Laci Kaye Booth's vintage dream-pop sound and fearless lyrical grit make her third album “Love Ain’t for the Faint of Heart,” which came out on Sept. 18, a study in feminine contrast. Booth said she knows country hasn’t always fully appreciated duality in women. However, a new generation of female artists is pushing the genre forward, and she may show times have changed.
“I feel like that's country music's biggest fault, and my biggest worry,” she told The Tennessean before the project came out. “That people are judging me by the cover.”
Fierce femininity was once more rare in country’s upper echelons, but Booth said that the industry feels different now. Artists like Megan Moroney have made entire new parts of the lexicon available to country songwriters
(even working “see you next Tuesday” into the cheeky “Bless Your Heart"). Lainey Wilson has brought a toughness to her music that can't be denied. And, in a year dominated by Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” female artists across the board had a strong presence in the recent CMA Awards nominations.
According to a report by Canadian professor Jada Watsonat the University of Ottawa, songs by women only received 8.08% of the airplay time across country radio stations in 2025. Gains this year were shifted dramatically by a few superstars, like Langley and Moroney, and Booth is now well-positioned to join that top tier of country artists.
Booth's new album, full of complex ethereal ballads and original twists, proves she's so much more than a pretty spectacle. A native of Livingston, Texas, which sits about 75 miles north of Houston, the edgy singer-songwriter with a misty, mysterious voice is a captivating entertainer who has lately found her stride on tour with Langley, her superstar friend. As the daughter of Texas country artist Jody Booth, the emerging singer-songwriter said she comes from a long line of hardscrabble Texas musicians. That’s where the grit comes from.
“I was born with that all around me,” she said, recalling how she grew up listening to music by Carrie Underwood and Martina McBride. “But I knew my voice could not do the things that theirs could.”
Instead, Booth found inspiration in the sophisticated mystique of pop icons like Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lana Del Rey. After making it into the top five performers on "American Idol" in 2019, Booth moved to Nashville and eventually released her 2024 album “The Loneliest Girl In The World,” which laid the foundation for her enigmatic style. “Love Ain’t for the Faint of Heart” adds in more of her personal roots.
“I've been in [Nashville] for seven years and every day I surprise myself,” she said with a smirk. “The further I get away from Texas, the more I realize how redneck and Texan I am.”
Produced by five-time 2026 CMA Awards nominee Ben West, 12 tracks range from haunting and hollow to shimmering soundscapes, and they all come with sharp thematic elbows. Meanwhile, wielding beauty like a whip, Booth's social media channels draw attention to her style of dreamy country music with bold photography and daring visuals. Booth says the holistic project was born in a sort of liminal emotional space, somewhere between happy, sad … and angry. She’s currently dating fellow country artist Morgan Evans, but “Love Ain't for the Faint of Heart” was started just after a previous relationship ended.
“I was in a season of my life with so much chaos, coming to an end of a relationship and then starting a new one,” she said. “But also trying to learn how to love myself and dealing with anxiety of loving people around me.”
Tracks like “Ethereal Redneck Shit” are a prime example of the split personality her songs can convey. All about finding comfort among the dive bars and dropped tailgates of small-town America, it also delivers juxtaposition with a willowy, satin-soft voice. “I came from a small town, population 5,000,” she explained. “So I've always found myself very comfortable in a dive bar.”
Tracks like “Luck of the Draw” mix vintage sophistication with skid-row lyrics, and Booth revels in her rebellious family tradition for the haunting Western, “Daddy’s Mugshot.” It was inspired by a real story involving her father. Such contrasts were seen in artists like Loretta Lynn in the past, but Booth takes "raw" to a new level.
The rising star’s unique style has also made her a favored duet partner. She teams up with Langley on a mesmerizing version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” which the pair have been performing for Langley's sold-out crowds on tour. Meanwhile, the revenge ballad “Pearl Handled Pistol” offers more ammunition for Booth’s multifaceted reputation. She co-wrote the track and sings it with Carter Faith and Baby Nova, teaming up like a next-generation Pistol Annies for a seductive music video.
Booth’s work offers a yin and yang of country for fans to discover, a world of contrasts where the delicate and dangerous coexist.
“My hope is that I've created a world that people can get lost into if they need it,” she said.
Booth will celebrate the release of "Love Ain't for the Faint of Heart" with a Sept. 22 show at East Nashville's American Legion Post 82, before launching a headlining tour on Sept. 27. She'll finish off the year on tour with Langley before joining Moroney for a run of Australian dates next spring.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Laci Kaye Booth embodies country-pop with 'Love Ain't for the Faint of Heart'
