Caitlyn Smith and Old Dominion Tribute Music Venues in ‘I Can’t Video
So many clubs are in desperate need of support.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Caitlyn Smith and Old Dominion team up for a show-stopping duet on the track “I Can’t,” capturing a struggle against the uncontrollable winds of changes (which we’re all way to used to by now). And a new video speaks to live music’s near extinction in 2020.
All about the heartbreak of watching your dreams slip away, the powerful clip casts Smith as the owner of a small-but-lively bar and music venue. Over a series of flashbacks, she goes from living her best life to barely scraping by because of COVID-19, and eventually losing everything. Meanwhile, Old Dominion take their place on the once-bustling bar’s stage — now turned into a shrine to the wild nights of yesterday — and the whole thing is meant to support the National Independent Venue Association.
“While this last year has been hard, it has hit these dreamers the hardest. They were the first ones to close and will be the last ones to re-open,” shares Smith about the state of live music venues in the ongoing pandemic. “This video shows a future I hope we never see. It’s why we’re using this moment to support NIVA.”
A press release notes that over the last few months, Smith has been returning to stages that inspired the fictitious “Cait’s Lounge” in the video, performing small shows for country radio programmers on her I Can’t Tour…Tour.
“As a storyteller, stepping back onto these stages after they’ve sat empty for over a year has me aching for what they’ll feel like again when live music finally is able to return safely,” she says, speaking to recent experiences at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee; Vinyl in Atlanta, Georgia; The Rustic in Houston, Texas; Knuckleheads in Kansas City, Missouri and more.
With it’s lush emotionality and dramatic country-rock sound, “I Can’t” is currently climbing the country radio charts, and approaching Top 40. Caitlyn Smith recently released her Supernova Acoustic EP, featuring four re-imagined tracks from her 2020 sophomore album Supernova, plus the critically-acclaimed “Tacoma” from her debut, Starfire.
“I Can’t” was first released last fall. For more information or to support NIVA through donation, please visit Smith’s website.
