Rising Country Star Laci Kaye Booth Comes to Mahall's

Singer-songwriter Laci Kaye Booth has been listening to a lot of Lana Del Rey lately, she says in a recent interview.

You can hear the gothic, dark romance inspiration interwoven with old school country influences throughout her new album.

But there is a softer side to the record too. That might be because Booth has found herself in love. Booth’s boyfriend and fellow country singer-songwriter Morgan Evans co-wrote on much of her latest album.

The moody aesthetic shows up on the opening track, establishing the tone for much of the record. Booth says that “Ride Or Die” was inspired by having Honeymoon on rotation.

“I think ‘Ride Or Die’ is such a mood-setter,” says Booth. “It was such a dark theme to set the record on. And I’m so big on making sure I set the record with something. Like, [The] Loneliest Girl [In The World] had this intro that just made it dreamy. I think it’s so important for the listener to be brought into the world with an intro or with a first track, and I just needed it to be sonically there.”

“Ride Or Die” is followed by Booth’s lone solo write on the record, “Different,” which finds her dodging skeletons and whispers as she tries to mend wounds she didn’t make.

“I was still living alone, when I wrote that one. And I was in a situation where I was falling really deeply in love with someone who was completely shattered and broken. I think that that is relatable on a lot of levels,” says Booth. “When I write a song as honest as that, it usually comes out just like ‘Daddy’s Mugshot’ did, so fast, because I have so much in my brain that I want to say.”

The ballad pleads for a renewed sense of optimism.

“I was alone in my apartment, sitting on my staircase and just got it all out in one song.”

Speaking of getting it out, and last year’s lead single, “Daddy’s Mugshot,” a knee jerk response to how you’re feeling in the moment results in a specific type of songwriting that can’t be replicated.

“Honestly, what happened was, I was scrolling on Facebook one night, and I saw a picture of a mugshot being shared around my hometown Facebook. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, that looks like my dad. And then, I was like, ‘Wait, it says Jody Booth; that is my dad.’ And he was like, grinning in his mugshot. I had no idea that he got arrested or what he would have been arrested for. And I was just so confused. And I remember, I was a little bit distraught, just because I hoped he was okay.”

The hook takes listeners down a winding road of introspection. The catchy chorus contains lyrics like, “I’m a little too Texas for Tennessee” and “They found bitter in my bones when they broke this show pony.”

It sounds like an artist owning all parts of herself, while stepping into the perspective she wants to present to the world.

“Majority of my family that are still in Texas, they’ve all been to jail or prison or something, so it’s not too surprising; it just caught me off guard,” says Booth. “Morgan could tell that I was a little off, so I told him, and then we decided to start writing a song about it. I sent it to my dad when he was out of jail, and he loved it.”

“Daddy’s Mugshot” is one of multiple songs that reference the roller coaster that is the music industry and trying to make it in Nashville, which is famously referred to as a ten-year-town. Booth has been there for seven.

“I’ve been dropped before and I’ve been, what I call, through the wringer. And so, it’s such a part of my life and who I am now that it’s hard not to write about it.”

Some themes that surface on the intentional album were, in fact, accidental.

“I realized that, whenever the record was finished,” says Booth with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Oh, I really touched on that a lot.’”

But Love Ain’t For The Faint of Heart sounds sure of itself, even as she is figuring herself out in real time, like examining her tendencies and anxiety while struggling with her faith in “Pathetic.”

The stripped-down album allows plenty of room for Booth’s stellar storytelling to shine, but the thin sonic details are extremely meticulous.

Take “The Nerve,” for example. The melodic Fleetwood Mac-esque track was inspired by an old flame trying too hard to fight his way back into Booth’s life, and a half-burnt cigarette stained by bright lipstick in a restaurant parking lot.

“I’m always a fan of big, dramatic, cinematic type songs,” says Booth. “I wrote this entire story about my story, but I made it way more dramatic than it was, cause I wanted to watch it, like a movie. I just get so much enjoyment out of that.”

“The Illusion of Love” is one of the more cynical tracks on the record, which was originally called What the Fuck Do I Know About Love? before Booth deemed it “too unserious.”

“That’s another one, I feel like you listen to it, and it’s like you can watch a movie happen before your eyes.”

Booth brought the concept into a writing session with Lukas Nelson, who features on the track. The two then pieced together the rest of the song notes app-mining for pretty phrases.

“I had the idea ‘The Illusion of Love’ because I was living in a house that had mold in it, and I didn’t know. And that moment in time, I felt like life was a maze. I was so confused. I was dealing with all these side effects of mold poisoning that I didn’t know what it was at the time,” says Booth. “I really felt like life was an illusion, at that moment in time.”

Even though Booth has been releasing music for many years, this album feels like a re-introduction, fully encompassing who she wants to be as an artist.

And the timing couldn’t be better. The traction Booth has been picking up is something of country music dreams. Opening for Country’s Hottest Star Ella Langley’s arena tour, playing CMA Fest, and taking the Grand Ole Opry stage numerous times since her March 2025 Opry debut. She also claimed a co-write and feature on fellow breakthrough country singer-songwriter Carter Faith’s Cherry Valley Forever deluxe album. “Pearl Handled Pistol” feels very on brand for Booth.

The 31-year-old has come a long way since she and the bad spray tan that she references graced the American Idol stage in 2019. But it’s the same strong, unique, raspy vocal combined with the lyrics she crafted, candy-coated in imagery and unapologetically true to herself, that got the Booth where her boots are planted now, as one of country’s most promising rising stars.