Even before Kaitlin Butts released her 2024 Oklahoma!-inspired album Roadrunner! and earned a viral hit with the rowdy kiss-off “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me),” which peaked at No. 59 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in July 2025, she was steadily forging a reputation as a fearless truthteller and a creator of songs with keen, unvarnished lyrics, deeply-ingrained country sounds and theatrical leanings.
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This week, Butts will not only perform as part of Billboard’s annual Country Live event in downtown Nashville on June 5, but will also make her CMA Fest debut, with performances at the Chevy Riverfront Stage and the platform stage at Nissan Stadium.
“It’s hard to process. I’m really excited and did not think that I would ever in my life be able to play a stadium ever,” the Oklahoma-born Butts says of playing Nissan Stadium. “I watched Carter Faith [play Nissan Stadium for CMA Fest] last year and was just so proud of her, and was like, ‘How can we do that?’ And we’re getting to do that this year. I sang at Boone Pickens Stadium with Jason Boland for the Boys From Oklahoma Show. That was a momentous Oklahoma moment, but it wasn’t my moment, either. It was me running onstage to sing with a friend. So, to have this moment just be mine is kind of wild to think about.”
