She owns a horse. She jams out with her native South Austinite family on weekends in their living room. Carson McHone is Texan through and through, and in the edgy country music of her new EP, Carson McHone, you can see the raw talent this young singer has to offer.
Carson’s voice radiates with confidence and honesty, as each of her songs fill the listener with a warm and triumphant energy. She has an ease about her that melds eloquently with her authentic Texan attitude. While most people her age seem more worried about fitting into the hipness of the Austin music scene, Carson is true to her country roots. You feel an eminent sense of place and self-awareness throughout her EP that is somewhat unique and definitely well crafted for her age.
Her steadfast (and ever-so calming) demeanor can be seen so clearly in her video “Dram Shop Gal.” She remains seated, quite poised and earnest, throughout the whole video, but that ever-present energy makes it feels like you’re watching the story she is singing about play out before you. And as all great country singers do, she excels just as much in another tempo, with her boot-stomping ballads “Ol’ Lucifer” and “Hey Darlin’.” Her lyrics weren’t necessarily what caught my attention at first, but all of the tracks have words worth mentioning. “Hey Darlin’,” for example: “When you leave don’t say goodbye to me / don’t struggle with the speech or lead a monologue or worries that you sing / the space in between us.” The images she paints with her lyrics are simple, but powerful and accessible.
Her music and lyrics are indicative of someone weathered by love, loss, and the bundle of stereotypical country song woes. Much of Carson’s journey, though, is wrapped up in music itself, and sacrifices she has made for the love and pursuit of music. Earlier this year in an interview with the Austin Chronicle, Carson said “I needed to work out in the world, get a taste of something else, live on my own. I came home, started waiting tables downtown, spent about a year getting lost. Then, when it was time, I went looking for myself. I found myself again through song. In the end, the thing that brings you back to reality is what you grab onto with true passion and respect. That’s what writing songs and playing music was for me.”
The city is mighty glad to have her back and the music gods are smiling upon her as she takes big leaps in recording some new material later this summer and continues to gain buzz throughout the country music scene. She may be new to the scene, and she certainly has a lot of room to grow, but her raw talent is undeniable…and I can’t wait to hear the new material.
– Bailey Cool