As a Brit who often feels like an outsider looking in on the world of Americana and country, there is a lot to relate to in Charlie Marie; you see, while her musical leanings and cowboy style may make you assume she’s just stepped out of the deep south, she, in fact, hails from the east coast – more specifically, Providence, Rhode Island. This isn’t a thing Marie has shied away from, addressing it head on in her song ‘Countryside’ from her 2019 self-titled EP: “There’s neon lights in New York City / Bumper stickers that read, ‘I voted for Willie’ / Ain’t it evident? It’s a small world we’re living in / Skyscrapers may kiss the sky / But everywhere’s got a countryside”.
Marie’s 2019 self-titled EP was where I first heard her music, and what a great introduction it was because I can confidently say that I’ve never felt the need to skip a single one of the five-tracks. ‘Rodeo’ felt like a standout at the very first listen, full of old school country charm as Marie’s twanging vocals, reminiscent of the greats like Patsy Cline, speak of the pain of knowing she’ll never be enough for a rodeo star: “They say love always wins / Again and again / But I know how this ends / You’re the star of the show / And this ain’t my first rodeo”.
If you’re wondering where Marie’s love of roots music came from, when she was 10-years-old a vocal teacher compared her voice to Cline’s, which then led Marie’s grandmother to introduce Cline’s music, and then through her love of horseback riding, Marie went on to explore other classic artists like Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and Loretta Lynn. Feeling the powerful draw to Nashville, Marie later transferred from Rhode Island College to Belmont, taking some time to soak up Music City’s energy and, as she puts it, learning “how to write a song”, before returning to her native Rhode Island.
In 2021, Marie released what is thus far her only full-length album, “Ramble On”. It’s full of smooth, classic country, but with a thoroughly modern edge. Take ‘El Paso’ for example, which first seems like your typical cheating song: “He left me in a lone-star state / He left me on a sunny day / He left me with the desert sand / He left me at the Rio Grande,”, she warbles on the chorus, just before the real kicker comes, sung as casual as can be: “He left me for a man.”. Discrimination, thankfully, has no place to be found in the song: “You love who you love / Baby that’s not a crime”, she assures, before adding that “a cheater is a cheater / Your dirty laundry’s on the line”.
Other album highpoints include ‘Kiss My Boots’, which might start off as a sorry tale, but we soon find that Marie has taken her finest pair of boots and walked away, onto better things: “Tony Lamas aren’t just another pair / Search the world, you won’t find these anywhere / Now they’re under a Tempur-Pedic bed / He shows me things that you never did” and ‘Heard It Through the Red Wine’, a deceptively cheerful tune accompanying the maxim that drunk men always tell the truth, even if it’s not the one you want to hear: “I thank God I heard it through the red wine / Praise the Lord I finally see the truth / Turns out maybe drinking ain’t the worst crime / ‘Cause that bottle made an honest man of you”.
After the release of “Ramble On”, Marie decided to take a break from music, citing issues in her personal life. She travelled around the country in part to find herself, but also to distance herself from the culture of Nashville, its competitive, networking-based environment which, she realised, was not how she wanted to conduct her career. Things have been fairly quiet from her in the years since, but in June she recorded a live session featuring brand new songs for the Western AF YouTube channel, which signals a new album must surely be on the horizon.
If you’re going to take one piece of wisdom from Marie, next time you feel a bit of a fraud for listening to songs that mention rodeos and pickup trucks, just remember, “Everywhere’s got a countryside”.
Great to see this “heads up” for Charlie; I thought she was destined to be one of those “fell thro’ the cracks” artists that unfortunately populate the industry. I was lucky enough to pick up on her back in 2021 with “Ramble On” I quickly sought out everything else she’d released and was richly rewarded. A real talent. Thanks Helen for attempting to give her a helping hand!