6 ft. deep

"The idea that graves should always be 6 feet deep has been around for a long time. There is no agreement about where this idea came from. For some it comes from London in 1665, where the Lord Mayor ordered that all "graves shall be at least 6-foot deep" under the presumption that doing so would prevent the spread of the Black Death."

(Chris Raymong / verywellhealth.com, 14. Oktober 2023)

Accordingly, the phrase Six Feet Deep or Six Feet Under has long since become a synonym for dead and buried in the English language. Or figuratively, for killing someone. So if a song is titled 'Six Feet Deep', one can assume that it deals with the topic. And in this particular case that actually is so, as we are looking at a murder ballad, which is no stranger to the country genre.

I dug a hole 'bout six feet deep,
made sure that you don't ever come back.
I burned your clothes and tossed your keys
and made sure that you don't ever come back.

(Six Feet Deep / Atia Chade Boggs, Dave Bassett, Ingrid Andress)

The song, in which artist and songwriter Ingrid Andress was involved as a writer, makes sure, that no one has to feel sorry for the victim, as the lyrics put that person in the worst possible light. There's talk of cheating, lying, stealing, and robbing: and I know it won't hurt nobody's feelings, when I tell them you just disappeared.

'Six Feet Deep' is the sixth song that petite, now 24-year-old Lanie Gardner has released. Originally from North Carolina but now based in Nashville, she first gained widespread attention in October of 2020 when her cover version of the Fleetwood Mac song ' Dreams', which she had recorded at home, went viral. Until then she had been one of countless other hopeful youngsters covering well-known hits on TikTok and YouTube.

After that viral moment, everything changed! Her 'Dreams' - version, which currently holds at 48 mio. views on YouTube alone, not only brought her to the attention of the Jonas Brothers, but with their help also earned her a contract with Republic Records. On top of it, David Guetta put her voice on his own version of 'Dreams'.

In November 2022 she finally got to release the first of her own music. The song with its bouncy pop beats is called 'Better Luck Next Guy' and also co-written by her. It is not, as one might assume from the title, about her own bad luck in love, but rather about that of the other girls who have cast their eye on her boyfriend: 'cause the only one he's lovin' on are Jack Daniel's and me.

The quieter 'Roses & Wildfire' followed in March of 2023, and for which she is once again contributing as a songwriter. It tells the end of a relationship and lets aristopr.com write: "[The song] showcases Gardner’s remarkable ability to seamlessly blend classic rock grit with her Appalachian folk roots, creating a genre-defying pop-country sound."

She further demonstrates her versatility in August of 2023 with the pulsating, blues-rock driven 'Daughter of a Gun', which was appropriately chosen as the theme song for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on September 16, 2023 in Las Vegas between the two fighters Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko.

Just 2 months later she shows yet another side of her musical self with the electronic pop elements on 'Blood Mountain', while she sings about the turmoil of love in folk-rock singer-songwriter style on 'House of Mirrors' which gets released the same day: I swear love feels like a circus.

And at the end of October 2023, Jelly Roll even invited her to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to open his show there and later join him on stage.

Lanie Gardner kicked 2024 off with her latest song, the murder ballad of 'Six Feet Deep', which takes her more into country territory again. The refreshing naturalness with which she skillfully works in different musical styles and a voice that is so clear and yet has some unmistakeable charisma to it makes her an interesting artist with obviously lots of potential. At the same time, however, it also makes it difficult to categorize her. Still being at the very beginning of ther career, it seems no one wants to decide yet where it will take her.

On her website via the Jonas Brothers, she is described as part classic rock with country roots. And in an interview with on Apple Podcasts, she says: "Because I grew up listening to all different types of music, it was a little bit difficult coming into the music industry. Because it was like, I got to choose. I gotta choose a genre, I gotta choose a sound. And then, the longer I was in it - I really just can't really bring myself to caring about choosing something. It's like at some point it's like I am almost feeling unsatisfied with the music I am making if it's all just one genre."

"So that's something we are trying to work on with our projekt: to being able to live in different spaces", Lanie Gardner adds briskly. But by aiming at that, she presents herself with a challenge that has already failed so many musicians before her. Namely, to be successful in a commercial music world that only knows pigeonholes - without allowing herself being pigeonholed into one.