Boundary-pushing Tulsa-born singer-songwriter Kaitlin Butts is opening the doors to her favorite honky tonk. Butts has announced Hello, Honky Tonk, her fourth studio album, arriving October 30 via Republic Records. Named one of Rolling Stone’s most anticipated albums of 2026, the nine-track project is a love letter to the honky tonks, characters and late-night stages that have shaped Butts’ life on the road.
Inspired by the theatrical storytelling of the film Chicago and the quirky country spectacle of Disney World’s Country Bear Musical Jamboree, the album transforms the honky tonk into a stage populated by unforgettable characters — from the dance floor to the bar and the corner booth. “With every song, I saw a character in a honky tonk,” Butts says. “I wanted to bring some of that feeling into a honky tonk and create this whole cast of characters that you might run into on a night out.”
That theatrical approach builds on the creative world of Butts’ acclaimed 2024 album Roadrunner!, a bold reimagining inspired by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! that earned multiple year-end accolades. “I’ve always loved the film version of Chicago and the way the musical numbers are presented almost like these little vaudeville vignettes,” Butts adds. “This album is really a love letter to the honky tonks and the stages that have become my life on the road.”
“I Wanna Be Bad” follows “Never Really Mine,” a sharp-witted take on jealousy and romantic freedom written by Butts with Maggie Antone and Lola Kirke. Saving Country Music praised the track as “a pure, traditional country song.” The new music arrives during a breakout year for Butts, who has increasingly blurred the lines between country singer, songwriter, actress and filmmaker. Earlier
Kaitlin Butts | Photo: Thomas Crabtree
this year, she joined Willow Avalon on “Hypothetically Speaking” and its official video, appeared in Ella Langley’s award-winning “Choosin’ Texas” video, co-directed and wrote the treatment for Flatland Cavalry’s “Unglued” and joined The Band Perry for a new version of “You Lie.”
Hello, Honky Tonk will mark Butts’ first full-length album since signing with Republic Records in October 2025. Her debut project with the label, The Yeehaw Sessions, featured genre-bending covers of songs including Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova,” Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” The Chicks’ “Sin Wagon” and Don Williams’ “Tulsa Time.” Meanwhile, her viral anthem “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me)” has surpassed 157 million TikTok views and 67 million global streams, further cementing Butts’ ability to turn traditional country storytelling into something distinctly her own.
Butts’ momentum has continued on the road, where she has joined Lainey Wilson’s Whirlwind Tour and Ella Langley’s The Dandelion Tour, while also headlining her own sold-out European Cowgirl Experience. She has additionally been featured for the second consecutive year in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s American Currents exhibition and earned a 2026 MusicRow Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. With Hello, Honky Tonk, Butts is once again creating her own universe: one where country music, theater, humor and heartbreak share the same stage. The doors open October 30.