Interview: Falling in Love with Laci Kaye Booth

Country singer/songwriter Laci Kaye Booth talks in depth about what her debut album ‘The Loneliest Girl in the World’ means to her, why meeting her producer felt like divine intervention, and her plans for 2025!

Stream: “Daddy’s Mugshot” – Laci Kaye Booth

Laci Kaye Booth’s music can be summed up as steely determination wrapped in velvet softness.

A country artist for almost a decade, Booth’s music has a newness and uniqueness to it that this particular genre has been crying out for, for years. There is currently no-one like Booth in the industry. In her song “Nightmare,” she wrings out her soul for listener. The song is like a poem set to music. Your innermost confusing, contradictory and self-critical thoughts set to a steady guitar and dreamy strings that are barely audible above Booth’s vocals.

Booth has the talent for conjuring up an entire landscape when she writes songs, something that up until now, only Lana Del Rey has been capable of. Instead of Hollywood’s golden age, Booth’s cinematic landscape is one of backwoods in the summer, trucks on open highways, gas station bathrooms and smoky dive bars.

The Loneliest Girl in the World - Laci Kaye Booth — The Loneliest Girl in the World – Laci Kaye Booth

Good girls do what they’re told, never say no
She’s still in my bones and I’m trying to undo it
I lay me down to overthink
Count mistakes instead of sheep
I never outgrew it
I see a red flag and I like the color
I should probably call my mother
And I think I have my heart
when I lived in a trailer park

– “Nightmare,” Laci Kaye Booth

In May last year, Booth released her debut LP, The Loneliest Girl in the World (via Geffen/Interscope). Named one of Atwood Magazine‘s Best Albums of 2024, the record is insightful, soulful, and lyrically sharp. Produced by her friend and collaborator, Ben West, the record is full of astute storytelling, atmospheric production and a dreamy soundscape that still has a gut-punch quality to it. Listening to the album, you quickly realise this woman with the Rapunzel-like golden locks, pillowy lips, and doe-eyes, is made of grit and will take no prisoners when it comes to making her art.

Most importantly, The Loneliest Girl in the World showcases a complete female perspective, something that is often missing from contemporary American country music.

Country Music’s Next Big Artist, Laci Kaye Booth, Wows on Debut Album ‘The Loneliest Girl in the World’

:: OUR TAKE ::

If you recognise Booth’s name, it might be because she finished in the Top 5 of American Idol’s 17th season (which premiered in 2019). She was quickly signed to Big Machine, where she released her self-titled EP. It may have been serendipity or perhaps good luck, but Booth was dropped from Big Machine a year later. Then in 2023, Geffen Records came along and Booth found a creative freedom that she’d been missing with her previous music. This freedom allowed Booth to make one of the best country music records of 2024, with her producer, friend, and partner in music, Ben West. In the opening song off the record, “Cigarettes,” Booth gives a nod to that time, singing, “And the same champagne that they bought me, I popped it when they dropped me.”

It has been a year to the day since Laci Kaye Booth’s The Loneliest Girl in the World was released. Atwood Magazine called it “a triumph… Booth and West have created a very special record that pushes the boundaries of country lyricism, and showcases a complete female perspective, something that is often missing from American country music.”

Since releasing the record, Booth has toured in the UK, Europe and the United States supporting Kameron Marlowe, Morgan Wallen, and Megan Moroney. In between, Booth has released her latest single, “Daddy’s Mugshot.” Booth has switched up her dreamy atmospheric country for a sound that has the markings of outlaw country, but if a woman created the sound. “Daddy’s Mugshot” was co-written by Booth and country singer Morgan Evans, who is also Booth’s partner.

Now I’m a little too Texas for Tennessee
I smiled in the picture, but I was gritting my teeth
They found bitter in my bones when they broke this show pony
Said I’d be a star, hell, they don’t even know me
What runs in the blood ain’t ever gonna stop
I might look like my mama
But I smile like my daddy’s mugshot

The song is inspired by her father. “I wrote this song after I was scrolling on Facebook and saw my dad’s mugshot going around. I started writing about him, my life, the curse passed down to me and trying to ‘make it’ in Nashville.” The song has grittiness, think a western shot in dark tones, but it also has a wry humour to it.

Booth has also been teasing another song on her social media, called “George F****** Strait.” The song digs deeper into the toughness with its provocative lyrics and screaming electric guitars. Booth’s vocals own the story and sound, and take you on a journey into wanting a man that perhaps you shouldn’t.

Lord if I can’t have him, I’ll get on my knees and pray!
God give me a man that just gets better with age
I’ve loved a lot of cowboys in my Daddy-issue phase
God give me a man that just gets better with age
Like George F** Strait

One year on from The Loneliest Girl in the World‘s release, Atwood Magazine and Laci Kaye Booth sat down to talk music, inspiration, writing for women, and why sequencing her debut record felt like the longest battle of all.

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:: stream/purchase Daddy’s Mugshot here ::

:: stream/purchase The Loneliest Girl in the World here ::

:: connect with Laci Kaye Booth here ::

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‘The Loneliest Girl in the World’ – Laci Kaye Booth

A CONVERSATION WITH LACI KAYE BOOTH

Atwood Magazine: It’s coming up to a year since you released your debut full-length album The Loneliest Girl in the World. Thinking back on the writing, recording and production of that record, what stands out for you? Did you accomplish what you set out to do?

Laci Kaye Booth: I think I accomplished more than I was dreaming to if I’m honest. I didn’t really know what I was creating at the time, and I had no expectations. It was a time of personal and professional loss for me. It was also my first taste of true creative freedom and divine intervention, I think, when it comes to working with my producer, Ben West. My best memories of making this record were the ones of Ben and I in the studio, in Michigan and in Nashville, taking our sweet time putting this record together and being completely ourselves. We were writers, vocalists, musicians, and the A&R’s. It was a big weight, but true freedom.

What does the album mean to you 12 months later?

Laci Kaye Booth: I am so incredibly proud of it. As a creative I’ve learned over time to not inspect the analytics of my art or compare it to anything else. It was just a big piece of myself that needed to be born and live in the universe.

The record is very empowering, particularly the title track and “Nightmare,” which touches on what all women wrestle with at some point: Saying no. Where does that power come from?

I lived the majority of my childhood thinking that it was rude to say the word “no” and that carried on into adulthood. In my first couple years in Nashville, I finally got the courage to stand up for myself and was immediately shot down without much of a fight on my end. The lyrics and feeling of empowerment that you hear in the songs like “Nightmare,” “Cigarettes,” and “The Loneliest Girl in the World,” were really just me learning and helping myself become my own person. I really needed those songs to survive at that time, and to finally grow into my 20-something year-old body.

How involved are you in the producing side of your music? Do you have a go-to method in the studio? Do you have favourite instruments you pull out when it comes to recording?

Laci Kaye Booth: I would say I’m pretty involved, but I trust Ben West with every cell in my body. He’s always going to do the coolest thing, to my ears. What usually happens when we start cutting a song, and my favorite way to cut a song is, I just sit down and play the song for Ben on my favorite Gibson. Then we get out the guitar mics and play/record it together. Then, Ben starts building the track around that. I do the vocal at the end of the day, and Ben works on it for a couple months. We really like to take our time.

The stand-out track for me is “I Let Him Love Me.” The line “Now that we're older and I can see what you did when I loved you like a kid” is so poignant, and I feel like a lot of women can relate to that specific feeling. Can you talk more about the song?

Laci Kaye Booth: I’ve been in one or two “situationships” in my life, and I’ve had dear friends who’ve also experienced these types of relationships, and then finally moved on to something more stable and healthy. In my experience, they can be even more emotionally charged than a real relationship, because of how much the brain likes to fantasize and fall in love with potential. I tried for a while to write a song about it, but in the writing room with my good friend Harper O’Neill that day, I think we finally captured the concept and those deep, unforgettable feelings.

The sequencing of the record is incredible. It tells a very intentional story. The intro that bleeds into “Cigarettes,” and the way that “I Let Him Love Me” and “Bill” tell a two-part story, is exquisite. How long did it take you sequence?

Laci Kaye Booth: Goodness, sequencing was one of the longest battles of my life. “Cigarettes” was one of the first songs I wrote for the project, and I knew instantly that I wanted it to be the first song on the record, so that part was easy. The intro just came to life so easily and intentionally in the key of Cigarettes. Everything else was so hard and took a lot of time and help from Ben West, and my closest friends. It finally came together while I was eating dinner on the living room floor one night, listening through the big speakers. I felt like a mad scientist who finally figured out some weird formula that I was finally happy with.

Your brand of music has been labeled as “dreamy country.” It is also very different from anything currently on the radio or in the charts. Were you very intentional with your sound? Do you see your sound evolving as you move into your next chapter?

Laci Kaye Booth: I think I was very intentionally letting my brain just create. Very intentionally not thinking about what other people would want to hear from me. So, I guess so. I also mean it when I say meeting Ben West was just divine intervention. We are so on the same wave-length when it comes to musical taste, and lyrics, and feeling, and time. I’m very lucky to work with someone that gets me, and who I truly admire as a musician.

And I do see my music evolving as a whole. I made The Loneliest Girl when feelings of loss and desperation were so deep that I had to start romanticizing everything in my life to make it through. I’m in a different place now, so sonically and lyrically, I think this new music will evolve if not already.

You’ve just released “Daddy’s Mugshot,” which is very tough sounding country song. I guess I’d compare it to “Cigarettes” or “Damn Good in a Dive Bar.” Where did that sound come from? Is it a taste of what to expect from you going forward?

Laci Kaye Booth: My whole life, it’s been hard writing or even sometimes listening to up-tempo music. I found it so uninspiring. I’ve always had low-blood-pressure, so I feel like my body was probably just made to create music the same. It wasn’t until last summer that I started being inspired by tempo and experimenting with a bit of edge. It’s a journey that I’m currently on, and who knows how long it will last. I would say it’s somewhat of a taste to expect going forward, but there’s still a lot more dreamy sounds in my future.

I’ve also seen you’ve been teasing a new song on social media. Can you talk a bit more about it?

Laci Kaye Booth: I’ve had the title “George F****** Strait” in my notes app for a long time. I held on to it until it fell out of my mouth when I was writing with Anderson East and Melissa Fuller. I think it was meant to be, because I wouldn’t want to hear the title any other way now. It’s definitely different than anything I’ve done so far.

What is a song that you are most proud of and why?

Laci Kaye Booth: I’m most proud of “Nightmare.” Half of it was just a poem I wrote late one night in September. I was just a bit under the influence of weed and Rosé. I was thinking about my life and my childhood on a super deep level, and how and why I turned out to be who I am. I brought the poem into a writing retreat in Rosemary Beach, Florida a couple weeks later. I was writing with some dear friends of mine- Sara Haze, Melissa Peirce, and Gavin Slate. I think I was shaking when I read it to them. It was so vulnerable, and they treated it with such care. They helped me make it into something so much more beautiful than I could have imagined and without them, it wouldn’t have lived. I’m very proud of that.

What inspires? Books, films, songs, life, relationships?

Laci Kaye Booth: I think if I was only inspired by real life, I would be bored with my writing. I love to daydream and fantasize and I think that’s what keeps the inspiration alive. I love romantic-horror films like Crimson Peak and Sleepy Hollow. I’m also very invested in my friends’ love-lives, and take a lot of inspiration from that. I love books like “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” but I want to be a deeper, better reader. I love Lana Del Rey. Also, a romantic relationship definitely charges the inspiration for me.

How much does your childhood, growing up in Texas and your parents inspire you when you write?

Laci Kaye Booth: You can hear a bit of my Texas upbringing in most of my songs. I don’t know how to get away from it. I like painting that picture so people understand me more.

Finally, what can your fans expect from you in 2025?

Laci Kaye Booth: Expect lots of falling in love, but also the analyzation of old relationships, experimentation with crystals and edgier songs, and the continuation of figuring out who I am as a human, woman, daughter, and lover.

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