#577 - Kaitlin Butts on “You Ain’t Gotta Die” Going Viral + Stage Vulnerability
Bobby Bones Presents: The BobbyCast
Nashville Podcast Network
4.8 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kaitlin Butts sits down with Bobby to break down how “You Ain’t Gotta Die” went from a song in her set to the one people show up already knowing—thanks to a viral moment, a karaoke run-in, and a soundcheck decision that unexpectedly changed everything. She talks about why the track feels cathartic to sing, what it’s like hearing a crowd belt it back, and how leaning into vulnerability on stage has become the whole point. Plus: growing up between city life and Oklahoma country life, navigating industry attention after the song popped, and why being fully yourself is the only strategy that lasts.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:10.8 | Did you ever float there? |
| 0:12.1 | I don't float. |
| 0:12.7 | I don't like to have my shirt off. |
| 0:14.5 | I don't float. |
| 0:15.6 | No, I don't float. |
| 0:16.2 | I'm Bobby Bones and I don't float. |
| 0:19.9 | All right, the guest will be Caitlin Butts coming up. I'm a big fan of Caitlin Butts. She has the song, You Ain't Got to Die to Be Dead to Me. And she put out a record called the Yeha Sessions. We talk about it. It's covers. But she did Jimmy Eat World, the middle, which I thought was great. We get into all that, but just so you have some context about who you're listening to. She has the Roadrunner Tour 2.0 in Europe and the United States, and tickets all up at Caitlinbutts.com. K-A-I-T-L-I-N, B-T-T-S dot com. Caitlin has spelled so many ways, which I've learned |
| 0:54.2 | because that is my wife's name and everybody spells it wrong. There's with the K, there's with the C, there's with the Y. So Tulsa, Oklahoma Native, and let's talk to her now. Super funny. Love her music. It is, Caitlin, good to see you. Good to see you, too. I got to start by saying I never wear cowboy hats. Yeah, it looks good on you. |
| 1:11.7 | And this wasn't for you. |
| 1:13.2 | It wasn't. |
| 1:14.0 | Because I would have thought, Good to see you. Good to see you too. I got to start by saying I never wear cowboy hats. Yeah, it looks good on you. |
| 1:11.7 | And this wasn't for you. |
| 1:13.2 | It wasn't. |
| 1:13.9 | Because I would have thought perfect timing. Yeah. But I got a package from Landman today. Ooh, that's perfect. You're not wearing it backwards. It's perfect. You did it. Well, I'm from Arkansas. So I mean, I wore cowboy hats a little bit as a kid. |
| 1:28.1 | Yeah. |
| 1:28.5 | But I grew up more white trash. I'm from Arkansas. So I mean, I wore cowboy hats a little bit as a kid. |
| 1:28.1 | Yeah. |
| 1:28.5 | But I grew up more white trash country than cowboy country. Yeah. There's a distinct difference. Yeah, truly. I didn't grow up either way. So I've definitely been on stage before and gotten off stage and been like, my hat is on backwards right now. No way. Yeah. It was like, it felt kind of funny on my head the whole |
| 1:46.9 | time, but it's like I get ready in the dark half the time in my van, like in between seats. |
| 1:53.4 | That's why I have so many wardrobe malfunctions. I have a lot of I, the way to get ready is not |
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