Callista Clark: Her Journey From YouTube Covers To Her Debut EP ‘Real To Me’
Touring is starting to make a comeback, and going out to see shows is one of the best ways to catch new country talent. So, keep your eyes and ears peeled for Callista Clark, a talented young lady whose name you’ll probably be seeing in the next few weeks and months; she’ll likely be opening for other acts, or playing the daytime slot on festivals. But you’ll want to catch her now; odds are, she’s going to play bigger venues pretty soon.
The Georgia native is just 17 years old, and besides being a great singer, she’s a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who also writes and is a great communicator; she already has 8.5 million views on her YouTube page, which has over 57,000 subscribers. The page shows off all of her skills: besides the usual music videos, it has tutorials, clips of Clark talking about her songs, and lots of covers, from Keith Urban to No Doubt to Aretha Franklin.
In fact, it was a video of her playing a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” that changed her trajectory: the video got the attention of industry heavy-hitters Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun. Just a few years later, she’s released her debut five-track EP, Real To Me.
We spoke to her about the progression that led her to become one of Nashville’s most exciting rookies… and she’s still not old enough to drive to her own gigs.
“I started playing ukulele when I was 10,” she explains. My mom had tried to get me to play guitar before that, but my hands were so small and I gave up pretty quick. My little sister started playing ukulele. That’s my little sister. So when she started learning ukulele so easily, I was just like, ‘OK, maybe I can do it, too.’ So I started playing ukulele. And then my mom kind of put the guitar in my hands when I was 11. And I’ve been playing guitar since then.”
Clark had an obvious knack for playing instruments. “Anyone that can take lessons and learn that way, I just totally applaud you, because I can’t do it. I am self-taught and do everything by ear. I never learned how to read music. I learned some chords and I do little fillers and things that I think sound good but I have no idea what to call what I’m doing.”
“Recently, I have been posting tutorials with my songs on different instruments, and there’s one that I haven’t posted yet. And I’m doing this thing, I realized that I don’t know what to call it. I would love for anyone to comment and tell me what I’m doing, even though I’m very aware that that’s not what a normal tutorial is like.”
But nothing about her career has been “normal,” either. After she went to Music City, she started posting more and more covers. “When I was doing co-writes in Nashville, it was about two or three years before I ever released any music. Because I wasn’t supposed to post what I was working on. So, I would do the songs at live shows, but I didn’t want to put them out there yet and I was kind of keeping them in my back pocket. And I was trying to show people who I am as an artist without showing them what I was writing. So I would take a song that was stuck in my head that day and put my own twist on it. When I go back and look at it, whether it was ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain?’ or Ariana [Grande], or Julia Michaels or Aretha Franklin or whatever the song I was covering… it kind of connects to the song that I wrote that week or that day; it’s what I was inspired by. So it’s really interesting to look at.”
“Tractor” was one original that she came to the table with. “I had been writing with my mom,” she explains. “That’s the first person I ever wrote songs with. I had also written songs by myself. I was 13 or just turned 14 when I met Scott [Borchetta]. So I hadn’t been writing for very long. And I had one original song that I played for him and Scooter [Braun]. ‘Tractor’ was the one I played for them when I met them to show them that I had potential. I guess they saw some potential and started putting me in writing sessions in Nashville when I was 14 and my second co-write that I ever had was ‘Real To Me.'”
She started working with Nashville songwriters including Chris DeStefano, Jonathan Singleton, Liz Rose and Laura Veltz. She notesm that the experience was intimating for a teenager. “But I just tried to go in and and do my best. I feel like you can always learn no matter who you are or where you are in your career. So I still just try and go in and laugh at whatever I’m writing and tell the other writers how I’m feeling. ‘It’s rainy today and so let’s write a sad song, or a pretty acoustic song.'”
“It’s ‘Cause I Am” is her current radio single, and most country fans’ introduction to her. “Being a young girl, in general, is hard,” she says. “It’s really hard to figure out who you are as a person and hold your ground and all of that. Not to mention, being thrown into the music industry at 13, 14 years old. It’s really hard. And then trying to play shows and just having people totally underestimate you before you even show them what you can do.”
She continues, “There were a lot of moments like that. Like, at my show the sound guy would come up to my guitar player, because he’s a guy. I just wanted to write a song that introduced me in a confident, bold, fun way. And I feel like this is kind of the perfect way to do that.”
But how do you deal with being underestimated? “I write songs!” is her quick answer. She expresses annoyance when older people, for example, who condescend about her relationships due to her age. “I wrote ‘Real To Me’… people would say, ‘Oh, you’re in a relationship? Oh, it’s not love: one day you’ll experience love when you’re older. You went through a breakup? You’re crying? Don’t worry: it wasn’t really love in the first place.”
It was, quite obviously, a relationship that led to “Heartbreak Song.” “It’s just what I was feeling when that was happening. I feel like the person that it’s about… It’s just kind of irrelevant and I think that’s the great thing about Real To Me: each song is what I was feeling that day.”
Of course, every new artist has songs that they may end up playing for years or even decades. “The best thing you can learn as an artist is that it’s not about you, it’s about making people feel comfortable and writing something that they love and that they relate to. And if I have a song that people love that much, that I have a career based on, and I get to play it for 5, 10, 20 years? That is what signed up for! That’s my dream situation! I would love that!”
Hopefully, that trajectory will start this year, now that her EP is out and tours are being announced. Which has put a big item on her “To do” list.
“Actually, I don’t have a band just yet! We’re starting to build that right now. All I have is my guitarist [Brake McGaughy] who I’ve been playing with since I was 13. He’s insanely good. I will never let go of him if I can help it. And my drummer Mia [Morris]. She’s 16 and I’ve been playing with her since I was 15. And so I’ve just been taking my time adding people because I feel like you have to get along with them.” Note to auditioning musicians: this might be a long-time gig, so bring your A-game.
Callista Clark’s ‘Real To Me’ EP is out now.
