Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh It's almost done!

Whew! Thanks for your patience! The album is in its last 2 days of mixing, and is getting mastered on the 7th. AND it's getting mastered by this guy. I guess if you've mastered a CD for Arcade Fire and Soul Asylum, you're qualified to work for me :)

I don't even know what to say... I'm just so thrilled with how this album has turned out, and so thankful for all your support in making it. I don't want to take away from the experience you'll have listening to the full album (which, by the way, goes to production after getting mastered and gets picked up on March 31st just in time to take to my DC CD release on 4/1. Philly CD release is on 4/2. I'll mail them all out as soon as I get them so expect them soon after!) but here's a little taste (unmastered, and converted into mp3s. The album will sound will be of much higher quality...):

A quiet one (Porcelain Doll):


And a loud one (Like You Mean It):


Hip, hip hooray! See you at the CD releases, I hope.

Kamikaze Update

Ooh ooh ooh! The title track is getting closer. We're in the homestretch folks. CD releases have been booked for DC and Philly (April 1st and 2nd) and I'm so excited to get this CD into your hands!

First, here's the latest version of Kamikaze Love (sans shaker, and with cool background vox at the end). It's been my go-to cheer-up song as of late. (Odd choice for a pick-me-up, I know. But I'm so excited about how it's sounding.):



Also, I'm going to book a Boston area CD release for sometime this spring, and will be looking for other CD release venues. If you think you'd like to host a CD Release house concert, and could round up some friends to listen, email me and we'll talk details.

Thanks guys!
-Kate

Even When It's Bad...

Those of you who have been following me for a few years know the story...

I had been bugging myself to go see more live music. (It's so easy to get into a pattern of playing music all the time, but not listening to it.) I had driven from DC to Annapolis to see the fantastic Chris Trapper play, and sometime around midnight, I began the 40 minute drive home.

Stroke of luck #1: I was not speeding, not talking on my phone, not reaching blindly into the backseat for the next CD in my audio book (as I had on the drive TO Annapolis). The radio wasn't even on.  Some distance ahead of me, a truck swerved out of my lane and directly into the left guardrail. My eyes followed the truck, and my mind registered the event, thinking "that was strange" as my eyes returned back to the center lane. At that point I saw it.  A couch. In the center lane of a 65 mph highway. It was laid out perfectly, as if someone was about to sit down and watch my approaching car like a television.

Photoshopped, for your enjoyment...

Seriously. Like that. But a little farther away

Anyway, I didn't hit the couch. It would have flipped my little Honda, and I'm fairly certain I would have died. The truck was to my left, so I swerved right and hit the guardrail, my car spinning around in the process.

Stroke of luck #2: My Honda (which had been CURSED from the moment I bought it, as was proven by its ridiculous death) was totaled, but my only injury was a small cut on my arm from a broken window. The driver's side door was crumpled in so that it was *just* touching that arm. A few more inches and things could have been far worse.

Whoever dropped the couch never stopped. A few other kind and caring people did. The next day, car-less and confused, I did the only thing that felt natural, as silly as it was. I played piano. I wrote a song.

My car, a few days later.

I knew that all things considered, I was lucky, and that I would figure this out, because that's what we do. It's the only option when things get crazy. I wrote "Even When It's Bad" because upon hearing about the accident, fans had already started donating to keep me on the road. I came up with a plan: lock myself in the office, record this song and a few others, and make a limited edition CD. People could pay what they wanted. A pessimistic friend warned me that "pay what you want" meant "pay little or pay nothing." I didn't believe him.

Within ten days, I'd sold all 100 copies, and raised enough to pay off what was left of the cursed, stupid, silver-stress-mobile (FYI–putting 30,000 miles per year on your car really depreciates the insurance value) and have a little left over to put towards the down payment on a new car.

The song, "Even When It's Bad," got me to the Kerrville New Folk Contest this year. It won Kerrville. Winning got me new fans who have helped greatly in the making this album. I play this song when I'm sad, and I play it when I feel lucky.

Thank you so much for helping me then, and for helping me now. I keep saying this, but it's because it's true, as trite as it may sound. I feel really, really lucky.

We're keeping this one simple for the CD. Here's a peek...

Holy Crap... Strings!

Happy New Year!

I'm just getting back into the swing of things after a nice holiday break, and the album has been plugging along. Most recently, my friend Ike Marr added a string quartet to "Can't Wait." (Seriously!)

Here's a sneak peak. The final product won't be quite so stringy, but I think you can tell where this is going. (It is going, specifically, to Awesometown.)

Promises :)

So, in my response to the comments on the last post, I said I'd put something else up tonight. I've been putting up partial song clips for two reasons:

1) I still want you to be surprised and excited when you get the finished product

and

2) Some parts of these songs are still missing instruments, etc.

So, this clip will have a bit more on it, and background vocals, but "Nothing to Do With You" will sound something like this...

Done, and not done.

Well, I'm done. Or at least, done singing.

I'm currently at BWI, on my way back to Nashville from Boston. As of last night, I'm done with all the vocals and background vocals for the album. I'm so happy, and this weekend was the first time that I got to hear the tracks in their near-finished form. They still need a few elements (a sweet guitar pattern here and there. organ. magic.), and then to be mixed and mastered. But even as they are, I'm in love with them.

Every once in a while (but not all that often) I sit on the subway as I did this morning, and wonder what it's like to be that girl across the aisle. She had a very nice coat. She looked like she was on her way to a job that was dependable, lucrative and well-respected. I imagine she had an office. Owned a condo. Her income in June is the same as her income in November. That must be awesome.

Every time I wonder what it's like to be someone else or mentally trade places, I happily return to the path I'm on. Making this album has not only affirmed my career choice, but reminded me that I'm extraordinarily lucky.

And I am extraordinarily lucky because of you. You have donated to this album, and without that it simply would not have been possible. There is big gray cloud that seems to loom over the music industry these days. I suppose the folks who are afraid have every right to be. The ways they made music and made their livings are changing. I, however, am hopeful. As long as there are musicians, there will be music. And as long as there are folks like you, it will be heard.

Here are some sneak peaks...

Kamikaze Love:


Like You Mean It:


The Boston Song:

Ah! Overdue, I know :)

So, I'm off to Boston again in a few days. We'll be recording the final round of background vocals, and finalizing a lot of other parts, too. I can't wait. (It really does get hard to be away from the project. Brian has been diligently mixing and adding guitar parts for the past month. It's sounding great!)

Songs are at different levels of completion, and there are several songs that won't have much production beyond just me and the piano.

This song, "Somewhere" doesn't have any other parts yet, and we probably won't add much. I'm currently working out a second vocal part. Here it is for you, a bare bones version. Let's see how it ends up :)