Meet Katie Skene

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Skene.

Katie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, originally from Tallahassee, FL. When I was about eight, I discovered blues music through my older brother, also a guitar player, and first became enamored with guitarists like Derek Trucks, B.B. King, and Eric Clapton. I kept digging deeper into it, really getting electric blues and southern rock, and became really inspired to take playing guitar more seriously when I heard Susan Tedeschi play and sing when I was about twelve.

I played with bands around Tallahassee all throughout high school, and when I was eighteen moved to Los Angeles to attend The University of Southern California Popular Music Program. It was there that I really got into writing my own songs, although I’d been enamored by artists like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles for a long time. I graduated in 2015 and released my first EP shortly after.

Through a mutual friend it ended up in the hands of some pretty incredible players from the west coast jam band scene, and I started jamming and playing with them, eventually starting a band called California Kind with jam band legends John Molo (Bruce Hornsby & The Range, Phil Lesh & Friends), Barry Sless (David Nelson Band, Phil Lesh & Friends), Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna Electric), and Rob Barraco (Phil Lesh & Friends, Dark Star Orchestra).

We’ve been on the road on and off for the past year or so, playing festivals and shows, and are currently working on a record.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life is always kind of a mixed bag, but honestly, where I’m at right now, reflecting on things as a whole, this journey has seemed pretty cosmic and, while not always pretty or perfect, it has seemed right. Sometimes the biggest struggle is just keeping the faith and trusting the process, and trusting yourself.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
My music lives somewhere in the depths on the broad world of Americana. I am inspired by so many things across the board from Joni to Bessie Smith, from Hendrix to George Jones, from Otis Redding to the Grateful Dead, Delta blues… and so much more. I think the common thread that all of those artists have is that they created honest, authentic, soulful music, and they all pushed the envelope. And they all had great songs.

That is what I strive for in the music that I create, and I try to not worry too much on fitting neatly inside a box. I have always done and loved doing covers, and especially love to choose unique ones that you don’t hear done all the time– just great songs that deserve to be played and remembered. I think that you do have to be a bit of a musicologist to really serve a lot of this music that has such deep roots and digging to discover great songs is so inspiring and fun.

However, writing and performing an original song and connecting with an audience that way is the most rewarding thing about playing music for me. It’s been amazing to put together original music with my band, California Kind, because, with the immense ability and quality of musicianship that each guy in the band has, we can delve into and stretch each nuance of a song. We do a lot of covers as well, a lot of classic stuff, Blind Faith, Grateful Dead, things like that.

I think doing covers is a great way for the audience to understand where the band is coming from and what we’re trying to do. So I guess right now, the band is kind of known for our roots in the jam-band world and our association with the Grateful Dead, but we are working to become more known as a band that is writing original music and contributing a fresh sound into that world.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think, right now, the most important quality for me to foster is a strong sense of self.

There are so many directions one could go in, and there are so many choices for an artist to make, whether you’re looking at things note by note, song by song, by album, or things that don’t even have to do directly with the music, like how you present yourself to the world, how private or open you are with social media… such an array of things and it can be so easy to get overwhelmed, overthink and compare yourself to others, and none of that does anyone any good.

At the end of the day, it’s all about the music, and with music, taste is king. Taste defines how you hear and respond to moments in music, what you gravitate towards– it is inexplicable and entrenched in your soul and intertwined with identity. And of course, I want to be open minded, experimental and listen to others’ advice, but at this particular time, I think it is really important for me to really trust my instincts and myself, and, hopefully, that will also best serve the music.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katieskene.com
• Email: katieskenemusic@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/katie_skene
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/katieskenemusic
• Other: www.californiakind.net

Image Credit:
Nell Sherman, Bob Minkin

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