Caylan Hays

Caylan Hays isn’t going to write you a sad song. She probably won’t write you a love song either. What she might do is stop you in your tracks with a question—“You said 'I'm devoted.' What does that mean to you?”—or tell you about an elderly neighbor braving Nashville’s frozen streets simply “for the joy of the ride.” Hays isn’t interested in easy answers or tidy conclusions; in fact, she’d likely reject that kind of simplicity outright.

It would feel misleading to describe Hays’s preoccupation with liminal emotional spaces as working in what’s often called “the gray area.” Her songs don’t linger there—they bloom and cascade from one vivid color to another, shifting hues, doubling back, and contrasting in imperfect harmony.

Devastating loss, explosive frustration, and enduring love can coexist—and ring out with startling clarity—in her work. When Hays sings “good grief,” grappling with the loss of her father, a Tweedy-esque collage of memories, places, and emotions paints the grays midnight black and crimson red.

That sensibility may come naturally to Hays, who was raised in Northern Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati—a brackish in-between place where two states and two cities exist apart yet together, where the South meets the Midwest and bluegrass collides with rock ’n’ roll.

After releasing a pair of EPs in 2024 (Dog Days and I Turn My Belly to You), Hays is set to release her full-length debut, Victory Lap, in early 2026. A largely live, loose indie folk-rock record, the album was tracked at Gnome Studios with producer Alberto Sewald (Katy Kirby, Jack Van Cleaf). Insisting on recording live with her band, Hays aimed to capture the immediacy and dynamic energy of the performances. The result is a record that is sometimes tender, sometimes angry, sometimes crushing—but always honest, and often playful.

The first single, “Commune,” is a sing-along, honky-tonk-piano-driven alt-country anthem reminiscent of The Band—equal parts tongue-in-cheek and deeply earnest. It’s a plea to embrace the power of community and care for one another in a world shaped by individualism, consumerism, and greed. Hays may be goofing off and having a little fun, but don’t think for a second she doesn't mean what she says.