The singer/songwriter known simply as Cam has managed to carve a comfortable path between the two extremes of country music success. Her sound is neither solidly nostalgic, à la Margo Price and Kacey Musgraves, nor does it turn down the twang and stomp used by crossover hitmakers like Lady Antebellum.
Instead, the Bay Area-born artist found a verdant middle ground with “Burning House,” a balanced and patient ballad written when she lived in Portland for a year. Sent aloft by a chilly string section, it’s free of nostalgic winks or contemporary glitz, and landed in heavy rotation on country radio, helping to carry Cam’s 2015 album Untamed into the upper reaches of the charts. It’s also kept her wheels spinning for the past two years between headlining tours and opening spots for everyone from George Strait to former One Direction member Harry Styles.