Rising Nashville star Carter Faith shares a new song, “Bar Star,” via MCA. The track offers an early look into her highly anticipated debut album, Cherry Valley, out now.
“‘Bar Star’ is a fun song about a lovable honky-tonk man,” says Carter. “In simple terms, he’s the star of the bar—for better or for worse—but damnit, she loves him.”
Carter unveils a surprise bonus track, “Billy Bob Thornton (Worktape),” alongside the new single.
Carter says, “I wrote this song about Billy Bob Thornton because I literally love him. I’ve always thought he was so talented, and I’ve wanted to marry many of the characters he’s played over the years,” she continues. “I just had to write about it, and I hope people like this little glimpse into my one-track mind.”
“Bar Star” follows previous album offerings “If I Had Never Lost My Mind…,” “Grudge,” and most recently, “Sex, Drugs and Country Music.” The tracks have served to tide fans over since her The Aftermath EP last fall, which featured a duet with Alison Krauss.
Cherry Valley is a document of Carter’s time in Nashville, working chronologically through her breakout successes and gut-punching breakups, new loves and family dustups. It’s named for an imagined place, a road sign Carter once saw that came to signify her creative home, a sweet spot where her old school influences like Tammy Wynette, Nancy Sinatra, Pet Sounds and Revolver meet today’s country. The album synthesizes all that into a signature Carter Faith sound.
The songs on Cherry Valley span Carter’s journey from her North Carolina hometown to Nashville, with all the heartbreak, triumph and hazy nights in between. Carter and longtime producer Tofer Brown spent two years crafting tracks for the album before finally entering the studio in 2024 to lay it down. All the while, Carter was working relentlessly to climb the ranks of country music, signing to MCA and Universal Music Publishing Group, gracing the Opry stage a dozen times, sharing stages with idols like Willie Nelson, and racking up hundreds of millions of streams.