I Tried – Caroline Says

Caroline Sallee (aka Caroline Says) grew up in the South (Alabama and Texas, to be specific), but she didn’t really come into her own as a singer/songwriter until she went out West. After graduating from college, she used the money saved up from a waitressing job to take a bus trip to the West Coast. Once she returned to her parents’ house in Alabama, she worked on getting her experiences into song form, then recorded them in the basement. With a sound that straddled the line between West Coast folkie and introspective lo-fi dreamer, Sallee laid down all the sounds herself and the resulting album, 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong, was released on cassette — in a limited edition of 100 — by Birmingham, Alabama label Noumenal Loom in 2014. While Sallee was working on another Caroline Says album, she took time to record a cover of Elliott Smith’s “No Name #3” for the 2016 tribute record Say Yes! A Tribute to Elliott Smith. Meanwhile, 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong caught the ears of more listeners, and was reissued in mid-2017 to a wider audience by Western Vinyl. ~ Tim Sendra