Quick Q and A with Kate Redgate
 by Kathy S-B  ·  18 September 2009

Kate Redgate is a singer-songwriter who makes Newburyport, MA her home. She’s got her hands full as a single mother with a full-time job and sparkling new CD that is receiving heaps of praise. Find out more about Kate on her MySpace page.

You grew up in the mid-west. What was the music scene like there? Were you influenced by any local musicians or were you a Top 40 kind of kid?

Growing up in rural mid-west, I was pretty much on the outside of top 40 music and my folks really didn’t have music in the house. My earliest influences came from the country music on the loudspeakers at the Illinois Boots and Saddle club — a little rural western joint where I’d ride my horse, and my first performing was singing in church. A little later on I would see acts like Marshall Tucker Band when they came through town, and some bluegrass performances are some of my earliest memories of seeing live music — and feeling really inspired by it. As I got older, my influences expanded but that was really the backbone of it all.

What prompted you to pick up the guitar?

I was given a little acoustic when I was about 11–12, and a friend of my parents from church taught me a few chords. I didn’t have discipline, and those few lessons were the only formal training I had. Over the years I picked stuff up by learning songs, watching people, finding my way around the guitar and hanging out with musicians throughout all of the places that I lived. I left home young after a pretty turbulent time, and the guitar really became a tool for survival.

How would you compare your two CDs, Rough Tracks and Nothing Tragic?

Rough Tracks was never intended for a larger market, it was really more to sell at gigs and try and book shows with. It was all done live in the studio, and except for one track it’s just all me and my guitar. I wanted a snapshot of where I was at the time musically, and a friend of mine had generously offered his time and studio to help see that I got just that. I sold a lot of them at shows over the years, and folks still play it on their stereos.

Nothing Tragic is the record that I always wanted to make, but was very aware of the importance as an artist of waiting until you are ready. I needed more time under my belt performing with the band, writing and really settling into myself before I was ready to make this album. I think that a lot people come out of the gate guns blazing with a fully produced album before the writing has matured — it’s become a little too easy to make records in some ways and I’ve been aware of this fact and didn’t want to fall into that category. It was important to me to try really hard to record and create a “project” rather than just run in and make a CD — but at the same time create something that was song driven and not ‘overproduced’. I think we struck a nice balance. Tom Eaton (producer/engineer) was very instrumental in the vision from the start; making sure that not only could each song stand on its own, but that the entire project was somewhat seamless in that the listener could/would want to sit and let it spin from the first track to the last — old school style — it has an arc. Tom has an amazing ability to work with a songwriter on that level, as well as getting good performances from the musicians, arranging and running the show. I’m really proud of the album on all fronts and grateful for all of the people who contributed their talents to it.

Your musical style straddles a few different genres — blues, folk, and country. Which genre do you feel best describes your sound? Or is it a just a wonderful hybrid of all of them?

Ha!! Well . . . I really don’t know what to say. I’m just me! I don’t set out to do any one particular genre — I just seek to key into the truth and a good groove — that’s all I need!

When the creative muse strikes, how do you respond?

An interesting question for a single mother with a full-time day job… . Can I send you my essay about this? Hoping to get it published. . . . Anyway — I just do what I can, and honestly, I’m often very frustrated. I’ll go for months stuffing things down because I don’t have ‘an opening’ — and I know as soon as I crack the case and get out the pen that it’s going to take a while for me to go in there and come back out. It’s an extremely hard balance, and I don’t particularly have it figured out yet — but am still working and trying new ways of keeping my feet in both worlds. I’m scribbling on scraps of paper a lot, and I have voice memo on my phone — that is helpful! Sometimes I just have to get in the car and drive. I recently re-arranged a room in my little house trying to create a better space to work in. Moving into a space that isn’t filled with laundry or dishes or the mental clutter of raising a family for me sometimes helps — but, it’s all part of the beautiful tapestry and I just take it one step at a time.

What are you hopes and goals for the immediate future?

I’d like to spend next year doing more shows; festivals, small theater/coffeehouse type shows — and try and get over to Europe in the next year or two. The record is starting to get good reviews and airplay over there. I’d also really like to try my hand at song publishing and see if anyone would like to place one of my songs. We’ll see. It’s a journey. I’ll just keep chipping away at this with one foot in the door, and as the kids get older I hope to have more time to put towards it. Until then, I’ll keep doing what I can!