Family Tree

Album: If It Wasn’t For You (2019)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Co-written by Caylee Hammack with Gordie Sampson and Troy Verges, this rollicking autobiographical song finds the South Georgia native introducing herself by describing her small-town upbringing and the family who shaped her.

    Sister smoked all the camels in the county last week
    She cleaned out the 7-Eleven, sneaking in, smelling like nicotine
    Mama's burning chicken for the tupperware party tonight
    And daddy's asleep in his chair the TV's blaring the stats for halftime


    Hammack kicks off the quirky tune by describing her home life, which includes a sister, Molly, who hides her smoking habit from Caylee. She explained to Billboard that a few days after she'd discovered Molly smoking, they went to the gas station together and found they were out of Camel Crushes. Caylee said to her sister, "Dang Molly, you must've smoked them out in this county."

    Hammack liked that line, and when went into a writing session with Gordie Sampson and Troy Verges a few weeks later she had it noted down. After sharing it with the other two songwriters, they said, "Wait, that's kind of cool. Tell us about your family." So Hammack started talking about some of the quirks in her family.
  • "Family Tree" was the first song that Hasmmack started working on for her debut record. It's the first song that she'd ever produced myself, and she and her co-producer, Mikey Reeves, spent around 55 hours working on the tune.
  • Not only does Hammack sing about the people she loves the most in "Family Tree," but she purposely made the song with some of her best friends, including co-producer Mikey Reeves. "We only had our friends play on it," she told The Boot. "We only had people we loved play on it."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."