Introducing Bailey Bigger

Hey Bailey, how are you?

Hey Max! I’m doing well. Very busy. But glad to be busy with the things that are occupying me.

Easy question first, where are you right now, and what are you up to today?

I’m actually on lunch break at my day job. I work at a plant nursery currently. I’m a plant tech so I care for all of the house plants and outdoor ones as well from time to time. And help customers choose the best fit for their home and lighting. After this I go to my second job at a local record store here in Memphis. Then I’ll head home and feed the horses and practice for my show tomorrow night.

Introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Bailey. I’m 22, from Marion, Arkansas. I play guitar and write little folk songs on it. I also love animals, the planet, gardening and advocating for native plants and the environment in general! I’m a spiritual person. I love to ride my horse, go cat fishing, and hang out in the sunshine with my dog.

How would you describe your new album, Coyote Red, in two sentences?

Coyote Red is about hope for our lives here in America and all over the world. It’s meant to bring us together into this human experience we all share in more than one aspect.

Tell me about the first song you wrote for the album?

The first song I wrote on this album is ‘No Falling Out of Love’. I wrote this when I was 16. It’s about my first summer love I ever experienced. The first time you’re so magnetically drawn to someone you can’t imagine going without them, but we knew we were going to have to at the end of the summer. Even though some can say young love is naïve or immature and unrealistic, there’s something to learn from it I think. I still look back at my very young passion and try to pull from that in the “real world.”

And what was the last one to make it onto the tracklist?

The last one to make it was ‘The Levee’. I never planned to release this song, never mind really even play it for anyone. I sent a little voice memo of it to my producer (Mark Edgar Stuart) last minute and he just said we had to at least try it. We got that take in the second try.

What’s the story to ‘Wyly’? It’s such a beautiful song.

‘Wyly’ is a song for my brother. I’ve always been a protective little sister and my big brother is a sensitive creature too. There are times I don’t think the world deserves someone as pure as he is. But he’s here, giving himself to the world despite that. We’ve both had a lot of shock and tough experiences after leaving home in adulthood. And I’m grateful we had such a beautiful home to grow up in that the world was shocking and hurtful outside of it. But it was my song to him to remind him that those children we were still exist within us. And that beauty is still alive. It’s okay to grow up and leave your innocence. Just build a shrine for it and recognize the beauty in every stage of life’s journey. And I’m here through it all. 

If I asked about every song I like from the record we’d be here all day, but I’d love to know more about ‘The Levee’, it’s got such a great feel to it. I love the guitar and piano.

Thank you! So ‘The Levee’ is about an ex-boyfriend clearly. I wrote it when I was really fed up with the way I’d been treated. I think in those experiences people go through the sad emotions for so long and then when you’re finally done, that’s when the anger hits. The song is just full of true stories mixed with metaphors for ways I handled the emotional abuse and lies. I tried to create a tone for dynamic that existed in the selfishness and toxicity (on both sides) of the relationship and how we just beat ourselves to the ground til it was nothing but a river left to drown in. 

The title track is a wonderful song as well, how did you write that?

‘Coyote Red’ is actually about my dog. I wrote that song in five minutes. Everyone actually thought it was about a guy for a while. But it’s really just about a coyote. She (my dog) lived in the woods on the farm I live on for several weeks, maybe longer. I think she just hunted squirrels and drank from the lake. She never would come near you but for about two weeks straight since I first spotted her she’d be in the distance just watching me. Finally she came into my house one day. We thought she was a coyote forever. So that song is for her. She’s the wildest thing I know.

For people who’ve never heard a coyote how would you describe the noise they make in the middle of the night?

Chilling. When you first hear it, you don’t know what it is. Even after hearing it for three years straight living in the countryside, I still stop in my tracks when it happens because it sounds like a human screaming intensely. It’s actually terrifying until you go “oh wait that’s coyotes.” It always starts with one and becomes more recognizable when they all kick in as a pack. I sleep with my window open a lot of summer nights to hear everything. But if I’m alone and the coyotes start up, it’ll still make my stomach turn sometimes and I have to close the window. It’s a thrilling noise and I love it, but it’s also the eeriest thing ever and sticks with you. 

I’ll also add that it’s extremely different from wolves. I stayed in Idaho for a week with some friends who live there last winter and I was outside at 4am one night watching the snow when a pack of wolves started howling over the valley. It spooked me more than coyotes because it’s wolves….but it wasn’t as haunting actually. It was more of a howl. Coyotes sound like a scream that then turns into a laugh. 

You’re from Arkansas originally, what’s your most interesting fact about the state, or about your hometown?

Well Johnny Cash and Levon Helm are both from Arkansas and they’re two of my favorite men in the music industry ever. Johnny Cash’s childhood home is just 30 minutes from mine. I grew up going down there and always just felt like if they could, so could I. 

I believe you live on a farm, is it a working farm, and if so, what sort of farming? And do you get involved?

It is a working farm. We don’t do a lot of the farming though, most of the extra land we don’t use is rented to local farmers. Sometimes they grow corn, soybeans, winter wheat, or rice. You have to switch out the crop every few years to not drain the soil of only certain nutrients. I do get involved with some things though. We’ll have small fields that we plant either purple hull peas or pumpkins and squash in the fall. I’ll help harvest that stuff. As well as a big garden. I have chickens too. And I care for the horses on the property.

With the poor $ numbers from streaming, what’s the best way for people to support you and your music?

You can come out to a show and buy tickets or make a direct donation, as well as buy merch and vinyl of the new record! You will be able to do this on my website soon or at a live show. Also just keep streaming my music because if anything, the streams might not be what pays, but the opportunities that a lot of streams bring do pay.

I read in your bio that Joan Didion is one of your favourite writers, what would you recommend I read of hers?

I was an English major in college so i’m as big on literature and poetry as I am music. I would read The Year of Magical Thinking. It helped me through the grieving process more than anything ever has. 

What is coming up in 2022 for you now the album is released?

Well I’m looking forward to travelling here and there this summer for some shows. As well as the next record. The warm weather already has me outside and writing a ton. We’re discussing songs for the next record already and I can’t wait to share what I’ve been doing.

If you could recommend one artist to listen to this week, who would it be?

Karen Dalton. She’s timeless and puts you in the mood to just sit and reflect. To go out to the middle of nowhere.

What’s the question I should have asked you today but haven’t?

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

Finally, how do you take your coffee?

Hmmm I love a good latte. And this coffee shop downtown Memphis has hemp milk which is sooo tasty and good for you!

To find out more about Bailey you should visit her website or check her out on Facebook and Instagram. Coyote Red is out now and available on all streaming platforms, including Tidal.