MAGNET Exclusive: Premiere Of Sophie Gault’s “Kid On The Radio”

Sophie Gault lays out her battle with bipolar disorder for all to hear on Baltic Street Hotel, due September 20 via Strong Place Music. And while tracks like “Christmas In The Psych Award” drive home her struggles in blunt detail, “Kid On The Radio” has a more upbeat, aspirational feel.

“It’s my favorite song on the album,” says the Nashville singer/songwriter/guitarist, who grew up in rural Maryland and whose blues edge comes in part from an early infatuation with Freddie King. “It’s about how we should follow the good voices in life, not the bad.”

Gault worked with Grammy-winning producer Ray Kennedy on Baltic Street Hotel. As it turns out, her favorite albums as a teen were Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels On A Gravel Road and Steve Earle’s Transcendental Blues, both produced by Kennedy and Earle’s Twangtrust. Baltic Street Hotel features 10 originals plus a powerful, full-band version of “Every Little Bit,” from Patty Griffin’s 1996 debut, Living With Ghosts.

In true Nashville fashion, Kennedy was able to round up some other notable names in Americana. “I had a choir of angels consisting of Siobhan Kennedy, Lilly Hiatt, Coralee, Jon Latham, Corrie Jones and John Laprade,” says Gault. “They came into the studio one day and did a great background gang vocal for ‘Kid On The Radio.’”

We’re proud to premiere Sophie Gault’s “Kid On The Radio.”

—Hobart Rowland