Gracie Yates - Live at The Burl | Rugged Revival
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There's a particular kind of magic that happens when an artist has been carrying a song for eight years and it still feels like a confession. For Gracie Yates, that song is "Honey"—a meditation on unrequited love and relationship hardships that she wrote at sixteen and still performs with the kind of authenticity that makes you believe she's living it in real time. When she mentions during her interview at The Burl that the song earned her first real tattoo, you understand immediately: this is an artist for whom music isn't decoration. It's identity.
Yates represents something increasingly vital in the contemporary roots music landscape—the emerging generation of Appalachian songwriters who've grown up saturated in regional sounds and are now synthesizing them into something distinctly their own. At twenty-four, she's already figured out what takes many artists decades to understand: the power of specificity, the resonance of songs that refuse to look away from difficulty, and the importance of showing up consistently in venues that matter to her community.
I wrote it when I was 16 and I'm 24 and I still love that song.
— Gracie Yates
The Lexington, Kentucky songwriter took the stage at The Burl as part of the "For The Love of Appalachia" showcase, a competition where five artists vied for the kind of opportunity that changes careers—a fully-funded UK tour. In her conversation with Rugged Revival's Kenzie Traylor, recorded backstage at that legendary venue, Yates comes across as refreshingly grounded. There's no affected humility here, no strategic name-dropping. When she talks about The Burl itself—playing there for the first time and immediately naming it her favorite local venue—it rings true in a way that most artist platitudes don't.
What's immediately striking about Yates is how she's woven the DNA of her region into her songwriting without sounding nostalgic or derivative. She mentions her love of bluegrass influence and her habit of dropping unexpected banjo into the mix, an approach that suggests someone who's listened closely to the traditions around her while refusing to be bound by them. Those new songs she's working on, the ones featuring banjo, represent exactly the kind of forward-thinking traditionalism that keeps roots music vital rather than museum-bound.
It's about unrequited love and hardships and relationships and it still is something that speaks to me today.
— Gracie Yates
The interview touches on something essential about place and artistry. When Traylor asks about her first memories of growing up in Appalachia, Yates immediately points to live music and the experience of watching performances in different venues. It's a telling answer. This is someone for whom the musical landscape of her region wasn't something she learned about academically—it was the texture of her childhood, the sound of home. That kind of deep immersion shows up unmistakably in an artist's work. You can't fake it, and audiences can hear it immediately.
What emerges from this conversation is an artist comfortable with collaboration and community, someone who's not precious about her work but passionate about it. She's already collaborated with artists like Smileo and the Ghost across state lines, and she's openly enthusiastic about future partnerships. There's a generosity in that openness, a sense that she sees the broader independent music community as something to strengthen rather than compete within.
Yates also comes across as someone with genuine roots in her place. Her bourbon preference isn't a marketing choice—it's just what Kentucky girls drink. Her instinctive love for Lexington, her familiarity with both Red River Gorge and Cumberland Falls, her ability to navigate the bluegrass and outlaw country question without sounding like she's reciting a script—all of this suggests an artist who isn't performing Kentuckiness. She's just living it.
At a moment when independent Americana and roots music can sometimes feel dominated by artists positioning themselves as outsiders looking in, there's something refreshing about Yates' straightforward commitment to her region and her craft. She's not trying to escape Appalachia or prove something to it. She's simply making music that speaks to what she knows and inviting others into that space.
For anyone interested in the current state of Kentucky's independent music scene—and by extension, the broader health of American roots music—Gracie Yates is worth paying attention to. She's got new material coming, she's serious about her collaborations, and she's the kind of artist who shows up for her community. That full episode conversation captures something genuine about what it means to represent a place and its traditions while pushing them forward. That's always worth listening to.
[Music] Hi, my name is Kenzie and I'm here with the Rugged Revival. And >> hi everybody, my name is Gracie Yates. I'm a singer songwriter. >> She just played over here at the For the Love of Appalachia show at the Burl. She sounded absolutely great. Voice sounds like silk. >> Thank you so much. That is so sweet. It was definitely a dream venue for me. It is a beautiful venue for sure. >> We have a little bit of rapid fire Kentucky edition. I like to start it out this way just to kind of keep it a little fun, a little light because sometimes these interviews get a little, you know, dark when you're talking about some >> dark and twisty. Yeah, for sure. >> So, whenever you're drinking, do you prefer bourbon or beer? >> Bourbon. I'm a Kentucky girl. >> Absolutely. I like uh I stick to uh for me, I like Makers or uh my boyfriend's favorite, Wild Turkey 101. >> That is my favorite, too. Yeah, >> absolutely. Lexington or Louisville? >> Um, for me, Lexington. >> I think Lexington. I feel like I gotta say it because I live here. Yeah. >> Louisville's got a great food scene. >> It does for sure. Yeah. >> Do you like Cumberland Falls or Red River Gorge? >> Red River Gorge is beautiful, but Cumberland Falls is also really beautiful. It's hard to choose. >> It is hard to choose. I feel like there there just two like really staple places in Kentucky. >> Definitely. >> That encapsulate such a true natural beauty. >> Yeah. >> It's kind of hard to beat either one. Fried chicken or hot brown? >> Um, probably fried chicken. >> I like fried chicken. I don't think you can go wrong with fried chicken. >> No. >> Bluegrass or Outlaw Country. >> Ooh, that's so hard. I love a combination of the two myself. Um, I love some Outlaw Country. >> I feel like it's such a diverse topic. You know, you get one or you get the other and people are kind of like, you know, I don't know which one to pick. Yeah. >> Every time I ask. >> Sure. I think it's always fun to have a mashup and like a unique style. For sure. >> For sure. Do you Okay, pardon me. I need to cut that. Favorite local venue to watch or play a show. >> Uh favorite local venue? The Burl. I just played here for the first time. It is one of my favorite venues. So, I'm so excited to be here. I got to say that. >> I feel like it's a common theme. All right. So, what's your favorite song you've ever written? >> My favorite song I've ever written, I want to say my song Honey that I played last in my set. just because it's been with me the longest. I wrote it when I was 16 and I'm 24 and I still love that song. It was actually like my first uh tattoo. My first real tattoo uh was of my song Honey. >> Nice. What do you think sets it apart from other songs that you play? >> Um I think like it still rings true. You know, it's about unrequited love and like hardships and relationships and uh it still is something that speaks to me today. >> Perfect. >> That is why I wanted to know who you Oh. What's your first memory of growing up in the Appalachin region? >> Oh, that is hard to choose. I mean, music has always been a huge part of my life. So, like I think listening to live music, going out to different venues and experiencing that is like a huge part of my life growing up. For sure. >> I think that it's one of the especially in this sort of area, it's one of those things where, you know, it really kind of shapes who you are and how you sound. >> Definitely. >> For sure. It's it's something that's so deeply ingrained in a lot of the artists here. >> Definitely. >> Are there any particular sounds that you feel uh come across in any of your music? Uh you know, coal trains, anything sort of like that really resembles Kentucky at any >> um like genres? >> Yeah, >> I think I definitely have a lot of like bluegrass influence. I love to add like an unexpected banjo into the mix and my songs. I've got some new songs coming out soon where that's going to be on there. And I don't have a date yet, but it'll be coming soon. So, I'm really excited to share that. And >> hey, it takes a lady. >> Hey, I love you. No. >> If you could collaborate with another local artist, who's at the top of your list? >> Um, the top of my list. >> And you can't say Brock Burton. >> He is always on the table. He's my boyfriend. So, we're always writing new songs. But, um, I really have been meaning to do a song with Dalton Daily. Uh, I really want to do Jersey Giant, but I love collaborating in general. I just did a collaboration with Smileo and the Ghost in Pennsylvania. We played at his festival Ghost Town. So, I don't know. I just If you want to do a collab, reach out to me on social media because I'm always down for some new music. >> You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok as Gracie Yates. And I've got my original music out anywhere you listen to music. Just search for Gracie Yates. >> Beautiful. And I think I have one last question. How do you describe your sound to somebody who might not have heard your music flip? For somebody that hasn't heard my music before, I would say that my sound is a mix of country, Americana, rock and roll, and folk. And it's heartfelt original music that speaks to your soul. I write music that makes you feel something. >> Well, thank you. I appreciate it, and it's been a pleasure. Check out Gracie on all of her social media platforms. I'll link them below. And tune in next time. Get outside and check out your local scene.
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