Cam on How Eric Church Inspired New Album ‘Untamed’: The Ram Report

With the December 11th release of her debut album Untamed, Cam provided country music with one of its most well-rounded records of the year. Over 11 tracks, all of them co-written by the singer, Untamed showcases the best of pop-country as seen through the lens of Cam’s California sensibility, as well as the artist’s gift for emotional purging. “Burning House” may be the most vulnerable single released to radio this year.

While recording the album, produced by Jeff Bhasker and Tyler Johnson, Cam says she looked to country progressives Eric Church and Zac Brown for inspiration.

“I really admire Eric Church and what he and [producer] Jay Joyce do, and Tyler and I and Jeff listened a lot to what they’d done. I still have Chief in my car,” Cam says of Church’s 2011 breakout album. “I think he’s super inspiring in that he makes music he wants to make. . . I also really admire Zac Brown Band and the way they have built this family around what they do. That’s really important to me.”

Cam says a similar family spirit informed Untamed. “I got to make this whole album with my friends, who started out with nothing to their name either, and I’m really proud of that, that we all grew up together and helped create this music together over the past five years,” she says.

With songs like “Burning House” and the devilish “My Mistake,” Cam is bringing transparent songwriting back to the genre.

Says the songwriter, “I try really hard to write things that are uncomfortable to say.”