See the intimate new video of the Louisiana songbird’s acoustic version before everybody else.
You might recognize Kylie from USA Network’s Real Country, where she was handpicked by Shania Twain.
The country girl from Louisiana is giving C&I the first look and listen to a brand-new video for an acoustic version of her latest single, “One Night In Tulsa,” before it’s officially released on May 1.
CMT premiered the music video for the original version of “One Night In Tulsa” and included Frey her as part of their New Artist Discovery program.
Billboard also gave the single some love, as did Rolling Stone, which named it one of its “10 Best Country & Americana Songs to Hear Now.”
Kylie loves horses as fervently as she loves country music. At 14, she was the Louisiana High School state rodeo queen and went on to win the state title in goat tying the following year. She was a flag girl at the NFR, which led to her appearing in a “Rodeo Queen” spread in Vogue.
We’re premiering the brand-new version of “One Night in Tulsa” before it drops officially on May 1. The intimate video was shot with brothers Gideon Klein (cello and harmony vocals) and Gabriel Klein (piano) in the downstairs studio in the home where they grew up.
You’ll dial in to her passion long before she gets to the part in the chorus that goes “And I'd ride a buck white mustang / Bareback with no reins.”
We talked with Frey about the new version of “One Night in Tulsa” and life during lockdown. Bonus: We got some of her recipes and a playlist.
Hunkering Down. I’ve been staying in my Louisiana hometown, Opelousas, right above Lafayette. I’d rather be stuck in the country than in my one-bedroom apartment in Nashville. We’ve got pets here — my brother’s rescue dog and bunch of barn dogs at the house.
Living Through Lockdown. I’ve been doing lots of cooking and baking, lots of things that I’ve wanted to cook from my mom but didn’t have the chance or time to — things like Mom’s crawfish étouffée and then a chicken marsala. I boiled crawfish with my brother the other day. I posted some hacks for easy baking — did spice cake, also black-bean brownies, almond-flour cookies. We have a pool here, so I’ve also been hanging by the pool, writing songs, reading books, keeping up with friends.
Beeline in Nashville After Lockdown. When we’re totally out of lockdown, I’m going to my hangout, Loser’s Bar, to see my friends there. And the Local, for live music.
About the Song “One Night in Tulsa.” I had the idea because a lot of songs start out with something about a guy. In this case it was a girl, me, and a guy. He was across the country and wanted me to come to Oklahoma and I wanted to really bad. I went into a co-write in Nashville initially with the title “Two Nights in Tulsa” because that’s how much I wanted to go. In the co-write we quickly realized “One Night in Tulsa” would be a better way to capture the desperation.
“One Night” Acoustic. It was a long road to get to the acoustic version. I came up with a couple different versions with acoustic guitars, but it never was quite right. Just sort of out of frustration, I was in the studio with my two guys. Gabriel was like hey, I mentioned piano in the beginning and I’ll never mention it again, but just come around the piano and run through the song once. I sang a verse and didn’t even get to chorus before I knew that was the way to do it. We added a cello, which lends a dramatic effect to the song. It’s such a power ballad; it really needed a piano. I love it so much. I think it’s my favorite version of the song.
New Meaning in Our New World. When all this lockdown stuff started, people got into livestreaming their music. It was a challenge for me because I’m such a social person and I was livestreaming by myself playing through a phone. It was interesting to do for first time. I sang the song and got to second verse where it goes “The thing about lonely is there’s too much time to think” and that really struck me in a different way with all that’s been happening lately. That’s one of the things I love about songs: Years later something I’ve written will take on a whole new meaning based on what’s going on in my life, which also happens with songs other people have written.
Missing the Most. I miss my band a lot. We’ve become a little road family. I typically have 4 or 5 players with me and an audio engineer who travel with me. I have a carousel of rotating players I can get when they’re available. Not getting to see them every weekend is hard. I play rhythm guitar, a Martin, and then I have lead guitar, bass, drums, fiddle maybe or a second acoustic player. Every now and then a pedal steel player. In the video, the guy who’s playing cello also plays pedal steel. Whenever I can get him, I pick him up as a utility player.
Staying in Touch. I’ve been doing a little video series in the kitchen: Ain’t Enough Beer in This Kitchen is my weekly IGTV cooking series.And Every FREYday I have two livestream concerts: 12 p.m. Central on Instagram and 7 p.m. Central on Facebook. It’s been pleasantly surprising how much I look forward to it. I’m typically much more of a face-to-face person. I’m better in front of a crowd than talking to a phone, but it’s been really fun to see the comments popping up and see people “liking” things in real time. It’s a different kind of interaction for sure.
Get Kylie’s Lockdown Playlist on Spotify here.
Cooking With Kylie
Get her recipes for:
Easter Spice Cake
Black-Bean Brownies
Almond-Flour Cookies
Chicken Marsala
Crawfish Étouffée
Find Kylie Frey online at kyliefrey.com and at @kyliefrenchfrey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
Photography and video: Courtesy Rachael Mason
