Singer-songwriters Caitlin Cannon and Alice Wallace have teamed up for a new duo, Side Pony, and their debut single’s music video is premiering exclusively on The Boot. “Lucky Break” finds the positive in the negative — something the pair have been trying to do all pandemic long.
“Everyone was in the same boat this past year: life and career coming to a screeching halt in one way or another. And Caitlin and I used our weekly co-writing sessions to process that,” Wallace tells The Boot. “What felt like a devastating setback one day could feel like a beautiful opportunity the next, and that’s what we tried to convey with this song.”
Cannon explains that she found inspiration in an ancient Chinese parable about a farmer and his runaway horse, meant to show how something that’s seemingly bad can actually be something good. “But for me,” she says, “it was: You just released a record into thin air and you can’t tour it. Oh, and you can’t make money. Oh, and you have to live with your parents, too. And I just thought, ‘Okay, good news, bad news, who can say?'”
Cannon and Wallace recorded “Lucky Break” at producer and guitarist Doug Lancio’s East Nashville studio; they looked to East Nashville filmmaker Scot Sax for the music video. In lovely harmony, the pair reason in each chorus, “Have you ever prayed for your whole life to change? / Well, this could be your lucky break;” they’re also accompanied by bassist Chris Autry, drummer Bryan Owings and keys player Dan Mitchell.
Cannon and Wallace, both solo artists, first met at a songwriters’ round in 2018, at which they were seated next to each other. They began co-writing and later decided to form Side Pony and make their creative partnership officially official. Wallace released her most recent album, Into the Blue, in 2019; Cannon, meanwhile, dropped her solo debut, The TrashCannon Album, in 2020.
“Lucky Break” is due out widely on Friday (April 16) and available to pre-order and pre-save now. Cannon and Wallace are currently at work on their debut album, due out in October via Mule Kick Records; keep up with their goings-on at SidePonyBand.com.