And for Abbie Callahan's next trick, she's making her Grand Ole Opry debut.
The Nashville singer-songwriter will step into the Opry circle Sept. 25, the same day she releases her second EP, "And For My Next Trick…"
"Nervous for sure, but I just really want to enjoy it and have a good time," Callahan told The Tennessean a couple weeks before the release. "If it's my only time I ever get to perform at the Opry, I want to really embrace it and enjoy it and make the most of it."
The 25-year-old has learned to approach career milestones differently since competing on "American Idol" in 2021 and "The Voice" in 2023. At first, she had worried each opportunity might be her only shot.
"I wish I enjoyed it more," she said. "I was really nervous on 'Idol'
and 'The Voice.' And I was like, 'This is my one shot.' It's like, no, it's not."
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Callahan grew up in Iowa City, Iowa, and remembers one of her first performances being a fourth-grade talent show shortly after she switched schools. Her plan was to win over her new classmates by singing Adele's "Rolling in the Deep."
"It was a brave start," she joked. "I didn't make friends, but I found music."
Her innate talent of switching between chest voice and falsetto landed her in Nashville. She studied commercial songwriting at Belmont University and cut her teeth playing late-night gigs on Broadway. Her music now pulls from country, folk, Americana, pop and the '90s music she admires, a mix she calls "kaleidoscope country."
"A kaleidoscope is ever changing," Callahan said. "It's colorful and kind of associated with the '90s. And I was not born then, but I love the music of the '90s and all of the grunge, all of the girls of the '90s."
That mix carries into "And For My Next Trick…," which Callahan calls a "chic circus peek into my brain."
The concept began with "Circus," a song Callahan initially considered an exaggerated version of herself. The seven-track EP stays inside that big-top world, with song titles including "Carousels," "Half Woman, Half Cosmic Horror (Disco Disco)" and "And For My Next Trick…" As Callahan continued writing the project, the circus persona began to feel less like a character and more like a self-portrait.
"As the year went on, as the project unfolded, I was like, 'I think that's me to a T,'" she said. "The craziness that I feel inside of my head or day-to-day going through this career, all of the ins and outs of that, I feel like that is who I am, of this circus performer kind of teetering on the brink sometimes."
Callahan is also taking the new music on the road with Orville Peck. She said the connection began after Peck discovered her song "OptiMYSTIC," shared it on social media and followed her. Callahan messaged him and offered to join him if he ever needed an opener.
By the next day, plans were already in motion. Peck ultimately tapped her for the first leg of his tour.
"It's like out of a dream," she said.
For listeners meeting her for the first time, Callahan recommends starting with the EP's title track.
"It's like SZA meets country," she said. "I think it's fun."
Bryan West is a music reporter at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Country singer Abbie Callahan talks Opry debut | USA TODAY Acoustic
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