With contrasting musical backgrounds and widely different personalities, Caitlin Cannon and Alice Wallace might appear to be a most unlikely combination to form a band. Alice’s musical background is very much West Coast country rock, as unveiled on her excellent 2019 album INTO THE BLUE. On the other hand, Caitlin’s debut album THE TRASHCANNON ALBUM from 2020, was a hook-loaded collection of songs that were self-deprecating and laced with cleverly unfussy lyrics. But they did, in fact, form Side Pony during the pandemic, writing and recording, LUCKY BREAK, an album that drifts seamlessly between country ballads and powerhouse retro pop. With live shows off the agenda in 2020, the duo hosted a number of live streams that were laced with humorous interaction alongside elegantly delivered songs. From those streams, Caitlin’s demeanour is very much ‘shoot from the hip’ – she has a mischievous expression that leaves you in little doubt that she’s most likely to shoot first and ask questions later. In contrast, Alice appears somewhat more composed, yet wholly amused by her partner’s unpredictable antics. It’s a natural fusion clearly visible when they chatted with me recently from New York via Zoom.
I understand that you both met in Nashville at a songwriter round and made an immediate connection?
Alice: We met at that song writing night and it was pretty immediate, we actually wrote a song the next day. We have known each other for a few years now as we actually wrote our first song together about three years ago. We would see each other occasionally in Nashville and L.A. and had written a few songs over the course of a few years. It was only during the pandemic that we decided to write and record an album. During the pandemic when everything was shut down, we started to do zoom writing sessions. We did everything pretty quickly after that. The world shut down in March and by October we were in the studio recording our first single.
You hired Doug Lancio to produce the album at his studio in East Nashville. How did that connection come about?
Alice: I had recorded a couple of singles with Doug, part of a project I was working on. I had been introduced to him by a mutual friend and recorded with him in 2019 during Americana Fest. Caitlin had actually come to the studio that day when I was recording. We then asked him if he wanted to do this project with us.
It’s difficult to ascertain who the lead songwriter is on the tracks on the album. Was there one or are they all collaborations?
Alice: Most of the songs were in fact collaborations. We bring out different aspects of each other’s writing, naturally.
I have this mental picture of you both - in Thelma and Louse style - tearing around America in a flat-top car creating havoc while on tour.
Caitlin: (laughs) Not exactly, but that is actually a very good idea for a photoshoot or a video.
How are the shows going and what is a typical Side Pony audience?
Caitlin: It is a little bit tricky touring in the middle of Covid time. Alice and I have a lot of people who knew us, respectively, on the West coast and middle America, places like Colorado. I spent a lot of time in New York and I had only put out my record THE TRASHCANNON as I was leaving New York. I was still really cutting my teeth there. So now as we are touring up the east coast, we have to work on winning people over. This is the process whereby we are making real fans rather than hundreds of friends on Facebook, that might never come to see us play. We are pounding the pavement that way, which is a little bit old school, going out making actual physical connections with people, and creating that relationship from the experience of the show. I’m not sure whether this actually happens anymore during the digital age, especially if you do not have a lot of capital behind you. Maybe we are the only ones out there doing this.
You recently played in New York. Is country beginning to come hip there?
Caitlin: It is at present, but if anything, it is probably getting copied and parodied more than ever now. I lived there between 2003 and 2011 and country music was not on the radar at that time. None of the hipsters were into that. At first, some of my friends would be saying: ‘My God, this is so embarrassing that she is doing this.’ Whereas now all the hipsters in Williamsburg are wearing knockoff cowboy attire and singing with fake country accents.
Have your live streams during lockdown been helpful in generating a fan base?
Caitlin: Probably, I am not sure we would’ve met guys like yourself without the live stream experience. There are also quite a lot of people who discovered us because they were searching for new music. We know many people actually looking for entertainment online that maybe travels beyond just the music. People who had discovered us in a live stream have shown up in person at a concert. This is great because you get to actually meet the person that you would not have got to meet otherwise. Certainly, there are some silver linings there with live streams.
Your shows are quite unique in that they switch from heartfelt ballads to vaudeville at the drop of a hat.
Caitlin: I actually don’t know how that developed because we didn’t intend doing that in the first place. People will come up to us after our shows and tell us how much they liked the variety in our performance. We didn’t actually know that we did have a variety show until people began commenting after we played. Our shows probably reveal the type of personalities that we are and maybe this project brought those personality traits out into the open. Alice is pretty measured and level about things and I’m usually trying to get her to do weird stuff.
Alice: For the most part it has been pretty natural, we haven’t made a calculated effort. The show just is what it is, and I guess we’ll see how it develops as we go along. I’m not sure that the audiences know what they are actually in for, but it seems to work.
Do your shows vary depending on where you are performing? What goes down well in New York might not be as well received in rural Texas.
Alice: We are really only discovering this as we go touring on the road. Prior to this, we were performing live streams to fans that we probably already had on board. But I do think depending on the show, we read the audience and lean a little bit more into the gloss or the crass, depending on who’s out there and that particular night.
Caitlin: As house concerts sometimes, I’ll ask Alice if this is the type of audience where we can perform some of our toolbox songs. Sometimes we will simply play some songs from Alice’s album and some songs from my TRASHCANNON album, to show people what the collaboration is and where it comes from. Other times I won’t lead into that and we get requests for material from those albums which often surprises me. Actually, last night I think I tracked a few F-bombs, which I don’t think were very well received (laughs). It is all about trying to read the room, but I do think when we play with a full band we lean more towards the musicality of the act, whereas if we perform as a duo, we tend to do more storytelling.
Have you a touring band at the moment?
Caitlin: We do indeed, we have a whole band on this tour. What is most impressive is that we found awesome musicians that are prepared to sleep on a couch if they have to.
Was LUCKY BREAK, the title of the album, selected on the basis of anticipation or recognition of the opportunity to start the band?
Alice: Well, I suppose when we wrote the actual song it was more in anticipation. It is a story in that we formed a band during the pandemic, which I don’t think is something that would happen very often. So, the title of the album has probably evolved over time in its meaning.
Caitlin: Yes, I think when we wrote the song, we were trying to write ourselves out of fear and depression. We wouldn’t have actually had this band had it not been for the pain during the lockdown. It was like you thought you were getting to the end of your life but it was actually a new start, which probably flipped the meaning of the title of the album. It would be nice if the album is a lucky break and we get Live Nation backing and we don’t have to sleep on couches and floors anymore. But we’re lucky enough that we got to make this record and that we were able to express ourselves as artists.
Is Side Pony a long-term collaboration or do you intend to record solo albums?
Alice: It is our intention to also keep both our solo careers going and also see how far we can take Side Pony. As many creative projects as you can have going on can only be a good thing, it keeps things flowing.
Caitlin: I think of us along the same lines as The Highwomen. They all have their individual projects. We will also continue to invest in our solo projects. I do think Side poorly will be better for that.
You performed at Americana Fest in Nashville earlier this year. How was that experience given the presence of Covid?
Alice: Well, they did require vaccines, so everybody had to be vaccinated to be there. People were there and enjoying it, but that was probably less than half of the normal attendance. A lot of the shows were very sparse as a result.
Looking back over the past eighteen months, what were the upsides?
Alice: Well, we got an album out of it. If I had to boil it down to one thing, it would be Side Pony.
Caitlin: I also was splitting my time between Colorado and Nashville before that. I was supplementing my songwriting habit by hairdressing and ended up with back surgery. I knew I needed to stop cutting hair but it was the only way I could make reliable money at the time. So, in the middle of the pandemic, I actually closed my salon and moved to Nashville full-time. It is a scary time to be doing music full time. But I am also now doing what I want to do.
With you both residing in Nashville at present, are you likely to be found at Honky Tonk Tuesday Night at the American Legion?
Caitlin: I love the American Legion but I do not know how to two-step. Alice is a really good two stepper so she swings around that dancefloor and I am the wallflower.
Have you planned a trip over to Europe?
Caitlin: Yes. At present we are looking at the beginning of April 2022.
Interview by Declan Culliton