BY LESLEY HASTINGS
Having released her impressive debut album “Finer Things” last year, which Clover describes as being about “all the ways I’ve shown up in love and how it’s shown up for me, the fleeting and the forever“, it was great to get the chance to chat to this exciting new artist ahead of her first visit to the UK later this month.
Clover cut her teeth playing the bars and clubs in Athens, GA (but currently lives in Atlanta) and her US headline tour to promote the album was drawing to an end when we spoke, the morning after her show in Nashville. I was impressed what she was awake and prepared for a 9am (Central Time) interview and thanked her for that…..
“I’m so grateful we could talk! This is so cool and I’m very excited!”
I mentioned she was one of the few artists I interview not to live in Nashville. What was the music scene like in GA, especially for rising, independent female artists like her?
“The reason I moved to Athens was for the music scene, we have so many great clubs down there, and the scene is so supportive and there’s a lot of humble and grounded people who are there to show each other the ropes. Great bands who put pressure on each other to be better! There’s a lot of new, young female artists coming out of Athens now which is cool to watch …..when I was there it felt like there was only a couple of us”.
So, how has her US headline tour been? The schedule was crazy and I assumed she’d been running on adrenalin for the past few weeks!
“Absolutely running on adrenalin but living my dream! I can truly tell you, this week I’ve been in Nashville doing a couple of writing sessions and two days in I was just wrecked! I looked back at the crazy 30 day run I’d just done, every day I was up early doing what I had to do, crazy drives (but I love driving!) terrible weather, but I felt we could just keep on going for ever and ever”.
Did any shows in particular stand out for her?
“I think playing Baby’s in New York, it just seemed like a right of passage, at 24 years old it just felt like the quintessential cool and chic thing to be stepping on such a historical stage”.
Are her family supportive…..and musical at all?
“My Dad plays guitar, nobody works in music but they are very supportive. My brothers are my biggest fans in the world, my little sister thinks it’s so cool and my parents are scared to death! But they couldn’t be happier”.
How has she found the reaction to the album since its release last year (and the deluxe version this year). Have any songs particularly been resonating with listeners and fans?
“It’s been so cool having put this record out. The first three singles were already special and fun, especially ‘Virginia Slim’ which was one of my favourite and most honest songs at the time. It resonated with so many people and found so many people I would never have expected to love my style of music. People were commenting to me how they never really liked country music but they like what I’m doing which opened them up into this world of music that inspired me. That felt so special. At live shows I was pleasantly surprised that people would sing their hearts out to ‘Yours Too’ and ‘Blue Suede Eyes’ ”
I mentioned how those two, along with “Cadillac” and “Stranger Danger” were among my favourites…
“Ah that’s a special list, I like that, some deeper cuts”.
I’d read that the earliest track in the album was written when she was just 17, I assumed it was a solo write?
“Yes, I was just writing in my bedroom, ‘Blue Suede Eyes’ I actually first recorded on my iPhone in my little sister’s closet!”
And as she mentioned earlier she’s now co-writing …..how has she found that experience? Frightening? Stimulating? A mix?
“A bit of everything. When I come to Nashville to write I try to meet new people and learn something new from them. It can be a bit taxing and fatiguing, but that’s how I know it’s going well. When we are agonising to get to the end of the session and finish a song. But I love most of all writing by myself “.
I mentioned how I found that interesting as she reminds me in many ways of Emily Scott Robinson, who also seems to favour solo writing
“Yes, we met in Nashville once, she’s the sweetest! “
I’d noticed that she had used a female producer, Carrie K, on the album and the lyrics had really been pushed to the fore throughout, whatever the arrangements…..was it a conscious decision to involve a female?
“It was, and also Carrie was just (and still is) the coolest person I’d met in town! We met at one of the earliest sessions I had, and upon meeting she was like a cool big sister…..we wrote ‘Yours Too’ and I was so nervous about giving her (or anybody!) this song, I felt like it was already done as I had verses and chorus, but truly the song we got I’d never, ever have got on my own. Working with Carrie was so special, we could just be so honest with each other, and it was rewarding for her too as it was the first full length project she’d worked. We were in it together. I always remember she said (which was kind of a jab to other people!) that there’s some songs you work as hard as you can on to cover up the words (partly depending on the genre) but she wanted people to hear every single word I was singing”.
How involved was Clover in the sound on each track? There’s some beautiful, subtle variety going on ….
“Pretty involved. Carrie and I had a reference playlist. It always started with just one (often funky!) instrument, she had this tiny children’s guitar that we’ve got practically every track on the record, it’s a little quirky! And then she had cracker boxes instead of the drums, and there was almost a song where we used the door knob …….and we did the zippo lighter on ‘Virginia Slim’. It was like starting out with these funky details to thread the DNA through the song and let it become what it was supposed to be”.
So, how excited is she to be bringing her music over to the UK very soon? Is she bringing a band with her?
“Well this whole headline tour here has just been me and one other guitar player, but I’m coming over on my own. I pick the set list each night according to the energy in the room, the audience, sometimes I feel the call to include an older song of mine. I following my gut“.
Her run of dates here culminates with Highways Festival at London’s Royal Albert Hall ….a bucket list venue for so many artists….how is she going to prepare for that?
“Oh yes I’ve heard of it! Hmm that’s a really good question, I think how I always prepare for everything, just wing it! I have some friends coming over for that show specifically, I just feel like I’m going to be a different person by the end of the week. Cos I’ve never left North America before …… I’m honestly truly terrified of all the logistics but the singing part is easy as I know how to do that! If I could just be at the Albert Hall now it’d be fine”.
Hopefully Jack Van Cleaf (her co-headliner here) will guide her through things as he’s been over here before…..do they know each other well?
“We’ve met once or twice, he’s the sweetest soul, I’m surrounded by a lot of his very best friends here in Nashville…..I think we’re going to get comfy real quick“.
And how is the rest of the year shaping up?
“Carry on writing, I’m spending a month out in Los Angeles, more time here which will line up with going to Newport Folk Festival, then Bones and Blossoms Festival in New Mexico and Burbon and Beyond in Kentucky. Plus a few more dates we are set to announce for the late fall”
Sounds very busy! Any bucket list co-writers you’d like to manifest into a room?
“Kacey Musgraves. Laci Kaye Booth …..I think those two ladies are pretty hip!”.
Well let’s put that out there! I think their style would complement Clover’s very well.
I had to wrap things up , thanking Clover once again for her time and wishing her safe travels and fun shows over here ….
“Thank you so much! This was great”.
FULL DETAILS OF ALL UK TOUR DATES ARE ON THE COUNTRY LOWDOWN GIG GUIDE
Get tickets for Clover’s tour and stream “Finer Things” here –