Kiki Cavazos has lived the kind of life that most troubadours only sing about. Born in Montana, the songwriter spent summers traveling the northwest with her dad, cutting down trees. At 16, she ran away from home to Alaska before drifting down to Mexico, where her grandfather was from. She played banjo in a Mexican drum band that performed on buses and on the street. Arriving in New Orleans, she formed a band called Sundown, writing and playing guitar with Alynda Lee Segarra (of Hurray for the Riff Raff) and Sam Doores (of The Deslondes), among others. Doores produced Cavazos’ debut album Goodbye Blues, coming out April 24 on Jalopy Records via digital and a limited vinyl run.
With a co-sign from Big Thief and a proper studio debut officially announced, Cavazos is primed to be one of the next great hopes for folk music. “Hawthorne and Heartache,” the lead single from Goodbye Blues, strengthens this sentiment. The nostalgic, deeply personal single finds Cavazos in a place of longing, underscored by the sparse yet emotionally dense acoustic arrangement. “Hawthorne and Heartache” poetically tackles the difficulties of letting go of love, even as you watch the person you’re pining for moving on. Cavazos spins that heartwrenching loneliness into something ethereal, stripping down the song to its bare essentials, a hint at the aesthetic of her upcoming debut, while doubling as the perfect platform for a song like “Hawthorne and Heartache.” The lead single from Goodbye Blues showcases exactly why Cavazos is quickly rising to the top of a burgeoning folk scene, and it seems the artist is just getting started.
One Response
Such genuine and rare freshness in Kiki’s voice. The lyrics emphasized by slowly paused syncopated rhythms and rhymes fit together well. Her sadness is palpable.