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Kaitlin Butts Credits Miranda Lambert’s “Kerosene” For Inspiring Her To Stick With Guitar Lessons
Gotta love some old Miranda Lambert.
In many ways, the future of country music is female. While, of course, the three biggest artists on the planet right now are Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan and Luke Combs, the rise in popularity of mainstream artists like Megan Moroney, Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson points towards the general public finally giving women in the genre their flowers in a big way (even if country radio still refuses to give them prominent airplay).
Even ignoring the popularity of the aforementioned Moroney, Langley and Wilson, the independent and alt. country scene is jam-packed with talent. These names include but are not limited to Sierra Ferrell, Maggie Antone, Willow Avalon, Kat Hasty, Noeline Hofmann, Mae Estes, Carter Faith, Laci Kaye Booth, The Castellows, Emily Ann Roberts, Molly Tuttle, Morgan Wade, Hailey Whitters, Shelby Stone and, of course, Kaitlin Butts.
Known primarily for her feature on Flatland Cavalry’s certified-gold hit, “A Life Where We Work Out,” Kaitlin Butts has proven time and time again that she brings a whole lot more to the table than simply being a collaborator with her husband’s Texas band. Her 2022 project, What Else Can She Do, was downright phenomenal (#3 on our 2022 Albums of the Year list), and she followed it up with, in my opinion, her best work to date last year on Roadrunner!
Though the record was filled top-to-bottom with stellar tracks such as “Wild Juanita’s Cactus Juice,” the Vince Gill collaboration, “Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)” and the heartbreaking closer, “Elsa,” none caught the attention of those online quite like “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me).” Simply put, the song was a viral sensation and finally put the Oklahoma native on the map on a broader scale.
Getting more popular by the day, highlighted by being selected as a headliner in 2026 at the stacked Jackalope Jamboree music festival, Butts recently sat down with Kelly Sutton and Amber Anderson on Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast.
Discussing everything from the creation of Roadrunner! and the subsequent virality of “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me)” to opening up for Lainey Wilson on her Whirlwind Tour and her relationship with Vince Gill, Butts would take us back to her beginnings in Tulsa and reveal the first song she ever learned on guitar.
As the “Hunt You Down” singer recalls, her mother tried to get her into guitar lessons around 13 or 14 years old. However, her first guitar teacher would bore her with the basics of music theory instead of teaching her basic chords to play her favorite songs. Shortly after, her mom would find a second guitar teacher, who Butts described as “this hippie guy that would come to your house and give you guitar lessons,” and the rest was history.
“I had done guitar lessons and the guy went right in with theory. And I get so bored with like, ‘Why the E chord is an E chord.’ I mean, I’m like 13, 14 at the time.”
Instead of being bored by the intricacies of music theory, this teacher immediately taught her to play basic open chords and eventually her favorite song at the time, none other than Miranda Lambert’s debut single, “Kerosene.”
“My mom kind of pulled the guitar teacher aside and was like, ‘Hey, we need some quick gratification to get her hooked into this. She’s going to need to know something pretty quick.’ So he sat down and was like, ‘What’s your favorite song right now?’ I told him it was ‘Kerosene’ by Miranda Lambert, and immediately, he’s teaching me [the intro] first lesson. And I was like, ‘Okay, this is [awesome]. I’m a rock star. This is the coolest thing ever. I will not stop.”
He taught me G-C-D, and he was like, ‘Okay, your homework is to go to Ultimate Guitar and type in all your favorite songs and type and print out the ones that have G-C-D in them. And you will have learned all of those songs like immediately… Getting that rhythm was really helpful. He knew exactly what I needed.”
Right off the bat, I can’t think of a more relatable story as someone who took guitar lessons as a kid and simply wanted to learn my favorite songs right off the bat. While, of course, music theory is obviously incredibly important and shapes further progression as a musician, when you’re first learning an instrument, all you really want to do is play your favorite songs like the artists you grew up idolizing. In my case, it was Eric Church. And in the “White River” singer’s case, it was Miranda Lambert.
As Butts continues to progress as an artist and grows more popular by the day, keep in mind to give a little shout-out to Lambert and her “hippie” guitar teacher from years ago.
Listen to the full podcast here:
Before you go, fire up her viral hit, “Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me).”
Kaitlin Butts Tour Dates
October 25 – Bryan, Texas – Bryan TX Songwriter Festival
October 30 – Chattanooga, Tennessee – Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium
October 31 – Starkville, Mississippi – Rick’s Cafe Outdoor
November 1 – Woodlands, Texas – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
November 14 – Fort Worth, Texas – Billy Bob’s Texas
November 15 – Fredericksburg, Texas – Luckenbach TX
November 22 – Nashville, Tennessee – Ryman Auditorium
December 6 – San Diego, California – House of Blues San Diego
December 7 – Santa Barbara, California- Arlington Theatre
December 10 – Tucson, Arizona – Rialto Theatre
December 11 – Los Angeles, California – The Fonda Theatre
December 12 – Fresno, California – Tower Theatre
December 13 – San Francisco, California – The FillmoreThe post Kaitlin Butts Credits Miranda Lambert’s “Kerosene” For Inspiring Her To Stick With Guitar Lessons first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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