KATE CALLAHAN – AN ARTIST SPOTLIGHT AND IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW
By Ralph Beauchamp
Kate Callahan is a brilliant singer/songwriter based in the Northeast whose music is full of transcendent images. She also was the 16th State Troubadour of Connecticut. Kate Callahan‘s music feels less like a performance and more an atmosphere you step into. Her sound carries a quiet confidence. It is shaped by restraint as much as by expression. Kate Callahan allows space for her listeners to breathe inside every phrase. Her work invites attention through subtle shifts of tone and texture which creates an sense of intimacy that lingers well past the fading of last note.
What stands out most in Kate Callahan‘s approach to sound is her sensitivity to nuance. She treats her lyrical shading as a collaborator, using it to frame melody and emotion with deliberate care. Kate Callahan has a deep understanding of how to communicate her narrative without excess. She allows her themes to rise naturally instead of being forced forward.
Listening to Kate Callahan’s music is an exercise in presence. Her sound draws the listener inward rather than outward, and rewards patience with moments of divine revelation. There is a timeless quality to her work. It is grounded in the enduring power of carefully shaped sound and honest musical intention. Kate Callahan is a special artist and a muse to all.
Kate Callahan will be performing at the Bigger Beast Records / All Boats Rise Entertainment production of the Shelter From The Storm benefit concert featuring the music of Bob Dylan on Feb. 6th at the First Church of Meriden with 14 other talented artists including Hatfield.
Kate Callahan will also be performing at Cantean Coffee and Tea in Hamden on 2/27. This is an intimate venue with limited seating and purchasing tickets beforehand is advisable.
Kate Callahan was kind enough to sit with AMP for this in-depth interview.
AMP: What drew you to music and how did you know you wanted to pursue it professionally?
KATE: I was always a musical kid. Music was constantly ringing through our house. My dad is a jazz pianist and my mom is a vocalist, so I was exposed to a range of music from Bill Evans to Buffy Saint-Marie, to Tina Turner and Joni Mitchell. In college I was involved in a ski accident that left me with a significant brain injury. I had to withdraw from Rutgers and rehabilitate back in Connecticut.
I was left with many impairments, including not remembering how to sing. Once the insurance ran out and rehab ended, I decided I wanted to try and learn an instrument that I had no prior history with, so I wouldn’t compare myself prior to the TBI. Learning the guitar was the single most important event in my recovery from the accident. It gave me the confidence to express myself, relearn how to sing, and develop a whole new personality. About a year into lessons I started writing originals which was the start of my life as a singer-songwriter.
AMP: You were selected as the 16th CT State Troubadour. How was that experience?
KATE: Becoming Connecticut’s 16th State Troubadour was a highlight in my work as a singer- songwriter. I knew if I earned the position, I would use it to further my work with women inmates. The stipend helped me fund a vocal empowerment program for the women at York Correctional Institution. It helped incarcerated women prepare for their parole hearings, work through emotional blocks connected to their voices, and spend 90 minutes each week in a safe and compassionate environment, something rare within the walls of a prison. This was a pinnacle in my term as State Troubadour. Representing Connecticut on stages across the state and beyond was also an honor that I remain grateful for to this day.
AMP: Your music feels very personal. What usually comes first for you, the story or the sound?
KATE: I always begin writing on my guitar. I play around with progressions, strumming styles, and fingerpicking until I’ve created a mood. Then I freestyle words until they take a lyrical shape. I tend to write about things I’ve experienced or observed. I write for the sake of learning something, either about myself or about being human.
AMP: Can you describe a moment when a song surprised you by becoming something different than you first imagined?
KATE: So many of my songs become something different that what I first imagined. I record clips of the process to document the changes. World War Zero was a commission that started as a folky fingerpicked song about the climate crisis. As I worked with it, it became a more powerful question: what if we responded to the climate crisis with the same fervor and funding as we invest in war? The song changed in style from a fingerpicked folk song to a strummed anthem with as much bass in the chords as I could manage.
AMP: Which artists or experiences have most shaped the way you write and perform today?
KATE: Women singer-songwriters sit at the top of my list of influences. I discovered Dar Williams, Shawn Colvin, the Indigo Girls, Sarah McLachlan, and Ani DiFranco when I was in high school. Today, I wear out albums by Lucy Dacus, Boygenius, Kacey Musgraves, Brandi Carlile, and Taylor Swift.
AMP: How do you feel you’ve grown as an artist since your earliest releases?
KATE: Getting a Master’s in English Literature and a B.A in Creative Nonfiction later in life has helped me grow from writing in abstractions to creating more deliberate and concrete images and scenes in my songs. Working with my trio, In Trine, opens my ears to harmonies that I don’t necessarily hear when performing solo. I think my artistry has always been connected to my spirituality. Whether I’m performing live, writing, or rehearsing, I give my soul as much influence in the process as possible.
AMP: What does playing live mean to you?
KATE It’s the greatest thrill and greatest challenge in my work as a singer-songwriter. After 25 years, I still get nervous, second guess myself, and ultimately surrender to the dynamic between myself and the folks in the room. My trio has a saying about live performance, “we seek connection, not perfection.”
AMP: Is there a song that means one thing to you personally but seems to resonate differently with fans?
KATE: Great question, but I don’t think so.
AMP: What do you hope your listeners feel or take with them after hearing your music?
KATE: I hope that people will feel more inclined to love themselves and the people around them.
AMP: What has been the most unexpected challenge – or reward – of being a working musician?
KATE: The growth. My career has gone through different phases. I’ve earned things and lost things and the one thing I’ve always known is that I won’t quit. Staying committed to an art form requires growth, not just in perception, but in the gritty changes that the body goes through. I’m almost 50 and my voice, breath, and body are different. That’s a vulnerable thing. But, I think I’m better for it.
AMP: How do you balance staying true to your voice while still evolving creatively?
KATE: I’ve never felt I was untrue to my voice. Are there songs from my older albums that I don’t resonate with anymore? Yes! So, I don’t play them. My creative process has always asked me to say and sing what’s important to me. I’m in my fifth year teaching high school English and have been asking myself, what songs could I write for my students? Am I a voice of wisdom for them? Am I a voice of a different generation? I think I get most creatively inspired when exploring the different stances my voice can take.
Kate Callahan will be performing at the Bigger Beast Records / All Boats Rise Entertainment production of the Shelter From The Storm benefit concert featuring the music of Bob Dylan on Feb. 6th at the First Church of Meriden with 14 other talented artists including Hatfield.
Kate Callahan will also be performing at Cantean Coffee and Tea in Hamden on 2/27. This is an intimate venue with limited seating and purchasing tickets beforehand is advisable.
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