Elle King: The COWGIRL Interview

Free-spirited and free-style are two phrases that aptly describe both the music and mantra of country hitmaker Elle King’s unique, modern sound.  But digging a bit deeper, I discovered that much of her music is also steeped in loss and an early need to belong.  

Multi-talented and extremely diverse, King burst onto the country music scene in 2016 when she was featured with Dierks Bentley on “Different for Girls,” which won the Musical Event of the Year at that year’s CMA Awards.  However, her 2015 debut pop hit “Ex’s & Oh’s,” which served as the lead single on her debut album Love Stuff, achieved platinum status, selling more than a million copies.

With the release of her first country album Come Get Your Wife–which contains her Top 40 hit, Dierks Bentley collaboration “Worth A Shot,” and her platinum single “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” with Miranda Lambert, King has now found a home in Nashville and with Country Music.  On the album, King also sings about motherhood in the song “Lucky,” inspired by her infant son, and her small-town roots in the song “Ohio.” Growing up between Los Angeles and southern Ohio, King, a four-time Grammy Award nominee, is the daughter of actor/comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member Rob Schneider, where she boasts about “eating ketchup, baloney, and cheese sandwiches.”  

King has had Number 1 hits on four different Billboard formats, including pop, alternative, and country, and embraces this diversity.   “What’s cool about that diversity is, that I believe, I’m the only female to have achieved this and it speaks to my versatility and love for different styles of music,” says King.  “As an artist, I feel very proud of this success, as I started as a banjo playing girl who could open for anyone and play any kind of music.  I was a bit of a Chameleon.                                                           

“It took me a while to realize that this was my strong suit, and I could use this diversity through my songwriting and the rest of my career.  I continue to express myself creatively, and feel it is a testament to the strength of music.  You don’t have to always fit into one box, and I am constantly inspired by so many new things and creating new sounds.” 

While King does not know if she will ever have four hits in four different genres again, she plans to continue to push new boundaries, and just “loves music in any capacity.”  Having made Nashville her home, at least for now, her background comes from country/blues and once she was embraced by the country music world, she felt free to explore her vision and even to get involved with producing her songs.

“I was able to speak a language that people didn’t always understand in different genres, and this has been a cool experience, making me realize that this is where I should plant my roots,” explains King.  “But I am sitting on a pop album and will release it when the time is right for my music to be out in the world.  I wrote “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna to Go Home),” eight years ago, but it wasn’t released until 2021.”

One of King’s most successful collaborations has been with Lambert and says that both the female country music star and Dierks Bentley have changed her life in major ways.  She feels that they have raised the bar in the way they write their music, and run their tours, and who they play music with.  Lambert took a shot with King and asked her to go on tour with her after they recorded “Drunk” together, and the rest is musical history.  “We had no idea what was going to happen with that song, much less getting a Grammy nomination.  We performed the song at the end of the concert and Miranda is so much fun, so caring, and a massive light in this world.”

This collaboration occurred when Bentley and King were working on “Worth a Shot,” and he introduced her to Lambert.  King had just given birth to her son, Lucky after experiencing two painful pregnancy losses and started working on the song just three months later, still emotionally and physically drained after finally becoming a full-time mom.  The song was written by Ross Copperman and Shane McAnally, and Bentley had cut the track individually before offering it to King.  

Coming full circle, King then invited Bentley to be her duet partner on the song.  She feels very proud to have both “Worth a Shot” and “Drunk” on her first country album.  Growing up, King participated in ‘friends’ groups’ where everyone sang together, and she loves that there is still that aspect in modern country music today.

Perhaps her most personal song is “Lucky,” where she explains that loss is a part of life.  “I think that loss contributes to growth, and I went through feeling totally depleted both physically and spiritually after losing two babies,” King explains.  “Sometimes you need things that are really hard and painful to push through to new growth.  After these experiences I really changed my life, moving to a ranch in New Mexico to find peace, living alone with my animals, including donkeys and goats.  I was also fostering dogs and responsible for the care of eight puppies.”

During this quiet time, King focused on healing and her writing, and being of service to this new community, volunteering to help women take care of their children.  “That was when I was blessed with the pregnancy that became Lucky Levi.  My baby came into my life, and I had no idea if we were going to have a girl or boy, but it was Lucky either way.  Now I have this beautiful driving force and know that I can’t quit moving forward with my music.  There are certain things I can’t do because it may affect my son’s life, but I still travel the world, now with my son in tow, and these are experiences that hopefully we will remember for the rest of our lives.”

Animals, babies, and music are now King’s life, and writing the song “Lucky” happened almost organically.  After working on the lyrics on her tour bus, she and Lucky returned to their hotel room, where she played the song for him.  He seemed to know intuitively that this was his song.   “He recognizes my voice, and it’s beautiful to see,” King recently told People magazine.  “He’ll go up and put his hand on the speaker.”  The heartfelt lyrics chronicle the sometimes tumultuous life King led before finding happiness with fiancé Dan Tooker, a tattoo artist, and finally becoming a mom.  

“I’ve been a runner / I’ve been a fighter / I’ve been the fuse / Hell, I’ve been the lighter / There’s only one way to explain how I got here...  / I got lucky,” King sings on the poignant track.

“That was when I was blessed with the pregnancy that became Lucky Levi.  My baby came into my life, and I had no idea if we were going to have a girl or boy, but it was Lucky either way.  Now I have this beautiful driving force and know that I can’t quit moving forward with my music. ”

Now two-and-a-half years old, King calls her son a ‘Road Dog,’ explaining that he inspires her on tour and is a wonderful traveler.  

In addition to being a remarkable singer, gifted songwriter, and performer, King’s banjo playing on the song “Bonafide” is amazing and has been called an “acoustic country masterpiece.”  Playing the banjo since the age of 14, she seems to have a real gift for acoustic instruments.  “I’m not sure it is a gift,” King says modestly, “but when I was a young girl my mom introduced me to violin studies, and I hated it.  But something must have stuck, as I am very drawn to acoustic instruments.  

“It’s not that I’m a renowned player in any shape or form, I can’t even read music and play just by feel, but my band members, who are all classically trained, may sometimes know what you’re not supposed to play, which can impede you from knowing what you should play.  Sometimes I think this lack of professional training affords a certain freedom, as I can think out of the box which can lead to some cool songwriting.  My dad was a massive Elvis fan and Beatles obsessed, so there has always been music in my life.” 

As her career has progressed, she realizes that there is ebb and flow in her creativity, and when she has that flash, King will stop whatever she is doing to put down the words on paper.  However, there can be a struggle between “my music creativity and this creation that we have made—my son, which is life.  I’m still trying to find my balance, and still do not have it quite have it figured it out yet.”  Having toured with everyone from Lambert, Bentley, and recently internationally with The Chicks, we asked her about any wild stories that she experienced on the road, she coyly says, “that some things need to stay backstage.”

Touring extensively in both the United States and internationally, King finds a difference in the audience and energy from state-to-state, as well as in Australia and New Zealand where she was touring with The Chicks.  “But Europe is a whole new world unto itself and is so fun,” says King.  “I feel that my music is more well-known in the states.  That said, I am a stage performer and don’t have a preference where I perform as I love live music and am really looking forward to going back to Europe this Spring.   Country music is really exploding over there, and I am super-excited to get back.”

Moving forward into 2024, King will have some musical surprises on her next full-length country album, and will pull in some performer favors, as well as spotlighting one gem, that she’s excited to release.  And speaking of country, she recently went horseback riding to pan for gold.  So, is King a bit of a Cowgirl?

“I absolutely am,” she gushes.  “My family in Northern California has horses and my mom’s side is from Ohio, so I grew up riding 4-Wheelers, running around barefoot, and have even eaten squirrel.  Southern Country was a massive part of my life, so when I moved to New York at age eleven, people made fun of the way I talked and dressed, and it has taken me a long time to be able to open up about who I am and where I came from.”

“I write from the perspective of being me, I don’t try to be someone that I’m not, and my fans and followers seem to really like it.  At the end of the day, I’m a mom, but a silly girl as well.”

She believes that because of who her dad is, people have preconceived notion about her.  But she is now over that part of her life where she feels that she must tell people who she is or is expected to be.  It wasn’t until King immersed herself in Country Music that she began to feel comfortable with who she was and where she came from, and was then able to share a bit of that part of her life with her fans.  “My family is first with me, and people can be cruel, so I’m very protective of them, but yes...I am country as Hell!

“My dad’s sister had a horse ranch in California where I would ride, and I have always loved horses, horseback riding, and just being around them.  So, any chance I can get on a horse, I feel it’s freedom, trust, and non-verbal communication.  I learned about this relationship when I had miniature donkeys at the ranch in New Mexico.  They have gotten such a bad rap, and are incredibly smart animals, not stubborn or uncooperative, but you have to work with them to earn their trust.”

King plans to purchase a ranch in Tennessee and bring her donkeys there, as well as getting several horses to have on the property.  Her goal is to instill this love for animals and down-to-earth-living, which has served her so well, in her son Lucky.   

Her less sensitive and wilder side loves being on stage and serving as a host for some of Country music’s biggest moments and events.  She recently took the stage at the Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, California, co-hosted the CMA Fan Fest with Lainey Wilson and Bentley, as well as lighting up New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash, performing with Wilson and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  “New Year’s Eve is the one party we celebrate all over the world,” says King, “and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other place than Music City!”

“My music is one thing, but I also really enjoy performing both in front of an audience and on TV and enjoy being medium weird and wild.  I know that I’m funny and really like being myself on camera, but have never seriously wanted to be an actor, as it has taken my entire life for me to be okay with being me.  I write from the perspective of being me, I don’t try to be someone that I’m not, and my fans and followers seem to really like it.  At the end of the day, I’m a mom, but a silly girl as well.”

King deeply believes that her music evolves and changes and grows as she does through her life and that she will continue pressing new boundaries, because she just, “really loves music.”  WW

HAIR AND MAKEUP ARTIST: Chris “Bear” Garcia @chrisbearmakeup

WARDROBE STYLIST: Twila Trahan @twilatrahanstylist

ASSISTANT STYLING: Madeline Harrington @maddifrances

PRODUCTION: Ken Amorosano

BTS VIDEO: Minni Moreklithavong

PHOTO ASSISTANT: Sinatra Jones

LOCATION: The Underdog, Nashville