Essentials: The Top Ten Caroline Spence Songs

It’s a difficult enough task to find an artist’s best albums or their best songs; the initial dilemma for this writer in the latest round of Essentials was to find an artist that justified inclusion, given that the Feature has been running for some time. A number of the artists that immediately spring to mind have already been featured. So, addressing the drawing board, it felt right to look to some of the more recent artists who have a large enough back catalogue and who have created the most interest in this genre of music that we love. Esteemed colleague Helen Jones found the answer recently with Ruston Kelly, who has only released four albums and a couple of EPs and singles. A great choice, and my mind then alighted upon a female artist who has also released four full-length albums, a couple of EPs and singles, all of them quite brilliant, and that is Caroline Spence. And, of course, with a new album coming out in August, the Feature is timely, reminding readers of her outstanding talent.

Spence hails from Charlotteville, Virginia, but now resides in Nashville. She began writing songs before her teens and playing them in clubs and bars when she was 15. At the age of 23, she released her first EP, “You Know the Feeling”, a first listen to a burgeoning talent whose voice drew you into the lyricism and imagery of her songs, even then. At that time, she had already started picking up songwriting awards, particularly at the Kerrville Folk Festival and the prestigious American Songwriters Lyric Contest (for a song called ‘Mint Condition’ that she later recorded as the title track of her third album).

Her four full-length albums are littered with absolutely glorious melodies, earworm choruses, sympathetic instrumental backing and unfailingly relatable lyrics, all sung in one of the most distinctive voices around, a sweetly expressive soprano with a ‘catch’ in it that Spence uses sparingly, not for effect but to express emotion in her songs. Falling in the sweet spot between folk and what we might call neo-country, she fulfils the criteria for the description americana, especially lyrically, where she explores love and difficult relationships (past, present and future), loneliness (in love and as a solo touring artist), family, misogyny and so on, collectively matters of the heart, mind and soul. Each of her four highly acclaimed albums have been lovingly and sympathetically produced – Michael Rinne for “Somehow” (2015), the wonderful Neilson Hubbard for her breakout sophomore album “Spades and Roses” (2017), Dan Knobler for “Mint Condition” (2019) and Jordan Lehning for “True North” (2022). Each has brought something a little different to her albums, whether it be more or less sophisticated instrumental arrangements or tweaks to her vocals, but all allowing her to be front and centre. Critics have highlighted her ability to detail conflicting emotions within a song, her warm, inviting, and constantly human songs, her mind-blowingly good lyrics, etc. It is almost impossible not to be drawn into each and every song and listen to it over and over again – there is hardly a clunker to be heard, which makes the process of picking ten of the best extremely hard. So, I have gone with the songs that struck a chord with me for no particular reason.

And, of course, this list might be totally changed when her new album, “Heart Go Wild,“ is released in August. It would be strange if there were not some changes to the tone of the album, as, since her last release, she has married, had a child and indeed, by her own admission, lost her creative spark for a while—one suspects, however, that the album will be met with the same critical acclaim. You just have to listen to the second single released ahead of the album – ‘Effortless’, which features her usual catchy chorus and indeed ‘effortless’ lyricism.

Anyway, on with the rundown.

Number 10: ‘Sit Here and Love Me’ from “Mint Condition” (2019)

A beautiful ballad and many critics’ favourite from this album, this is a deeply personal song about an actual relationship Spence is having with a partner who has a rather sunny disposition while she struggles with anxiety about it and herself: “I know you hate to see me cry/don’t wanna look you in the eye”. Just an amazing ability to get to her vulnerability, the nub of the issue, in just a couple of lines of verse, before the chorus, “I’m alright my dear / I’ve been this way as long as I’ve been here / I don’t need you to solve my any problem at all / I just need you to sit here and love me”. Accompanied by just a strummed acoustic guitar until a beautiful keyboard kicks in, courtesy of Knobler.

Number 9: ‘I Know You Know Me’ from “True North” (2022)

A masterpiece of a ballad with a narrative not dissimilar to ‘Sit here and love me‘, which describes the power of a real love from someone when you yourself are feeling a bit lost. “When I go out and try to walk alone / Pretending I don’t need a hand to hold / I’m kidding but I know you can see / I know you know me”. Embellishing the gut-string guitar of producer Jordan Lehning is a wonderful string quartet, lending poignancy to the song. Simple, brilliant.

Number 8: ‘Somehow‘ from “Somehow” (2015)

Yet another stunning ballad, with Spence’s yearning voice stretching out into the chorus with Erin Rae’s outstanding backing vocals. Again, brilliantly written verses: “Love, it comes, and love, it goes / And the love that goes is all I’ve known / And all I know is that when it comes / You just don’t let it go”. Not many artists produce a debut album as completely realised as this one. This track edged out a number of other contenders by a whisker.

Number 7: ‘Hotel Amarillo’ from “Spades and Roses” (2017)

Yet again, a fabulously realised album and a sophomore success in terms of critical acclaim. ‘Hotel Amarillo’ addresses the lonely days (and nights) of the travelling troubadour moving from town to town to perform: “I’ve got no one to sleep on the other half of this king-size bed / But that lady still gave me two keys when I checked in / I wish that didn’t make me think about how you’ve been spending your time / Glad I pulled on into Hotel Amarillo with a bottle of wine”. Lyrics that any artist (or even travelling salesmen) can relate to. This whole album could have made up a Top Ten songs, and this track, as many others, benefits from the brilliant guitar work of Kris Donegan. Lovely harmonies from Stephanie Lambring.

Number 6: ‘Clean Getaway’ from “True North” (2022)

Once again, it is a question of which track you leave out – “True North”, another highly acclaimed album, addresses the issue of loss and longing and ‘Clean Getaway‘, with its shimmering guitars, underpinned by a rhythmic bass and piano line, traces the inability to move on from a failed relationship: “Turns out time doesn’t pass, just to ease your pain / Yeah, and growing up is learning how to walk on through the rain / And most days it’s hard just to be yourself / But it’s impossible to be anybody elsе” BUT “I thought I made a clean getaway, thought I could be someone else someday” rings the chorus with Spence providing the backing vocals.

Number 5: ‘The Next Good Time’ from “True North” (2022)

Spence has never shied away from writing songs with other people (though they have often tended to be in side projects (see 4 below)). On this track, she teams up with Lori McKenna on a song that looks at wise words about perseverance passed down from her grandmother: “When trouble finds you, you can just do what I do / Grit your teeth, get through it / And wait for the next good time.” It’s the kind of lyric that McKenna thrives on, and you can see similarities between the two in a number of Spence solo writes. This is an alternate take to the album version.

Number 4: ‘All On The Table’ from “Two People” (with Robby Hecht)

This song was the product of a side project with Robby Hecht, and the chemistry between their two voices is electric, ethereal sounding on a plaintive ballad about laying feelings on the line to see where a relationship might go. “I’ll show you my hand / My sword and my crown / We’re putting it all on the table now / Holding my heart / So lay it on down / We’re putting it all on the table now”. Spence takes the lead, Hecht joins in the harmonies. It’s simple, yes, but this is part of the Spence magic – seemingly simple lyrics but with deeper resonance as you listen again, and again, and again.

Number 3: ‘You Don’t Look So Good (Cocaine)’ from “Spades and Roses” (2017)

Pretty much the first track of Spence’s that I heard, this is a more upbeat tune (another beauty) but with a very dark overtone, as Spence warns a boyfriend about his drug-taking. It certainly has the whiff of authenticity, and you suspect this was a life experience – “Yeah, you get so high you can’t come back down / Can’t see what you lose except a couple of pounds / And I’m a broken record, you know what I’m gonna say / You don’t look so good when you do cocaine” goes the chorus. It’s a stunning song amongst many on this album.

Number 2: ‘Wait on the Wine‘ from “Mint Condition” (2019)

Another brilliant song (I must stop saying that!), and it has a vocal high point towards the end of the song, which demonstrates the power and extent of her range and which sends shivers down my spine every time. Ostensibly a sad song of longing and unrequited love, it has a similar feel to ‘I Know You Know Me’ and ‘Sit Here and Love Me’, as Spence measures her uncertainty and anxiety against the sophistication of her prospective beau: “Silly, it’s so silly / Yeah, I’d thought I was all grown up / But when you’re with me, oh, when you’re with me / I feel like a dumb teenager in love”

And as she gathers her confidence with the help of the titular beverage, she soars into the line “and I’m feeling the wine,” holding on to the words for what seems a lifetime. It’s a singular highlight in an album of melodic and lyrical highlights.

Number 1: ‘Softball’ from “Spades and Roses” (2017)

I have spotlighted this track before when it was part of our ‘For the Sake of the Song’ feature series. Deceptively simple, it addresses the inequalities and prejudices foisted upon women in a predominantly men’s workplace. She uses playing sports as a metaphor for the iniquitous situation. Verse two, in a gently loping rhythm, goes, “Now I work all day at the boy’s club / Seventy-eight cents on the dollar / Some girls bow their head or just bow out / And I can’t help but want to holler / Still saying” followed by the killer chorus “Hey Coach, won’t you put me in? I’ve been working hard / I can catch any pop fly / And hit one out of the yard / If there’s one thing that I’m learning / You can’t win ’em all / And even when you’re stealing the base / They’re still gonna call it ‘softball”. The official release of this song included a quite brilliant video, where 24 americana female artists lip-sync their way over Spence’s vocals to drive home the message.

And there you have it – ten of the best songs written in the last ten years by an artist who operates a little too far under the radar. It could have been another ten or another ten after that. She is that good. And as one of the lip-sync singers on ‘Softball’ states at the end “You’re amazing“.