Sunny Sweeney is a country and Americana artist from Texas, currently based in Nashville, TN. Her latest album, Married Alone, is a strong, traditional country sounding album that covers divorce, loss, grief and recovery.

A beautiful use of traditional instrumentation, the album is co-produced by fellow country artist Paul Cauthen and The Texas Gentlemen’s Beau Bedford, Married Alone is pure country heart from start to finish.

Guests on the album include Cauthen and country legend Vince Gill on the emotional title track as well as co-writes with the masterful songwriter Lori McKenna.

Following stand-out shows in the UK last summer, including The Long Road and Millport festivals, ACM-nominated recording artist Sunny Sweeney makes a much-anticipated return this coming November for tour dates as follows:

November 9 The Cluny, Newcastle
November 10 Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek
November 12 The Bodega, Nottingham
November 13 Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham
November 14 Retro, Manchester
November 15 Gloucester Guildhall, Gloucester
November 17 Acapela studio, Cardiff
November 19 Oslo, London
November 20 The Bullingdon, Oxford
November 21 The 1865, Southampton
November 23 The Workmans Cellar, Dublin
November 24 Nashville Nights at The Copper Tap, Omagh
November 26 Limelight, Belfast
November 28 Broadcast, Glasgow
Tickets: sunnysweeney.com/tour

We caught up with Sunny to discover the tour, the album and more!

Hi Sunny – how are you? How has your week been?

I am good – it’s been amazing! It’s been great! I am in Austin right now and I came here to eat some Mexican food! I am just kind of chillin’. I have been cooped up doing some rehab for my vocals for the last couple of months, now I am kind of getting back at it here.

Last time you were here is when you played The Long Road Festival as well as other shows? How was that visit?

It was amazing, my god! It was one of the best run festivals I have ever played. The people that worked there were just so nice and everything was so organised and the fans are incredible! It was great, really great!

Did you get to look around at all?

The truth of the matter is that I hurt my ankle when we were walking in Birmingham. Still I was trying not to walk a whole lot haha, so I was not moving a whole bunch!

Aww, well I hope they got you one of those Gulf Buggies to use?

Oh we did, trust me, we were definitely in a golf cart haha!

You are going to play the UK again soon in November. I am hoping to catch you in Gloucester. I am so pleased that you are playing there because not many country artists do. What made you put Gloucester on the list.

My UK agent, she booked it. In Gloucester actually, she’s not my blood relative but I have a lady that I call Aunt Sexy and she lives there out in the country so I’m actually going to stay with her for a couple of days!

I am really excited to go there, we have like a day off there!

That will be nice! The Cotswolds is a lovely area!

Let’s talk about Married Alone! Was the title of the album a no brainer or did you toy with other names? Was the song with you first?

Actually we didn’t have a name for the record, I couldn’t come up with one. Then I was just sitting there one day and it just dawned on me and I thought why not? That’s a really good title. I last minute decided that’s what it’s going to be called.

It was right before we had to print the records up. It was already recorded and everything!

I love the title because it’s intriguing and it makes you want to listen to it and it’s relatable for so many too!

I mean honestly, for me, I have been married and divorced twice – I honestly am never getting married again. I decided that it’s not for me and I wish that everyone that chooses to get married again good luck but it’s not for me. I didn’t actually write that song, my friends wrote it and when I heard it, I knew that I had to record it! I never ever dreamed that I would put it as the title track but I am super glad that I did.

What is it like writing with Lori McKenna as we are huge fans here in the UK.

I am obsessed with her, I am like seriously obsessed with that woman – I love her so much! She is brilliant and I feel fortunate that I have had any time with her. She’s very motherly even though she’s only a few years older than me but she’s just so kind and so sweet. She’s got answers, she’s been through it all already! She’s amazing!

I love the song Still Here, the last track on the album it’s beautiful and so well placed. I always pay attention to the track listing and love how the album ends on that song!

For me personally, I always as a music fan tend to like the last song on every record most. I think the reason is that I think it’s intentional. People choose that song for a reason, I know that I do. As an artist I choose the song that I want people to go away on, how I want them to go out. I am in love with that song and I was in love with it the day that we wrote it! I am very proud of it and I love everything that I have written with Lori (McKenna) especially!

It’s funny, as you just said it was intentional and you like how albums close, it reminded me of buying a physical copy of an album and discovering a secret song at the end which isn’t track listed!

Oh yeah! We thought about doing that with that song! But then I thought “No, I want people to hear it”. I wanted people to know it was there.

How do you decide who to work with Producer wise?

I couldn’t figure out what the hell I wanted to do and then I just kept going over stuff in my head and it ended up falling in my lap with Paul (Cauthen) and Beau (Bedford). When I thought of Paul, it kind of like clicked. He is really a genius! He brought Beau along, then Beau and me and Paul and my guitar player Harley and then the engineer, we all collectively worked together. We were just such a good team and I feel that we got a lot accomplished that we were hoping for, so I’m pretty happy how it turned out.

Do any of the songs sound much different from the writers room to full production?

Oh absolutely!!! Easy as Hello was written very slow. We ended up writing it super slow and then when we went into the studio, Beau actually had the idea, it was like “why don’t we speed this up a little?” And I was like “I don’t know man!” And then he started doing it and playing it and I was like “Holy S***, this sounds awesome!”

Do you think you will ever release the original version?

No! Well…maybe, but it’s just a work tape so we would need to redo it if we did but yeah it’s very different, very very different!

We have become fast fans of Rissi Palmer, especially since her now annual visit to the Long Road Festival. I wanted to ask about working with Rissi, Tami and Miko on the song Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right.

I have known Rissi for a really long time. Miko and Tami I have known for the last couple of years. I have a lot in common with them just as women in our forties. We have kind of all lived a little bit and we all just fell in love with that song collectively. I was like “let’s just record it” and we did and we are thrilled how it turned out. Those girls are amazing singers!

What song of yours is a family or friend’s favourite?

Everyone in my family loves ‘Poets Prayer’ because they want me to be safe when I travel. My mum really likes anything that I give her that is uptempo because she likes walking really fast, so she walks and listens to music. She likes one off my second or third record called ‘Used Cars’. Fans really like, there’s a song called ‘A Song Can’t Fix Everything’. My fans tend to lean towards that one.

Can you remember the first song that you ever wrote and is it out in the world?

Yeah! The first song that I ever wrote is on my first record. It’s called Slow Swingin’ Western Tunes.

You have dogs, how many do you have and what breed?

I have one and it’s a little Yorkie and he kind of runs the house, his name is Doug!

Aww!

He is a hot mess!!

Does he react to music and is he a fan of yours?

He loves it actually! When I am gone, my mum plays it for him and he listens to my music. It’s weird!

So he’s your biggest fan?

He really is haha!

Sweet!

Well thank you so much for talking today and we will see you in November!

I hope I get to meet you!

Me too!