Interview: Kate Ellis
Born in Louisiana, raised in New York, and now based in London, singer-songwriter Kate Ellis uses melancholy, intimate Americana, and Folk to conduct fearless soul-searching. A journalist for the Observer newspaper described her songs as “hauntingly beautiful”, while Americana UK gave her new album ‘Spirals’ 9/10 calling it “An absolute joy. An irrefutable, unquestionable joy.”
Preview Kate Ellis’s Music:
What led to you becoming an artist?
As a child I always loved art, music and creative subjects. I painted, studied piano, and was introduced to lots of wonderful southern country and folk music by my father who was from Louisiana. But I did not really know myself well enough and ended up going to law school to do art law. After practicing law for a couple of years professionally, I realised that the law was not for me and most definitely didn’t scratch my creative itch! So I decided to take a guitar class for fun while I worked out what to do next. Songwriting came quite quickly and unexpectedly from that point.
What inspires your music?
There are many artists that have inspired me musically, but my songwriting really comes from more of an internal, personal, emotional drive than anything external. Usually, there is something that has been building or brewing inside me, maybe something that I am struggling with or thinking a lot about, that sparks a song. One journalist reviewing my music said that I take the whirlwind in my mind and put it to song which I think sums it up very well!
The melody and music of the song connects with something deep inside of me in a symbiotic way that just feels natural and exciting. Music is a way for me to be connected to the deepest part of myself. The lyrics are my attempt to put these feelings into words. But as an artist, I don’t think we really know where inspiration comes from. We are surrounded by life, people, words, images and they all come into play when a song comes out. As Leonard Cohen once said, “if I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often.”
Who are some of your influences?
When I was growing up, my dad who was from the south had a stack of records that I loved playing like Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Jonny Cash, James Taylor, Robert Johnson, Randy Newman and Pete Seeger, so I think my ear was tuned to that Americana country-folk sound from an early age. I later discovered musical heroes like Nancy Griffith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Leonard Cohen and so many others.
I love a lot of different kinds of music, but I think it is the emotional power that a song can carry that impresses me the most. When a song gets inside of you, transports you to an emotional place inside the writer, a place that you see in yourself just as clearly, that is where the magic is for me. And you can find those songs in so many different genres, but those are the songs that get my attention and the ones that I try to write.
What are some of your favorite memories from your career?
I loved the process of recording my last album, Spirals, with producer John Reynolds. He is an artist in his own right and finds the perfect musical language to tell the story of the song, in the most beautiful and powerful way. Just watching him do his magic is a wonderful memory I will treasure. He also believes in an open space for experimentation in the studio, and I was thrilled to find that I could contribute ideas for instruments that I do not play by just following my instincts and playing with ideas.
What have been some of the greatest challenges of your career?
I think having kids and being an artist is pretty challenging. I took a break when my kids were much younger, and it is still a struggle at times juggling lots of things. But you also have to have a life to feed off of in your music and my kids are one of the most important parts of my life.
I think the way the music industry has changed in the past decade has been incredibly challenging for all artists, and we are all playing catch-up every day. Trying to make a living with music, when music is so ubiquitous and mostly consumed for free, is probably the most challenging aspect of the industry at the moment.
Which of your songs/eps or albums is your favorite? Why is it your favorite?
I’ve only released two albums so they’re both near and dear to my heart! In terms of songs, I guess the title track to my first album Carve Me Out will always be very special to me. I wrote it for my mother on the morning after she passed away. The song just came out of me in one go because more than anything at that moment I just wanted to bring her back to me. And in some ways, through this song, I did.
What are you most excited to bring to your fans in the next year?
I’m working on a vinyl release of the Spirals album as quite a few people have asked about that (it’s taking longer because of the delays in vinyl production caused by the pandemic and Brexit). I hope to release that this year with a bonus track or two!
What are your goals for this upcoming year?
I’m touring to support the new album Spirals and working on that vinyl release I mentioned.
How can your fans best support you right now? (Merch, stream specific songs, etc..)
I’m always grateful for anyone that wants to follow me on Spotify, Apple Music or other platforms and social media, and of course to stream the songs and buy the merch. And if you can spread the word about the music to anyone else who might be into, that’s always fantastic as well (there’s nothing better than a personal recommendation to discover new artists).
Kate Ellis’s Links: