Exclusive: Brit Taylor Talks New Song ‘Saint Anthony’; Announces ‘Kentucky Bluegrassed’ Album

Brit Taylor has released her brand new song, ‘Saint Anthony’, which serves as the lead single from her upcoming album, Kentucky Bluegrassed. Ahead of the announcement, the fast-emerging singer-songwriter sat down with Holler to discuss her latest release.

Although Brit Taylor has always drawn on an eclectic blend of stylistic influences, but ‘Saint Anthony’ nonetheless represents a noticeable departure from 2023's Kentucky Blue.

Kentucky Bluegrassed, which is set to drop on February 2nd 2024, will comprise revamped bluegrass renditions of 5 tracks from Kentucky Blue, in addition to 3 new songs.

The first of those brand new releases, ‘Saint Anthony’, is a witty spin on the patron saint of the the lost, with Brit Taylor calling out to him in the hope of finding her lover, who has embarked on a whiskey-fuelled rampage through town. Thankfully, the inspiration for ‘Saint Anthony’ arose from comparatively light-hearted circumstances.

“This song idea just came out of the blue, like most of the good ones do”, Brit Taylor explains to Holler, “I was hunting through my closet for a particular belt. My friend [Mallory Jennings] told me to ask Saint Anthony to help me! I had never heard of Saint Anthony, but I laughed and asked him out loud to help me find the belt. Suddenly, the belt appeared!”

This led Brit Taylor to do some more digging, “I looked up Saint Anthony online and learned he was the patron saint of the lost and found. A few days later, when I couldn’t find my car keys, I started singing “Saint Anthony won’t you help me find my keys”, and I found them! It was a really cool melody that just popped outta my mouth”.

As lost keys haven't typically been used as the catalysts for country songs - although we reckon there's an opportunity for a great punchline about melancholy piano keys in there somewhere - Taylor switched out the lyric for one about a partner attempting to find her absent lover, “I started thinking that it would be such a great song if it were about a woman chasing down her man. So I took the idea to one of my favorite songwriters, Adam Wright, and he helped me chase it down”.

The Kentucky up-and-comer touches on the real-life muses behind ‘Saint Anthony’, “I told [Adam] some old family stories about my Papaw Hillard and how my Mamaw Beulah always said it was ‘that bluegrass music’ he loved so much that made him drink!”

It turns out the antagonist of Brit Taylor's stellar new song is loosely - and playfully - based on her grandfather, “My Papaw was a hellion in his younger days, and Mamaw was always running him down. Adam and I had fun telling stories, and then we just put them into rhythm and rhyme, and ‘St. Anthony’ was born”.

Given the exhilarating, banjo-driven composition and the charisma and swagger that Brit Taylor injects into ‘Saint Anthony’, it's safe to say fans’ appetites have been whetted ahead of the release of Kentucky Bluegrassed on February 2nd.

For more on Brit Taylor, see below: