A booking at the Highways Festival at the Royal Albert Hall in London last week afforded Nashville-based Kaitlin Butts the opportunity to extend her visit in Europe and play shows in England, Scotland, Belfast and tonight’s gig in Dublin. Her stage presence is far removed from when we first witnessed the Tulsa, Oklahoma-born artist perform an acoustic solo at AmericanaFest in Nashville almost a decade ago. An entertainer in the true sense of the word, Butts combines seriously crafty songwriting with a powerful vocal, often self-deprecating humour, and a sure-footed stage presence, all fashioned from a work ethic and touring relentlessly, both as a headline and support act. Billed as The EUROPEAN Cowgirl Experience, she’s backed by her crack touring band, The Mules, in what is the last date of her current tour.
Opening with Cher’s million-seller single Bang, Bang and closing eighty minutes later with an extended, raucous version of Shania Twain’s Any Man Of Mine, Butts and her band seem sign off their tour powerfully. White River and Roadrunner, the title track from her 2024 album, follow at breakneck speed, and Butts then explains the backstory to the next song, Come Rest Your Head On My Pillow. An adept storyteller, she recounts that at her first appearance at The Grand Ole Opry, she was approached by Vince Gill, who, impressed by her performance, ended up contributing to the recording of the song. She also adds hilariously that the title of the song came to mind when she encountered a well-endowed woman at a festival wearing a tank top that read ‘cowboy pillows.’
Tongue-in-cheek murder ballads also feature. She throws down the gauntlet in Hunt You Down (“Just know that if you mess around/Boy, I'll hunt you down”) and addresses a narcissist ex-boyfriend in You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me), the latter’s title taken from literal words offered to Butts by her mother. Less light-hearted and more explosive, an explosive take on the traditional American folk song In The Pines follows.
Butt performs Elsa solo acoustic, explaining it was inspired by her time singing at a retirement home, where she befriended a woman with dementia. On a later visit, she learned the woman had died. This experience is reflected in the lyrics: “Elsa was from Germany/She loved my songs, she was always smiling/She said she had seen all kinds of war/And she used to play guitar but she don't know how anymore.” Unsurprisingly, the first of three encores is Tulsa Time, a celebration of Butt's hometown.
Described by Butts as the loudest audience they played to on the tour, the beaming smiles of the five on stage matched the audience's embrace of an artist and her standout band, whose career trajectory continues to soar.
Credit also to the opening act, Meels. The Californian artist, playing both guitar and banjo and accompanied by an acoustic guitar player and backing vocalist, held the room's attention during her thirty-minute set. A mix of original songs and covers, the highlights were her self-written Willow Song and Neil Young’s Harvest Moon.
Review and photography by Declan Culliton