TRANS ARTIST CIDNY BULLENS RELEASES NEW SINGLE, “NOT WITH YOU” — FROM HIS KILL ROCK STARS DEBUT LITTLE PIECES
THE DUET, FEATURING BETH NIELSON CHAPMAN, IS AVAILABLE TODAY ON ALL STREAMING SERVICES
August 1, 2023: Today, trans artist Cidny Bullens is releasing his new single, “Not With You,” from his upcoming debut album for Kill Rock Stars, Little Pieces, out October 27. The single, a duet with Beth Nielson Chapman, is premiering at Goldmine magazine; it’s a full-throated love song about how the right person can make the impossible seem natural. Goldmine is also featuring an in-depth interview with Bullens about his storied career, from his longtime association with Sir Elton John to singing three songs for the Grease movie soundtrack, (recorded under the name Cindy Bullens), through losing his daughter Jessie, to cancer at age 11 and the album it inspired, Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth. The interview takes us to the present day and Bullens’ new candid, moving memoir,
TransElectric: My Life as a Cosmic Rock Star, which features a foreword by his long-time friend Elton John. (Bullens’ recent book reading in Nashville was a standing-room only affair, featuring a Q&A by friend/collaborator Rodney Crowell and an audience made up of a Who’s Who of Americana artists, including Beth Nielson Chapman, Mary Gauthier and Jaime Harris, Lucinda Williams, and others.)
WATCH THE VIDEO
“Not With You,” the centerpiece of Bullens’ first album under his new name and coming out as a trans man, revels in a golden twang over which the duo’s voices soar: “Love’s a chance that’s hard to take/ Knowing that my heart could break/ It’s nothing but a big mistake/ A crazy thing to do/ But not with you.” Stanton Edwards’ lead guitar solo wraps everything in a fluorescent glow, while Bullens chops away at the guitar. The newly married Bullens sounds particularly impassioned here, inspired by falling in love in a life with its fair share of pain. “Of every star that’s in the sky, I found you,” he sings, the smile emblazoned on his face in the accompanying music video audible in his delivery, a testament to the open-hearted expression that runs throughout the album’s other 10 tracks.
Bullens talks about writing “Not With You” with Beth Nielson Chapman: “It may be the first mainstream duet of a trans man and a regular woman,” he says with a laugh. “We love singing together. ‘Not with You’ is about my wife Tanya, where love is off the table with most people, but not with you, honey, I’m going for it.”
Little Pieces will be out on October 27 and features a batch of burnished twangy, hook-filled rock songs that explores Bullens’ transition. While TransElectric: My Life as a Cosmic Rock Star lays bare his musical history and heart for all to see, Little Pieces, its musical companion, distills that same beauty into the taut musicianship, expressive poetry, and thoughtful melodies that are the hallmarks of his career. Produced by Nashville legend Ray Kennedy (Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell), this set of songs crackles with vibrant life and a refusal to be defined by anything but itself. Bullens is now married and based in Nashville, where Kill Rock Stars’ Slim Moon met Cidny and fell in love with the album, previously titled Walkin’ Through This World. KRS has remastered and repackaged the album to reach a wider audience and added the new single, which is out today.
Family is what powers Little Pieces, both in the love for Bullens’ wife and his children. Bullens’ eldest daughter, Reid Bullens Crewe, joins on “Healing the Break,”a song of hope and redemption in the face of darkness—the duet serenely backed by loping acoustic guitar as they expose old wounds and join together in the healing.
With Little Pieces, his first album under the name Cidny, Bullens is reborn again, fully embracing his truest self. “This is a new beginning,” he smiles. “This is me now.”
