • Certain Songs #2624: Talking Heads – “Houses in Motion (Cherry Hill 11-08-1980)”
  • Certain Songs #2623: Talking Heads – “The Great Curve (Central Park 08-27-1980)”
  • Certain Songs #2622: Talking Heads – “Once in a Lifetime”
  • Certain Songs #2621: Talking Heads – “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)”

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