Singer/songwriter Kaia Kater’s new single is “a love letter” to her chosen instrument, the banjo, and a nod to her early roots both in Appalachian stringband music and “In Montreal,” where she grew up. The single features fellow Grenadian-Canadian and Montreal native Allison Russell.
Kater says of the single:
Simply, this is a reflection on the gravitational pull of my hometown, Montreal. I’ve left and returned so many times that it now feels like ghosts of my former selves haunt the city. During the deep winter of 2021 with its short days and long nights, I wanted to write an upbeat song about a poet feeling lost and aimless, tectonic plates stacked in their sink—a nod to Leonard Cohen, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and all the other incredible songwriters of Montreal.
The song’s rhythms and arrangements come from Kater’s recent experimental and compositional influences. Kater’s new album, Strange Medicine, is coming up on May 17, 2024 via Free Dirt Records and is impacted by her studies in film composition.
The album “celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history.” Kater wrote from “the perspective of women and revolutionaries through history.”
Co-producing with Joe Grass (Elisapie, The Barr Brothers), Kater invited close friends and colleagues Aoife O’Donovan and Allison Russell to sing on the album, along with longtime hero Taj Mahal.
Tour Dates:
April 9 Savannah, GA Savannah Music Festival
April 18 Atlanta, GA Center Stage+
April 20 Hopewell, VA The Beacon Theatre+
April 21 Warrendale, PA Jergel’s Rhythm Grille+
April 23 Columbus, OH Skully’s+
April 26 Wilkesboro, NC Merlefest++
May 17 Groton, MA Groton Hill Music Center
May 18 Cambridge, MA Club Passim
May 21 Hamilton, ON Mills Hardware
May 22 Toronto, ON TD Music Hall
May 23 Montreal, QC La Sotterenea
May 24 Kingston, ON The Broom Factory
May 26 Ottawa, ON Red Bird Live
June 1 Brevard, NC NC Guitar Celebration
June 5 Evanston, Il Evanston Space
June 6 Ann Arbor MI The Ark
June 7 Paw Paw, MI The Lucky Wolf
June 12 Brooklyn, NY Union Pool
June 13 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live Upstairs
June 14 Baltimore, MD Creative Alliance At The Patterson
July 11-14 Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg Folk Festival *
+ Support for Molly Tuttle
++Performing with New Dangerfield
* Performing with New Dangerfield & as Kaïa Kater
