The Gross Reason Caylee Hammack Avoids Broccoli Before Shows

The list of things Caylee Hammack requires backstage is, by her own admission, pretty “boring”: Essentials like batteries and gum are on the list.

So is a veggie tray for the singer to fill up on after the show.

But what’s not boring is what might happen onstage if Hammack eats that veggie tray before she goes on, instead of after.

Hammack tells Taste of Country Nights‘ Evan Paul that there’s one veggie on the tray that’ll give her serious reflux issues if she eats it and then tries to sing.

“If I eat broccoli, I’ll burp onstage,” Hammack admits. “And it’s always during ‘Small Town Hypocrite’! The saddest song in the [set]. It’s just really bad.”

“Small Town Hypocrite” is one of the most powerful moments in Hammack’s show, because not only is it a heartbreak ballad, but it’s based on her real-life experience. According to The Boot, she wrote it about a boyfriend whom she chose over a college scholarship that would have been her ticket out of her tiny hometown in Georgia.

But the boyfriend eventually broke her heart, and not long after he told her he “wanted space,” she found out he’d moved into a double-wide trailer with a new girlfriend and her three children.

It’s a sad song that has a happy ending: That breakup was what spurred Hammack to move to Nashville and start pursuing her dreams in music, and eventually, it led her right where she is today.

With all that backstory, “Small Town Hypocrite” is a particularly meaningful part of the singer’s set — and certainly nothing to burp through.

Read More: How Caylee Hammack Inspired an Alan Jackson Song

Fresh off the release of her new album, Bed of Roses, Hammack’s got a busy tour calendar coming up in 2025. She’s joining Stephen Wilson, Jr. on tour this spring followed by a trip overseas, including a date opening for Eric Church at London’s Highways Festival.