John Bommarito: You're listening to 891 WEMU, and this is The Song Break. I'm John Bommarito. If you're a regular listener to the show, you might have noticed an increase in the amount of times you hear the beautiful, unique, classic sounding voice of Kat Edmonson. Sometime around 2009, 2010, I heard this voice covering one of my favorite songs by The Cure, and I've been paying attention to what she does ever since. Joining me on The Song Break to talk about her upcoming releases and upcoming show in Ann Arbor is the one and only old-fashioned gal Kat Edmonson! Welcome, Kat!
Kat Edmonson: Hi, John! I'm so glad to talk with you!
John Bommarito: Well, I'm glad to have you. And I noticed next month, after a stop in Indianapolis, you're coming back to Ann Arbor. Your most recent visit where I finally got to meet you in person was December of 2023 at the Blue Llama Jazz Club. But on Sunday, February 23rd, you'll be right next door at The Ark.
Kat Edmonson: That's right. I love The Ark.
John Bommarito: As do I. Do you have any preference to jazz club versus a listening room as you tour around the country?
Kat Edmonson: Well, they yield different experiences, but I really love a listening room for my show. I think it suits me. It accommodates everything that I'm going for in a show, which is… I love a theater setting because it enables people to not be distracted from dinner or cocktails or conversation. And then it sets the atmosphere for intimacy and great quiet. I love to put on a show and lean into the dramatic, but I'm often improvising in my show. My band and I have such a rapport that we can just start playing and know what we're going to play, but, you know, get off track and go off roading, if you will. I love the full attention of the audience to engage and participate with us, because when we really go somewhere, the audience feels it and they're a part of it, and really their attention contributes to what's happening on stage.
John Bommarito: That definitely make sense. Well, what's bringing you out on the road? So far, I notice you've released a single called “Keep Movin’”. Are you ready to play some new music for us?
Kat Edmonson: Yes. My new song, “Keep Movin’”, was just released last Friday, and I'm so happy to share it.
John Bommarito: What more is on the way? How many more songs? Is there a full album or just single, single, single, single?
Kat Edmonson: Yeah, I'm doing single, single, single because that's what everybody's doing these days. And then I'm also writing more tunes. So initially I thought I had an album's worth and then I realized there are more tunes coming. They just keep coming right now. In fact, I've had a major change in my life recently. My mom passed away last year, and she was my best friend and my greatest inspiration. And so, after I lost her, suddenly I started writing to go through what's the word that I want to say?
John Bommarito: Grieve?
Kat Edmonson: Well, yes. To go through my grief, I started to process my pain. That's what I wanted to say. I started writing. It's something I do naturally to get in touch with what I'm feeling anyway. I do it every day in any kind of occasion. But in this case, the music was really healing for me and strangely it's come out as rather joyful music. There's momentum and grief that I didn't know about because I really…I didn't know intimately about losing somebody this close to me. Not in this way. And so I'm grateful. I'm grateful to the music that's come about.
John Bommarito: I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of what you've written.
Sample of “Old Fashioned Gal”
John Bommarito: My guest today on The Song Break is Kat Edmondson, and thus far you’ve released six previous albums. Kind of living in the modern jazz singer world, but also other genres throughout the records. Here on The Song Break, I celebrate the art of the song as I mentioned before we went on the air. It’s where The Great American Songbook meets the modern-day songbook. And you've done that well. You've covered Cole Porter, John Lennon, Brian Wilson, the Gershwins. I mean, it's that's covering both of the spectrums of what I'm doing. But you've also written plenty of originals that capture the feel of the standard, like your song “Old Fashioned Gal.” The new single seems a little removed from the jazz world. Is that the feeling for the rest of the songs you've written or is this just an example of something you've written, and we'll hear more slightly jazzy, slightly not jazzy records coming soon.
Kat Edmonson: I can't totally get away from jazz. It's just in me. It's my primary influence. But there's a lot of soft rock sound in this new album. Adult contemporary, kind of easy listening, if you will. So, it's headed more in that direction with this project.
Sample of “Keep Movin’”
Kat Edmonson: I think that has to do with the fact that there was something reminiscent about… when I lost my mom. I was nostalgic for my childhood. And I, strangely, started listening to a lot of music that was playing when we first met, if you will. When our relationship started in the early 80s and what was playing on the radio around that time. And so, the two are linked somehow. But I think it's music that will still appeal to the jazz listener in the way that we've approached it.
John Bommarito: Well, as you mentioned earlier, the subject matter that inspired this batch is heavy, but based on real human experience. I'm at that age where much of the discussion when getting together with friends is talking about our aging or unfortunately dying parents. For you, I imagine it was cathartic to get these feelings out and whether they become songs to the public or just something you were processing. I don't know how else you would have approached these songs. Did you look at some of them, write them and go, Nope, I can't put that out there. Is there any sort of resistance to sharing them?
Kat Edmonson: No, none. And that was the odd thing. The strange momentum that happens around grief. It feels like getting caught up in the current of a river. You've no choice but to surrender to it. I mean, you can resist and it's very painful. But I felt that once I surrendered to what was happening, I couldn't stop it. And it forced me to let go of a lot of things that were important to me and also embrace the things that were. I've never felt so much gratitude in my life, after losing my mom, for her love and just for everything beautiful in the world. It's brought me more and more into the moment.
John Bommarito: I'm very sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, it's one that most people will have to go through unless the opposite happens. And that's not good either.
Kat Edmonson: Right.
John Bommarito: What's the release plan? Is it going to be one a month or are you just kind of putting them out when they're ready to go?
Kat Edmonson: Yeah, I think every 4 to 6 weeks. And it really depends on how well each single dies. And I'm making videos. Like artistic music videos and things like that. So yeah, depending on how they are received and what I can create around each song. It's really a song-to-song thing. We'll see. But ultimately, it will be an album. And you know, I was listening to Bonnie Raitt a lot when I was working on this. I'm 41 now, and she had a real revival in her career, if not like almost the beginning of her great fame when she was around 40. Her album, Nick of Time, included jazz, blues, rock and the contemporary sounds of that time. And I feel that I've done the same thing. I've been a longtime admirer of her and the way that she's gone about her career. And I think I’ve just naturally kind of taken in a lot of what she's done and tried to do the same.
John Bommarito: Makes sense. Something you've heard and listened to becomes part of what you're doing without even without trying I imagine. One of the bad things about not having a record to look at, especially for what we do here at WEMU, is we can't look at the credits. So, tell me who you worked with on these songs.
Kat Edmonson: Sure. Actually, my partner and drummer in the band, Aaron Thurston, produced this record all by his lonesome. He has co-produced previous albums; Dreamers Do and Old Fashioned Gal. But he took the helm of this project. Peter Calo played guitar on this. John Daly played some organ and piano on this and my long-time bass player in the band, Bob Hart, who's played on previous records, played bass.
John Bommarito: Sounds great.
Kat Edmonson: Fernando Lodeiro is the recording engineer on this, and he and I met when I was recording Way Down Low. He was assisting Al Schmitt in the recording studio, and I was so impressed with his abilities we formed a friendship and have done a lot of recording since then.
John Bommarito: Nice. What can we expect at the Ark on February 23rd? Are you going to incorporate a lot of the new songs or just try and give us a mix of both?
Kat Edmonson: I'll probably do four or so of the new songs, 4 or 5 of the new songs. But it's mostly going to be my old stuff with a real emphasis around introducing the new songs and being excited about them. So, anybody that has a request, I'd love to honor it.
John Bommarito: I might email you. Who knows?
Kat Edmonson: Please do.
John Bommarito: Theark.org for information about where you can get tickets for that show and your website is it simply katedmonson.com? I should have looked that up before I asked.
Kat Edmonson: katedmonson.com. That's right
John Bommarito Very easy. Kat thank you so much for taking time out of your day to talk to us about these new singles and your upcoming show. I look forward to seeing you there on Sunday, February 23rd!
Kat Edmonson: Thank you, John! Thank you so much for listening! I look forward to it, too!
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