IT AIN’T LOST ON ME
The Many Devices of Kyle Caudle
Written by Lelan Estes
Photos Courtesy of Samuel Schumacher
With the release of his debut EP ‘Devices,’ Kyle Caudle is tearing it all down and building it back up to discover what it truly means to be a musician on an artistic mission.
There’s a sharp irony at play in my interview with Winston-Salem, NC based songwriter Kyle Caudle.
In the title track of his alt-country EP Devices, Caudle repeatedly laments that “It’s so hard to let it go” in the chorus, a multi-layered reference to both moving on from self-destructive patterns and to the addictive relationship so many of us have to the little dopamine feeders we carry around in our pockets.
We’d planned to do this interview in a quiet coffee shop or over a pint but instead, with his schedule so harried with the demands of release week and a headlining show, we’re trading emails, phone calls, and text messages.
Here’s where I grab my phone to fire off a quick text (who has time for phone calls anymore?) and mention the irony of it all to Caudle. His response comes back fast enough not to trigger my anxiety for instant gratification:
“It ain’t lost on me.”
But, as he sings earlier in the track, “If I try to meet you my way / I may never meet you at all.”
So, plans derailed and an interview through devices it is.
“It ain’t lost on me.”
There’s so much of Caudle in that response. The hint of southern vernacular; the thoughtful awareness of life; the wry humor expressed through clever lyrics.
With a voice and style that compares favorably to the likes of Neil Young, Tom Petty, and Cardinals-era Ryan Adams, Caudle has these attributes baked into the very DNA of his music along with a deep connection to the land itself.
“Most of my family lives in a small town about fifteen miles outside of Winston and I have good memories of playing on the farm with my Grandpa, Great Uncle, Great Grandfather…the red dirt, the hills, the skies, the birds, the plants…I think that place really shaped my imagination.”
“I’m most myself when I’m playing, creating, and sharing music in some form. I don’t know what I would do without it.”
And it shows.
Saluda, the EP’s lead track, is a poetic picture of summer days swimming under oak trees, finding new love, and letting worries go, all wrapped in pulsing Americana-pop and fuzzy hooks that evoke the landscape. But, much like the titular river winding its way through that song, the journey to releasing the Devices EP has been anything but straightforward.
A long-time veteran of the North Carolina music scene, Caudle honed his skills as a songwriter and performer, playing in bands around the Piedmont-Triad area and finding early success opening for the likes of Dawes and Jason Isbell. As he tells it, “I’ve played with a lot of cool musicians, people that are quite big in the Americana and alt country scenes. I’m really grateful for all of it.”
But life seldom moves in straight lines and over time, things shifted. Bands didn’t stay together. Careers began. Priorities pulled in different directions.
You know, life.
“I regret that I put music on hold,” he says and even across devices I can feel the years behind him as he continues. “I regret not putting myself out there enough or promoting previous recordings. Whenever I’ve left music, I usually end up very depressed and there have been dark times. I’ve had to deal with my mental health over the years.”
That’s a sentiment reflected in the EP’s first single, Lights, a jangly melodic rocker that features Caudle singing “Oh the day’s not getting younger / And the night, here it comes.”
But that’s not the whole story as elsewhere in the song he belts out, “Shine on me, my love / My starry one.”
“There is this healing aspect to music and for me, in particular,” he says. “Playing in bands was really helpful because I tend to be very private, and it helped me to share more of myself. It’s always been about freedom, grace, and movement.”
Put succinctly: “I’m most myself when I’m playing, creating, and sharing music in some form. I don’t know what I would do without it.”
"It’s always been about freedom, grace, and movement."
"It’s always been about freedom, grace, and movement."
Caudle comes across as a man deeply invested in his craft, but he has an urgency that goes beyond simple therapeutic catharsis, and I can’t help but ask about what drives him.
“I had this interesting moment where I came to a crossroads, and I think for many of us, the pandemic was a wake-up call. To the mortality of life; a sense of time and what we’re doing with it. I really think it was like this Renaissance of creativity within our culture worldwide and so many people have a story or a song or a photograph – something to share. And that was definitely true with me. I realized that I didn’t want to just make bedroom demos. So, I enlisted some friends and headed into the studio. It’s taken me about two years, but one thing led to another and I’m starting to get some momentum.”
Existential dread wake-up call? Check.
When asked about the new EP, the tone of our correspondence shifts and the feeling of jittery excitement from Caudle is palpable. It doesn’t come across as just a new record for the songwriter…but a new era.
“I think it’s pretty cool to kind of tear things down and restart,” he says. “I’m at a new stage of art and creativity; of finding and sharing my voice.”
Describing Devices as Tom Petty’s Wildflowers meets the Wallflowers with a little bit of indie folk thrown in, Caudle had a very clear vision for what he wanted from the EP.
“I wanted to sonically and lyrically showcase what I hope to do going forward, something that is both roots and rock forward while embracing themes of home, relationships, wild places, and human connection.”
But everything has a cost and for artists, that often comes in the naked vulnerability and loss of control that comes with putting your work out into the world. But Caudle seems to have found peace with that process.
“I used to think that the more you share, the more you open yourself up to be judged, but I don’t really see it,” he says. “The more you share…the more you share, as simple as that sounds. It becomes easier, I guess.”
There’s a confidence and steadiness here that’s exemplified nowhere better than the EP’s closing track, Foothills Forever, a stomping, roots-rock kicker that manages to weave so many of Caudle’s favorite themes of land and longing into one song.
But perhaps it’s most telling, and stirring, phrase comes in its final moments which also serve to close out the EP:
“I just got here / Already feel home.”
“I think it’s pretty cool to kind of tear things down and restart,”
Outside of this interview, I’ve had the good fortune of spending time with Caudle and there are a few obvious things to glean from him: he’s a daydreamer with the heart of a poet and the mind of a philosopher.
His eyes will glaze over in conversation as something skitters across his imagination, but he’ll snap right back in when he lands on something poignant or clever.
Still…there’s something else at play here… a boyish mischievousness that tugs at the corner of his mouth, like he’s on the verge of playing a prank no one else knows about.
I wonder aloud if that streak is what drives him to find that perfect lyric or clever turn of phrase. After all, isn’t there a playfulness in that?
He doesn’t answer directly, but he lights up and practically bounces along the street we’re walking on. “It’s true! That’s me! I’m the Trickster!” he exclaims.
Later, I mention that his musical career seems to tell a story in the classic three act structure:
Act 1: Gets started young, finds early success
Act 2: Things fall apart, dark night of the soul
Act 3: Takes everything learned, moves forward with holistic purpose
He thinks for a minute and I can tell his inner selves - the dreamer, the poet, the philosopher, and the trickster – are vying for who will answer.
And then that boyish glint hits his eyes, and the mischief twists his lips.