Kalie Shorr Previews New Album ‘Open Book’ With Bombastic ‘Lullaby’
For several years running, Kalie Shorr has been one of country music’s most promising new artists — for how she melds an appreciation of the genre’s roots with an unabashed love for emo and pop, for her cutting songwriting, and for how she’s made her feminism a vital part of her musical perspective. Though she released an EP, Awake, last year, she’s stopped short of a full-length. That will change on September 27th with Open Book, Shorr’s debut LP, which she co-wrote and also co-produced. The album’s first single, “Lullaby,” is out tomorrow and streaming exclusively at Rolling Stone Country.
“I felt like ‘Lullaby’ was the perfect first song to release because it sonically encompasses the whole album,” Shorr tells Rolling Stone Country about the track, co-written with Will Stone and Robyn Collins. “I started this song on piano when I came home drunk one night. I was just so tired of feeling sad and bitter over the end of a six-year relationship and I wanted to be able to put it to rest and move on. I recorded a rough idea that night, forgot about it, and a few days later went and did some soul searching in New York and L.A. for a few weeks. I ended up having this very healing and self-exploratory experience that helped me so much with processing that breakup.”
“Lullaby,” which starts as a soft ballad on acoustic guitar and explodes into an emo-twang power anthem, showcases the alchemy that Shorr concocts on Open Book, with songs like “F U Forever” and “Thank God You’re a Man,” which manage to conjure both Shania Twain, Red-era Taylor Swift, Dashboard Confessional, and Alanis Morissette all at once. Open Book also features co-writers like Annie Wildgen and Candi Carpente — fitting partners, as Shorr is a founder of the all-women songwriter showcase and collective Song Suffragettes.
“[Open Book] documents the 24th year of my life, which was the toughest period I’ve ever gone through,” says Shorr, who is opening for LeAnn Rimes on select dates this fall. “This new chapter is one I’m very proud of, very excited for, and I’m very hopeful that this song resonates with all the other broken hearts out there and maybe helps heal them a little bit too.”
Here’s the track list for Open Book:
1. “Too Much to Say” (Kalie Shorr, Robyn Collins and Ian Christian)
2. “Escape” (Kalie Shorr and Candi Carpenter)
3. “Messy” (Kalie Shorr, Jonny Shorr and Katie Stump)
4. “The One” (Kalie Shorr, Skip Black and Savannah Keyes)
5. “F U Forever” (Kalie Shorr, Candi Carpenter and Annie Wildgen)
6. “Alice in Wonderland” (Kalie Shorr and Candi Carpenter)
7. “The World Keeps Spinning” (Kalie Shorr, Skip Black and Robyn Collins)
8. “Big Houses” (Kalie Shorr, Skip Black and Savannah Keyes)
9. “Gatsby” (Kalie Shorr, Skip Black and Candi Carpenter)
10. “Thank God You’re a Man” (Kalie Shorr, John Caldwell and Robyn Collins)
11. “Vices” (Kalie Shorr, John Caldwell and Robyn Collins)
12. “Lullaby” (Kalie Shorr, Robyn Collins and Will Stone)
13. “Angry Butterfly” (Kalie Shorr, Simon Reid and Fred Wilhelm)