Katie Kapteyn: An IntroductionSometimes truth reveals itself through the words on a page, or in the lecture hall of a college. But often truth is discovered in the unexpected places in life; a solitary road trip, hot coffee warming cold fingers, the comforting words of a friend, a night spent laying on a rooftop, stars giving bits of light and hope to the darkness, a sincere prayer when there seem to be no options left.
The music of Katie Kapteyn deals with the latter, truth discovered on desert roads and in honest eyes. Influenced as much by her mother’s singing voice and family’s strength as the songwriting of Patty Griffin and Cindy Morgan, Katie is a soul whose sharply-penned verses find the meaning in the common. In a world of unceasing noise, in a society where Blackberries buzz and Twitter updates us all on so many things that never really mattered, Katie’s songs stand out with a quiet determination, as if both the singer and the choruses won’t be swayed from turning your eye to the eternal.“This started when I was 15,†she explains. “My friend Kara brought over a poem called ‘The Sunflower Song,’ and I tried to put music to it.†Throughout her teen years, songs were an escape, from sadness, from struggle. They mainly took the form of prayers to the God she lives so passionately for each day, as if the answer would come back down through chords on the guitar, words jumbled in a notebook, or maybe carried on the resonating air off the piano strings.
“I was an amateur until my junior year of college,†she explains. “I wrote when I felt like it, never worked too hard. When I got serious, I started asking people to rip my work apart.†It was also during this time that dorm life expanded her strictly-CCM tastes to include the likes of Norah Jones, Goo Goo Dolls, and several singer/songwriters.It has been said that the gift is nothing without the work. From coffee shops in Chicago to retreats in Montana, sometimes singing for 20 people, sometimes singing for 1,500, Katie puts actions to the dream.
“I see playing shows as a conversation,†she says. “I’m not a performer that puts on a flashy show. My desire is to see people drawn into the songs, to find themselves in the story, to be blessed and encouraged in some way.â€It is that final aspect, the story, the search for what matters through song, that makes Katie’s music so essential to hear. Working in music for the last seven years, I’ve seen that 99% of “artists†never find an original voice, never quiet their own egos long enough to quit trying to make songs that will make them famous and start creating art that says something worth hearing. Ironically enough, the few who do it are the ones whose names live on. Dylan. Springsteen. Cash. Carole King. Aretha Franklin.Due to this digital age we now live in, there is more music being made than ever before, and musical trends and sub-genres pop up and then become as stale as yesterday’s headlines.
I don’t know if the folk/alt-country scene will stay “cool,†or will fall by the wayside. But I can say this about Katie’s songs: finding meaning will always touch the hearer, and the search for truth will always be relevant.
In your lifetime, you’ll hear an untold number of songs, but only a few will really matter. These songs of Katie’s, I believe they matter. Take the time to listen…and be open to what you find.-Seth “tower†Hurd, radio host, and music columnist for Relevant Magazine. March 26, 2009
