Caitlin Canty is an American singer/songwriter. The San Francisco Chronicle calls Canty's alto a "casually devastating voice" and NPR says her music mixes "a gritty side with aching ballads." Her latest album, Motel Bouquet was produced by Noam Pikelny and was recorded live over three days in Nashville, TN. The band features Aoife O’Donovan, Paul Kowert, Stuart Duncan, Gabe Witcher, Russ Pahl, and Pikelny on electric guitar and banjo. Rolling Stone has described her new music “dreamy and daring” and she was one of Rolling Stone Country’s “Ten Country artists you need to know." Originally from Vermont, Canty moved to East Nashville, Tennessee in 2015. She tours internationally and spends much of her time on the road. Canty writes and performs primarily on a 1930s Recording King guitar.
Early life and education
Canty was born in Vermont. She sang in the Proctor Junior/Senior High School chorus and played the trombone in the band. At age 17, she was given a guitar as a Christmas gift and learned to play from a VHS tape of guitar lessons. Canty attended Williams College in Williamstown, MA. She majored in biology and took several songwriting classes and began writing songs.
Career
After college, Canty moved to New York City, where she was hired as the first employee of Live from the Artists Den, and later worked as a sustainability consultant. During this time she recorded her first album in her makeshift home studio, and an EP coproduced by the band Darlingside, both of which were out of print as of 2015. After five years working full-time and playing solo shows or singing backing vocals in New York clubs including Rockwood Music Hall and The Living Room, Canty quit her day job in order to pursue music full-time. Her 2012 album, Golden Hour, was recorded with her trio and members of Darlingside in Portland, ME. Her second album, the critically acclaimed record, Reckless Skyline, was released on January 20, 2015. Produced by Jeffrey Foucault it creates, "a sound that harnesses the grit and spark at the heart of American music, tempered with a voice both haunting and distinct." The studio and touring band includes Billy Conway on drums, Jeremy Moses Curtis on bass, Foucault on guitars and backing vocals, Eric Heywood on pedal steel and electric guitars, and Matt Lorenz on pump organ, banjo, piano and fiddle. Reckless Skyline was recorded over four days at Sonelab in Easthampton, MA. It includes 11 original songs and a cover of Neil Young's "Unknown Legend." Caitlin Canty#cite note-WFUV-10|Caitlin Canty#cite note-12|Caitlin Canty#cite note-13|Caitlin Canty#cite note-14|Caitlin Canty#cite note-15|Caitlin Canty#cite note-16| Canty writes and records with several bands including Down Like Silver, her duo with Peter Bradley Adams.Caitlin Canty#cite note-8| Down Like Silver released its eponymous EP in 2011 and a single, "Light That Match" in 2014. Canty sings backing vocals on Joy Williams's GRAMMY-nominated record, Front Porch, Adams' record The Mighty Storm and A Face Like Mine, on Darlingside's Pilot Machines and Extralife, on Pieta Brown’s Postcards and on Jeffrey Foucault's Salt as Wolves.Caitlin Canty#cite note-9|
