Caitlin Canty
Birth name Caitlin Canty
Born Proctor, Vermont
Genres Americana, Folk, Alternative country
Occupation(s) songwriter, singer
Instruments Vocals, Guitar
Website:
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.”
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.
Her 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 (Morphine) on drums, Jeremy Moses Curtis (Booker T) on bass, Foucault on guitars and backing vocals, Eric Heywood (Ray LaMontagne’s Pariah Dogs, Tift Merritt, The Pretenders) on pedal steel and electric guitars, and Matt Lorenz (The Suitcase Junket, Rusty Belle, Chris Smither) on pump organ, banjo, piano and fiddle. Canty’s music is described as having an “Appalachian grit” and has been compared to Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris.
Canty writes and records with several bands including Down Like Silver, her duo with Peter Bradley Adams. Down Like Silver released its eponymous EP in 2011 and a single, “Light That Match” in 2014. Canty sings backing vocals on Adams’ record The Mighty Storm, on Darlingside’s Pilot Machines, and on Jeffrey Foucault’s Salt as Wolves.
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.
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 (Hans Holzen on lap steel and guitars, and Kyle Kegerreis on upright bass) and members of Darlingside in Portland, ME. 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.”
Discography
2007 “Green” (Out of print)
2010 “Neon Streets” (Out of print)
2011 Down Like Silver (with Down Like Silver)
2012 Golden Hour
2013 Light That Match (with Down Like Silver)
2015 Reckless Skyline
2016 Lost in the Valley