If I could predict one new artist that Country 2 Country (C2C) Festival fans will come away saying was a highlight for them then that would be Karley Scott Collins. A country music rocker with a gritty, soulful voice, Karley is going to rock the O2 Arena to a whole new level!

Hailing from Florida, Karley was recently named on CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2024, and is cited to as one of the most exciting upcoming female artists in the genre.

Karley has recently toured with Willie Nelson and is making her European debut at C2C Festival 2024.

We caught up with Karley to discuss her debut at Country 2 Country Festival, her single Malboro Reds, collaborating with Roman Alexander, touring with Willie Nelson and more!

Enjoy!

Hi Karley – how are you?

I am great, thank you!

Have you had a good week?

I have, I’ve had a busy week! I have been in the studio all day every day!

Have you? New music?

It is yeah, I’m very excited about it, it’s been going really well actually and I feel really good about it. I have been listening to the new rough mixes on repeat and normally I am not the person to listen to my own music a lot, so I am excited!

Talking of excitement – you must be excited for C2C Festival?

Oh yeah! I am thrilled, I am ready to go and wish it was tomorrow!

I have shows before London in Rotterdam, Berlin, Oslo, Stockholm. I have never been to Europe, I have never left the country.

Oh wow!

Yeah I am very excited!

Oh you will have a blast and this will undoubtedly be a first of many trips here. I am sure people have told you but once you have played here, that’s it, you have signed an invisible contract to keep coming back haha!

Well I hope that’s true!

Have any of your friends told you what we are like as an audience?

Actually yeah! Everyone tells me that you guys are so much more attentive and engaged. Everyone says that you guys aren’t on your phones, you’re listening to the lyrics so I am really excited to see what that is like.

Are you coming alone or are you bringing a full band?

I am playing just me and my guitar!

Oh that will be lovely! You are playing the Spotlight Stage inside the O2 Arena so the acoustics of that will be amazing!

Yeah, it will be my first time ever playing in an arena too so it will be the most people I have ever played to so I am very excited!

You will love it!

Let’s talk about Malboro Reds, obviously the song, not the cigarettes – I love it! Please tell us about that song!

Yeah that song is literally word for word about my Grandma who I call my Nana. My whole life, our bonding experience would be when she would take her smoke breaks and would say “you wanna come with me?” so I would go and sit next to her on the steps and she just liked to tell stories. She’d talk about life. My Nana is also one of the funniest people you’ll ever meet – she’s just crazy, she’s wild, she’s had a crazy life. I wanted to write about her because she’s one of my favourite people to be around!

Oh you should bring her with you?

Oh I wish. I don’t even know if she’s ever been on a plane before.

Would you say, as you said she is a storyteller, would you say that she influenced you as a songwriter as a storyteller?

Yeah, you know she has influenced me in a lot of ways actually! She is the first person really who introduced me to country music. She loves classic country music. She bought me my first vinyl records of country music when I was 9 or 10. She is a big part of why I play country music. She would tell her own stories but she would also play me a lot of songs that were from story tellers too. She has an appreciation for it and taught me to have an appreciation for it too.

What was her reaction to Malboro Reds when she heard it for the first time?

Oh my gosh, she is such a mess right now! She is so excited about it! Not only does she love the song which I was kind of nervous about because she is also not one to, you know there’s some grandparents that are like ‘everything their grandkids do is amazing’ – she is not that! If she wouldn’t have liked it, she would have been like “that’s nice, cool” haha. She is really excited about it and she is also excited about people’s reactions to it. All the comments on TikTok of people saying “your nan is so cool” she loves that haha!

What was it like for you hearing it on the radio for the first time?

It was amazing! That’s something that everybody who starts playing music dreams of! I did cry haha! It’s just a really really cool feeling to hear your songs suddenly play on the radio. Every time it comes on now I am still equally as shocked!

You have said that your Nana got a speeding ticket on the way to a show so what artist would you happily get a speeding ticket for to see live?

I am not the greatest driver so I would probably get a speeding ticket anyway haha! I was raised on a lot of rock music so probably Guns ‘n’ Roses. Country, Brooks and Dunn because I really want to see them and I haven’t yet!

I am also loving the song Downtime with Roman Alexander. He is new to me. Tell us a bit about that collaboration please.

He is great. We actually didn’t know each other before that song happened but his team sent the song to my team. I am pretty picky about who I want to do a duet with and he is the only one that I have put out a duet with. I heard his voice and I just thought, he’s got a really soulful quality to his voice and I love the way he sings. I felt like we would gel really well together so I went in and met him and I sang like a scratch vocal on it and we got along like brother and sister. Like he picks on me a lot, I pick on him a lot and it was a good team. He was really great and I was glad to be a part of it.

Well I am certainly going to be checking his music out as I liked the song and his voice very much.

You have written with some of my favourite writers, Natalie Hemby and Nathan Chapman. What was it like working with them?

Oh well Nathan is probably maybe my longest co-writer. He is actually who I was just in the studio with this week. We were co-producing the new music. Nathan is the one person, if I had to pick someone who reads my mind in the writing room, he reads my mind in a way that I feel no-one else really does. If I am sitting there thinking “I want it to be like…” I don’t even have to say it and he will say “Like this?” And it’s exactly that! Nathan is a prodigy at every instrument you can think of. He is just incredibly talented. Natalie is someone that I also looked up to my entire career. The day I found out that I was writing with her I was so nervous haha. I don’t really get nervous in writing rooms but for her, she is so good that I just wanted to impress her and make a good impression. So I brought in the idea for ‘Hands On The Wheel’ and we just had a really good time writing it. I love them both, I don’t have enough good things to say!

How was it going on tour with Willie Nelson?

Oh my god it was amazing!!! It was really really amazing! There’s something really cool about just even seeing him sing because he is like the biggest country music legend that I can think of that is still alive. Just even getting to see him sing multiple times in a row was really incredible for me just standing there on the side stage. Then I also got to sing with him during his set every night. That is something that I will never forget. He (haha), speaking of ‘Hands on The Wheel’ the song that I wrote with Natalie Hemby and Nathan, he wore my ‘Hands on The Wheel’ merch t-shirt on stage the other night. That was really cool too!

Yeah that’s pretty amazing!! What are his audiences like?

They are so excited! He has really big audiences and everybody is just thrilled to see him. He is someone that has so much respect from everyone and admiration that people just… literally our last show was pouring rain and it was outside. Everyone showed up, it was packed!

What songs, apart from Marlboro Reds are you looking forward to playing here?

‘Heavy Metal’ is one that really means a lot to me. People seem to really connect with that also so I will probably be playing that one. I will probably play some new things that no-one’s heard yet. I think that will be fun!

Well we love hearing new songs here! You will have such an amazing time here and we can’t wait to have you!

Thanks so much for today!

Thank you!