Lola Kirke's 'authentically inauthentic' new EP honors her best 'Country Curious' life

IMDb highlights that, in the past decade, British-born and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Lola Kirke has appeared as an actress 32 times in films and television series, including Amazon Studios' "Mozart in the Jungle," HBO's "Winning Time," Starz's forthcoming "Three Women" and the films "Gone Girl," "Gemini" and "Lost Girls."

Thus, the idea that she'd be filled with trepidation about any activity involving a stage — including, say, wearing a dress once owned by June Carter Cash to debut on the Grand Ole Opry on Feb. 16 — seems highly suspect.

However, the world-traveled, 33-year-old, line-dancing cowboy hat and fringed outfit fanatic with a forthcoming EP (her fourth release in a decade) titled "Country Curious" — produced by her childhood friend and country chart-topper Elle King — isn't the person one might stereotype her as being for someone with roles in a decade's worth of films and TV shows watched by millions of people.

'Into the music more than the aesthetic'

At a morning conversation with The Tennessean, her wavy brown hair is intricately wrapped in a bun while she's draped in a navy blue shawl and eating an avocado and egg bagel sandwich at a coffee shop on 12th Avenue South.

She's still uncomfortable with the buckskin coats, cowboy hats, and Western boots that are the trappings of her apparent success. Yet she always wears them in front of cameras and concert crowds of late.

"I'm into the music more than the aesthetics," Kirke continues.

"I'm not in Nashville pursuing whatever 'hippie cowgirl dreamer' thing is happening in popular culture. I love that aspiration, but it's not for me."

In 2020, Kirke relocated to Nashville, away from Los Angeles' glitz and glamour.

While in Los Angeles, among many things, Kirke was criticized for attending 2017's Golden Globe Awards and not shaving her armpits beforehand, like Julia Roberts' 1999 appearance at the "Notting Hill" movie premiere.

Via social media, she also recalls being shamed for her weight gain, and that keying her being booked less often for high-profile Hollywood roles.

To wit, Kirke's "Country Curious" includes "My House."

She describes the most personal song she's ever written as her "biggest attempt at bro-country, but make it feminist."

A song about "making heartbreak fun and reclaiming your space" includes the lyrics, "C'mon to my house, it's all mine now, I can do whatever I wanna — call up the strippers, take 'em to dinner and sing out loud till the morning / Shed a couple of tears, shotgun a thousand beers, 'cause this is my house since I kicked you out and I can do whatever I wanna."

No hippies, cowgirls or dreamers were injured in the making of "My House."

'Great style is defined by excellent referencing'

Kirke's actress-trained and otherwise-cool, cultivated ability to take a third-person journey from behind a fourth wall has defined much of her life.

She is a Bard College graduate raised in New York City by Simon Kirke (the drummer for the rock bands Bad Company and Free) and Lorraine Kirke, a boutique owner whose shop supplied outfits for the television series "Sex and the City."

Her unique background melds with the worlds of Nashville and related areas of country music and Western culture to offer her unique perspectives on the genre's timeless mainstream motivations.

"Country gives women to be extremely emotionally dynamic — bravery, heart, independence and toughness, plus the ability to be domestic and wild. I've also never heard so many references to men crying as I have in country music. Those contradictions are so interesting."

"Musically or otherwise, great style is defined by excellent referencing," Kirke continues.

"Country music is more an authentic art that speaks to people worldwide than is (solely) defined by places and stereotypes."

For "Country Curious," Kirke collaborates with Rosanne Cash and the Swedish folk duo First-Aid Kit. Moreover, she has written for the release with songwriters behind hits for Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Midland, Nate Smith, Lainey Wilson and Bailey Zimmerman.

The blueprint of her style involves having a live-tracked and neo-traditionally rooted band playing songs where the lyrics of "weird songs from the masculine perspective (are) being flipped to espouse female empowerment."

For instance, "He Says Y'all" is a line-dance-ready song tailor-made for Northern women who unironically wear pearl-snap shirts, Wrangler jeans, and "clean boots" when headed out for a night of meeting "dirty boys" — who are still Southerners with good manners, of course.

'Authentically inauthentic'

"These are my own words that became songs that reflect not only me finding my most honest voice," Kirke says. "I'm learning to accept that I believe in myself and my work a lot more than I give myself credit for doing. Leaning into the broad creative space that country music can allow women to have, I have discovered my best life."

More music: Jennifer Nettles discusses 'Farmer Wants a Wife' and the power of country culture

This year will find Kirke in Music City and jamming out on her Fender Telecaster, but also wearing timeless fashions and line-dancing from Los Angeles' Sunset Strip back to New York's Lower East Side.

She's awestruck, but thoughtful about where her life's journey has led.

"I'd best describe myself as being authentically inauthentic — a Jewish girl from New York City who has always loved country music and is refusing to hide from that anymore."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lola Kirke releases her new Elle King-produced EP 'Country Curious'