Caylee Hammack

Caylee Anna Hammack (born March 17, 1994) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is signed to Capitol Records Nashville and released her debut album If It Wasn't for You on August 14, 2020.

Early life
Hammack started playing music at age 13 which helped her to feel different in her hometown where she never felt like she belonged anywhere. While not getting much of a music education or vocal lessons, she self-taught by listening and singing songs on the country radio. The first time she had to turn down potential tennis scholarships was at age 15, after a surgery to remove a tumor. She wrote her first song, "Addictive", about the pain pills she had to take after the surgery.

While her brother played Southern rock and her sister Britney Spears songs, she discovered the country genre for herself and counts Dixie Chicks and the SHeDAISY as her early inspirations.

Her first ticket to Nashville was her full music scholarship to Belmont University at age 18, which she ended up declining because her boyfriend persuaded her to stay in Ellaville with him. After the two broke up, she started to follow her interest in music again, and a call from Luke Bryan gave her the final motivation to move to Nashville. She moved at the end of 2013 with about $1000 of savings, a high school diploma, her clothes in trash bags, and playing Kacey Musgraves debut album for the seven-hour drive. She soon found herself sleeping in her car after spending the money she came with. With the help of a fake ID she could enter the music venues and bars and after asking a bass player at the Honky Tonk Central on Broadway she started to sing there weekly, covering songs. Before signing an official recording contract, she performed several original songs, including "Redhead".

Career
After about two years of playing and writing songs, she was introduced to Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville by Robert Filhart where she started as a staff writer. During a writers' retreat she found out that her house in Nashville had burned down due to an electrical fire that destroyed about 70 percent of her belongings. Tenille Townes was at the retreat with her and helped her during this time which was the start of their friendship.

She is signed to Red Light Management and is managed by Mary Hilliard Harrington. In 2018 she signed a recording contract with Capitol Nashville.

She was featured as an emerging country artist by Billboard and as a "new country artist you need to know" by Rolling Stone. She calls Kacey Musgraves, David Bowie, Tom Waits her influences in her adult life. In 2019 she opened for Lanco, Dierks Bentley, Trisha Yearwood, and Miranda Lambert.

Her debut song "Family Tree" was released on January 18, 2019, and was the most-added debut song by a female artist at country radio in the last three years. On May 29 she performed the song on the Today show in her national television debut.

Her upcoming album will make her debut as a producer, with help from fellow producer Mikey Reeves.

She was recognized by CMT Listen Up in their 2020 list, which was extended into 2021 in August.

Hammack wrote "Small Town Hypocrite" while still being a staff writer, together with Jared Scott, about the breakup with her boyfriend who cheated on her, which eventually brought her to Nashville. Later she found out that he lived in a double-wide trailer, which made its way into the song's final verse. The song was officially released on February 21, 2020.

She was scheduled to open for Reba McEntire and Luke Bryan in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic cut her Europe tour short. The opening acts for McEntire were postponed, which left the musician and her band with no income. During this time they started to offer a landscaping service to make up for the lost income.

Hammack learned about her first-ever ACM nomination for New Female Artist of the Year for the 2020 ACM Awards while waiting for a plane at the airport.

She hosted a Facebook event together with Ashley McBryde called CMT Next Women of Country Goes Live on April 7, 2020 and appeared on Country Outdoors LIVE special from Outdoor Channel on May 8.

She announced on June 24 that her debut album If It Wasn’t For You would be released in August and would contain 13 songs. She co-wrote 12 of them and wrote one by herself. The album features duets with Reba McEntire, Ashley McBryde, and Tenille Townes.

On August 13 a new version of "On the Road Again" with Willie Nelson, Hammack, and nine other ACM nominees was published as "On the Road Again (ACM Lifting Lives Edition)". Proceeds from downloads are to benefit a COVID-19 fund from ACM.