Claire Hinkle‘s new single is certainly “Hot Shit.”
The Americana singer-songwriter recently recorded an EP’s worth of songs with Shooter Jennings (Brandi Carlile, Marilyn Manson, Tanya Tucker) in Hollywood, California, at Sunset Sound Studio (The Doors, The Beach Boys, Janis Joplin), including “Hot Shit.”
“Recording with Shooter at Sunset Sound was the most surreal thing I have ever experienced,” Hinkle said. “We were in the same studio where Prince made Purple Rain. That alone kept blowing my mind. Shooter is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. He just allowed us to create freely and would occasionally give suggestions.”
Hinkle says the new, rocking track was influenced by “a past relationship and fake personas who end up looking like jackasses. My music is mostly about things I observe and experience in the music industry.”
The single is out now, but instead of releasing an EP, Hinkle wants to focus on promoting the song while releasing more singles incrementally this summer. The Sunset Sound material was recorded with two Texas Gentlemen, guitarist Ryan Ake and drummer Paul Grass, plus bassist Mike Luzecky and guitarist Charley Willes. In support of “Hot Shit” and the other new material, Hinkle recently wrapped up an East Texas tour with guitarist Rowdy Carter, bassist Kyle Farley, guitarist Max Kusin, and drummer Nick Tittle, opening for Proud Souls Entertainment’s Jason Boland & The Stragglers.
“The crowd was great!” Hinkle said. “Jason was awesome, and his band was really cool. I wish I had gotten more time to hang out with Boland’s crew, but they were moving nonstop, understandably.”
Hinkle is planning to release another single in July, “Get on the Bus,” a message about saying yes and just seeing what happens.
“ ‘Get on the Bus’ is about doing the damn thing,” Hinkle said. “It’s a saying the band uses.”
After Hinkle’s next show, 8pm Thu at Tulips FTW, she and her band will travel to Laramie, Wyoming, to record a live session for the popular YouTube channel Western AF. Hinkle is able to travel so much because she and her bandmates have savings and jobs, she said, noting that she also has not received any travel grants from any public or private entities. Hinkle and her band are where they are by “working our asses off.”
Hinkle loves Linda Ronstadt and is a big classic rock fan, which is fitting for her style and approach to writing. “I can be my full self, performing my style of music like that, and it’s freeing onstage.”
One of the biggest reasons she writes what she does is to help people not feel so isolated. “I want to bring people together, and that’s what I want to accomplish with my music.”
Claire Hinkle
8pm Thu w/David Forsyth and Midnight Thirty at Tulips FTW, 112 St. Louis Av, Fort Worth. $15. 817-367-9798.
