Mainstream country just can’t seem to keep up with what the indie scene is producing in 2023, and if you ask me, artists like Kaitlyn Kohler are the reason why. It’s not that a commercially-savvy country doesn’t have its upside, but let’s face it – this June, listeners aren’t as intrigued by the familiar as they are by the fresh and untired, which is exactly what you’re guaranteed to stumble across if you listen to the new single “Everywhere I Go.” In “Everywhere I Go,” Kohler transforms herself from a little-known indie country singer to a powerhouse vocalist with a classical identity to her songwriting technique, and though hers isn’t the lone release of note I would recommend to alternative enthusiasts right now, it’s one of my favorite of the country category to see release all year long.
There’s no arrogance in Kaitlyn Kohler’s delivery here; if anything, she’s taking her time to make sure her approach sounds humble and harmonizes with the other components of the music. Her interests are never clouded by a beat, or even the hook itself – there’s always a bit of innocence to her execution as if to imply that her emotions are evolving before us in real-time. This ultimately makes the narrative feel and sound a lot more personal to the audience, and in the country genre, that’s half the battle artists face when trying to create heartfelt and vulnerable balladry. “Everywhere I Go” might not be the heaviest nor the most somber piece of material she ever records, but it’s already the most brooding of the singles she’s cut since 2019.
https://open.spotify.com/album/46I5AOtuss7xAfSgXZj9Ho
The lyrics in this song frame the instrumentation in numerous ways, which despite being an increasingly popular concept among independent players in the Texas scene doesn’t sound forced or thrown together specifically for that purpose in “Everywhere I Go.” In her career so far, I haven’t heard an instance of Kohler sounding as though she is deliberately trying to fit into a space she naturally doesn’t; there’s a bit of ambitiousness to the design of her material, but in no way does it suggest some sort of hidden wish to be something other than she already is here.
She’s too confident in her statements to be one of those hopeless songwriters doomed to spend a lifetime trying to “find” their sound – she knows who she is, and she’s ready to win our hearts with this look. Kaitlyn Kohler is well on her way to some amazing things in this life, and for proof of as much, I think you need to give “Everywhere I Go” a listen before June has expired. She’s showing some significant growth just since the 2021 release “Break Another Heart,” and being that she’s already garnered a lot of love from the critics in the press this season, it’s obvious how eager fans are for a complete album of her work. I like where this is headed, and once you’ve heard Kohler yourself, I think you will as well.
Trace Whittaker