Caylee Hammack follows the debut music video for “Family Tree” with a behind-the-scenes look at how its autobiographical lyrics were brought to life. With “one of the wildest life stories of any rising artist” (CMT), “Behind the Family Tree” shares an inside peek of personal tokens throughout each scene and reveals real-life family and friends who make special appearances. Following the release of the music video last week, Hammack’s new single introducing her “soulful vocals and descriptive lyrics” (Billboard) was the most added debut at Country radio by a female artist in over three years.
“I actually brought in a bunch of family and friends for my first video,” shared Hammack. “You’ll meet my mama who really is a Tupperware addict and my sister Mollie, the whole reason this song was written. She was sneaking out to smoke cigarettes, so I started writing about it. I don’t think I’d ever seen my dad’s legs before this video, but he loved being in it. He broke that lawn chair afterwards dancing in it! My friends, my sound-wizard producer Mikey, my dog and my grandma’s quilt that survived my house fire all reveal a little bit more about me. Welcome to our ‘family tree.’”
To learn more about Hammack’s “Family Tree” watch below.
Hammack’s ferociously fun debut video was directed by Dano Cerny (Elle King, The Chainsmokers, The Roots) as the “high-spirited, pleased-to-meet-you” (Variety) singer/songwriter proves “there is no doubt she’s born for a life in music” (CMT). “Family Tree” was co-written and co-produced by Hammack. Notching spots on upcoming tour slots, fans can catch Hammack on the road with Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and Brothers Osborne and can be seen at country music’s biggest festivals including CMA Music Festival, Country LakeShake, iHeartCountry Festival, Faster Horses Festival and more. Hammack has also been the noted as an “Artist To Watch” by outlets such as The Bobby Bones Show, Rolling Stone and HITS Magazine for her “voice to move mountains” alongside her “clever story telling that keeps it all in motion” (Rolling Stone).
Background On Caylee Hammack
Caylee Hammack constantly felt like a self-described “hippie in a hillbilly town.” “I used to pray every night as a kid, ‘God, just please make me different. Don’t make me like everyone else,’” she remembers. Hammack is indeed refreshingly different. She’s a country expressionist, a grungy firebrand and a spiritual seeker. And at only 24, she has already packed a full life into just a few years, using fake IDs to get gigs around South Georgia, turning down a college scholarship for a love that burned out just a few months later, sleeping in her car when she arrived in Nashville and then losing her home in an electrical fire. “My dad has always said that the most beautiful and strongest things are forged in the fire,” she says. “Iron is nothing until you work it in a fire. Glass cannot be blown without intense heat. You can’t make anything beautiful or strong without a little heat.” Tested by the fire, Caylee Hammack has been molded into an artist with incredible depth and a powerhouse voice that can effortlessly veer from fiery and demanding to quiet and vulnerable. Her life experience and relentless curiosity have coalesced into a country cocktail that’s rooted in tradition but expands with shards of modern pop and rock. Her self-penned songs tug on her own life story – bad decisions, secret affairs, broken hearts, a quirky family lineage – as she invariably turns the lemons of her daring life into sonic lemonade. For additional information, visit cayleehammack.com.
Audio / Caylee Hammack talks about having some of her family members and friends featured in the music video for “Family Tree.”
DownloadCaylee Hammack (Family Tree video) OC: …world to me. :37
“If you’ve ever wrangled monkeys, that’s pretty much the gist of getting ‘Family Tree’ together because I brought in a bunch of my family members, I brought a bunch of my friends, I brought my dog in, we had a little cast because some of the people couldn’t come in to play the roles. It was a wild day on set, but I think it all came together. Being able to bring my family in that video means the world to me, because ‘Family Tree’ is the introductory course into my music, you know? It’s the appetizer of my tunes, and being able to start that off very strong with all of my family surrounding me, means the world to me.”
Audio / Caylee Hammack talks about the role her mother had in the video for “Family Tree,” and the fact she brought her own props to the set.
DownloadCaylee Hammack (Family Tree video – Mom) OC: …my mother. :36
“It was really funny, ‘cause we got there (to the set) and my mom walked up and the crew was starting to build this very big, giant mountain of Tupperware that she knocks over in the chorus in the video. And she walked up to it and she’s looking around at it and she goes, ‘I hope you all know this is not real Tupperware, but don’t worry, I brought my own.’ And she went back to her Suburban and she drove up with a buttload of Tupperware for this video, because she said, ‘I just didn’t know if they’d have it.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they didn’t, so you thought ahead.’ I get my overprepping from my mother.”