Singer and musician Caitlin Cary was born on October 28, 1968, growing up in Ohio but eventually ending up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Most folks have probably heard her voice through her association with Ryan Adams, which began in 1993 while she was in graduate school at North Carolina State. The two formed the legendary alt-country group Whiskeytown.
In the performance below of Whiskeytown’s “Houses on the Hill” on Austin City Limits in 1998, Cary plays the fiddle and backs up Ryan Adams on vocals. The song about a woman whose lover goes off to war first appeared on Whiskeytown’s album 1997 Strangers Almanac
Although Cary has not had quite the career that Ryan Adams has had after Whiskeytown, she has continued to make great music. I am a big fan of her debut full-length album as a solo artist, While You Weren’t Looking
Since While You Weren’t Looking, Cary has continued to make music as both a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists. Following her 2003 solo album I’m Staying Out, she recorded a 2004 album Sweetwater and a 2006 album Bloom, Red & the Ordinary Girl with Tonya Lamm and Lynn Blakey as the group Tres Chicas.
In between the Tres Chicas albums, she recorded Begonias (2005) with Thad Cockrell. Below is the Cary-Cockrell collaboration on “Two Different Things.”
More recently, she has recorded as part of the group she created with Matt Douglas, The Small Ponds. In 2010, the group released Caitlin Cary & Matt Douglas Are The Small Ponds.
Even more recently, she co-founded NC Music Love Army, a music group focusing on promoting progressive politics in North Carolina, as discussed earlier on Chimesfreedom. NC Music Love Army released We Are Not For Sale: Songs Of Protest in 2013.
Every year or two, there has been talk of Cary and Ryan Adams getting back together for a Whiskeytown reunion. But for now, I am satisfied that Cary continues to make interesting music. Happy birthday Caitlin Cary!
What is your favorite song with Caitlin Cary? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
“Empty Rooms”
Is my favorite solo Caitlin song. It just *sounds* like Raleigh. The organ, the “walk-down” backbeat of bass and drum and then that fiddle break. I put it on virtually every playlist I make.
My favorite song with her and Thad Cockrell is “Second Option”. I think the sound of this song is as close to that “Whiskeytown” sound anyone has approached since Whiskeytown split.
Happy birthday, Caitlin. Thanks for the music!
Thanks for the comment and recommendations. I agree that some of her work with Thad Cockrell has a definite Whiskeytown sound.