One thing I’ve learned in the last couple of years, is that when the English record label Loose Music gets behind an artist, you better start paying attention. Chances are it’s a good one. Sure, there are no guarantees, but that’s life, isn’t it? Austin-based songwriter Carson McHone is one of their more recent signings and visited us in Utrecht’s finest record store Plato with her band to record two originals and a dangerously addictive Teddy Thompson cover.

McHone used to play in local Austin bars every week as a sixteen-year-old, while drunks kept drinking and dancers kept dancing. She released a record and went on the road with fellow musicians like Joe Pug (I’ve been binging his incredible podcast The Working Songwriter recently, including episodes with Hiss Golden Messenger and Courtney Marie Andrews – check it out.) and Gary Clark Jr. Over the years, she’s gone from wanting to honor ‘traditional country’ to adding her own flavors and sounds to the genre she loves so much. Her 2018 release Carousel is the lovely result of this development.