Long before country artist Jana Kramer got a record deal or started a family or even thought about the possibility of a pandemic, she sat down in her East Nashville house and wrote the song we’d all need to hear ten years later.
It was way, way back in 2010 when Kramer booked a songwriting session with Nicole Witt and Emily Shackelton and together they penned “Untouchable.”
“I didn’t have a record deal yet. I was just writing with them — obviously amazing talent — in my East Nashville house. The very first house I ever bought: a cute little green dollhouse,” Kramer told me when we had a chance to talk (in a socially distant way). “The third bedroom was a writing room, and Emily was on the piano and Nicole was on the guitar. And I love a good ballad: something that kind of pulls at your heartstrings. So I had this idea of a love that you can’t touch, but it’s so strong and so powerful that no matter what, you’ll be able to get through it.”
The song didn’t make the cut on her self-titled debut album in 2012. Or her second album Thirty One in 2015. But now, a decade later, it’s just right for right now.
“With everything kind of going on, I was like, ’We have to just be so strong through all of this.’ We have that strong love, where nothing can shake what we have. No stress, no anxiety, no fear. And nothing can touch a love like that. That is what I wanted when I was writing in my 20s: something that will not break and will not shatter. I want love that is untouchable.
“You’re not alone if you’re yearning for that, and if you do have it, you need to cherish it and hold it and love it.”
You can stream “Untouchable” here.
When the conversation turned to the stay-home quarantine and the coronavirus pandemic, Kramer and I were all in our feelings over how hard it has hit our hometowns near Detroit. “All of my family still lives there. And actually my aunt lost her dad, my cousin lost his grandpa, and it’s just been so sad. It’s just awful. My brother’s a sheriff there, all of my cousins are nurses and doctors, and they’re all working so hard. This is what’s on everyone’s heart,” she said.
The whole thing has definitely been a transition for her and her husband Mike Caussin and their children Jolie Rae and Jace Joseph, Kramer added, because they are so used to a much busier pace.
“This is so different, and to be locked in one place has been tough. Fortunately, it’s been nice in Nashville,” she said, “so we’ve been able to get outside. And we cleared out our garage so that we can play in there when it’s raining. I think what’s been keeping us sane.”
Another silver lining for Kramer is that she feels so much more present with her family. “Usually I always have to post something or have a meeting or go somewhere, and then I’m trying to be present with them but I’m not present. So now I am, and that’s been really helpful with a teething toddler and a four-year-old who wants to go to all these places, like ice skating and Chuck E. Cheese.
“I’m like, ’I know, honey. When they open, I promise we’ll go.’”
