Traditional Country Roots Songstress Callie McCullough Sings About The Nashville Grind In Tender New Ballad ‘Three Quarter Time’

A modern songstress who finds herself inspired by country music legends of the past, Callie McCullough’s music is a seamless blend of old-soul intimacy and contemporary flair.

Hailing from Ontario, Canada, McCullough has claimed Nashville as her home for almost seven years, fitting in seamlessly to the explosive country music wonderland in Middle Tennessee.

Her 2020 debut EP, After Midnight, received a nomination for the 2021 Canadian Country Music Association’s Best Alternative Country Album– and for damn good reason. McCullough’s voice is often referred to as “Alison Krauss-worthy,” which is probably the best way to describe it. Her voice is delicate, rich, velvety, and relentlessly pulls on your heartstrings with every word. 

Her latest single, “Three Quarter Time,” which dropped today November 12th, puts these gorgeous vocals on display. Singing melancholic lines about her perseverance grinding through the Nashville music scene, specifically the treacherous circus that is Broadway, McCullough’s sound is anchored by intimate ballads of the legends that came before her, while still standing alone and creating her own sonic identity. 

Co-written with Scotty Kiper and Ryan Sorestad, McCullough says about the song, “’Three Quarter Time’ is really the story of this record and my years in Nashville. Every lyric in this song is something that actually happened to me. Once after a long gig downtown I turned over the tip jar and amongst the ones, fives and twenty dollar bills out rolled a nickel and four pennies…nine cents- not a dime. This song is about the journey of musicians grinding it out in Nashville and it’s about my stone-cold love for sad songs…it’s a ballad about ballads…it’s me in a nutshell.”

She is joined on the traditional roots ballad with notable instrumentalists such as Stuart Duncan (Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark) on fiddle, crying steel guitar by Russ Pahl, Jeff Taylor twinkling the keys, Barry Bales and Billy Thomas on bass and drums, and a gorgeous acoustic guitar intro by producer Dustin Olyan. 

Callie McCullough is one of the few modern artists who authentically and effectively channel the beloved traditional sounds of artists of a bygone era of country music. “Three Quarter Time” is a testament to that, and with its forlorn instrumental and lullaby-like vocals, it draws the listener in from start to finish.