Upon realizing she didn’t want to be an actress (while in theater school at USC), Kathleen Smith weathered this almost-quarter-life crisis and took a songwriting class. Though it was somewhat of a lark at the time (and mostly just an attempt to stay at USC, rather than drop out and start a worthwhile career of eating powdered donuts while sunning on the beach, lamenting the death of a misdirected dream), the class catalyzed her to realize her true passion: songwriting.
Of course, looking back, it all made sense. After all, hadn’t she always written stories & poems and secretly loved banging around on the piano, trying to figure out why some things sounded good and others didn’t? And hadn’t she always been the eight year old who sang “Oh Holy Night†at the top of her lungs while tending her diminutive garden of peas & carrots? And hadn’t she often been reprimanded by fellow five year olds in kindergarten to “stop humming!!†because she was always humming? Well, yes. But isn’t hindsight always 20/20?
Once she realized that passion, there was no turning back. Since that fateful first song at the age of 19, Kathleen has written numerous other songs, played the club scene in LA (including Room 5 Lounge, Genghis Cohen, The Cat Club, and others), and scored a documentary that currently plays on CurrenTV. She recently finished producing her first ever EP, “dolls,†which has already received positive pre-release attention, including airplay on LA's indie favorite radio station KCRW.
Praised by Billboard online for her “beautiful keyboard arrangement[s],†“warm stage presence,†and “emotionally charged†show, Kathleen enchants listeners with heartbreakingly beautiful songs that pour forth in a voice like soft moonlight. She has an uncanny ability to deftly interweave child-like wonder and heartache. Her style is reminiscent of a young Joni Mitchell & Norah Jones, with a little bit of Paula Cole thrown in for attitude, a pinch of Jason Mraz for wit, and a spoonful of Cat Stevens for simplicity.
She is one part soul, two parts spunk and one part adventure. She is coloring books and sunsets. She is big (in spirit at least! despite her elfin frame) and honest, and she bares her soul willingly for audiences at her shows, and now the entire world with her independently produced debut EP “dolls†(set to officially release in fall 2008, on her own imprint, Red Heart Records).
Photos by Kathleen Grace & Megan Tharpe & Meghann McCrory
