WATCH: Sabine McCalla Shares ‘Two of Hearts’

Soulful debut LP, Don’t Call Me Baby, out Nov. 7

October 21, 2025October 21, 2025 Ron Hart 0 Comments 2025, Don't Call Me Baby, Gar Hole Records, Howlin' Wolf, Irma Thomas, King Oliver, Lana del Rey, Lonnie Johnson, Rhiannon Giddens, Sabine McCalla, The Beatles, Two of Hearts

Sabine McCalla and pup. (Image: Camile Lenain)

Growing up in an open-minded New Jersey household to Haitian parents, Sabine McCalla enjoyed the freedom to explore her own musical interests from an early age.

The sister of Leyla McCalla of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Sabine took in chamber music at the age of 8 while also filling her little ears with Motown classics, girl group hits, Bob Marley records, Beatles songs and Haitian folk music.

“I could see similarities between some Haitian songs and some Beatles songs,” she says. “Haitian music has a lot of gang vocal harmonies, and I heard similar things in the girl group songs I loved, too. I started to see how all those sounds connected.”

For her debut album, Don’t Call Me Baby, Sabine channels these listening sessions from her young youth to create a collection of songs that fall somewhere between Lana del Rey’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club and Rhiannon Giddens’ Freedom Highway with elements of Brazilian samba, dark Sade-esque soul and even Britpop into the mix.

Also heavily informing her sound is the city of New Orleans, her adopted hometown where these nine new songs capture their creative light.

“I was pulled to New Orleans by the music, from pre-war and trad jazz to the development of rock & roll,” she explains. “I was pulled in by artists like Irma Thomas, King Oliver, Howlin’ Wolf and Lonnie Johnson. And then I was pulled by the food. And then I was pulled by the culture.”

Sabine McCalla *Don’t Call Me Baby*, Gar Hole Records 2025

And perhaps no other song on the upcoming LP is more indicative of McCalla’s songcraft than “Two of Hearts,” which is not a Stacey Q cover but rather the quintessential distillation of her influences set against a riverbank adorned with vintage kitchenware in the song’s vividly crafted video.

“This is a love song about my suitors,” she tells Rock & Roll Globe. “It is the conglomeration of three separate journal entries about different men. I began writing it during the super moon of 2020. I was watching the full moon rise with someone I adored at the time. The second man was a funky musician I’d met on the road and the third was the man who was to become my partner for the next three years.

“He had been eyeing me for several months without saying a word. At a Mardi Gras parade one evening he stood by me catching the throws for a friend and I. When I thanked him for gifting my friend the throws he pulled a two of hearts playing card from his pocket and passed it to me. And this simple hand trick inspired the rest of the song. I first showed Sam Doores the song and he immediately wrote the guitar hook.”

Don’t Call Me Baby comes out on Nov. 7 via Gar Hole Records.