Katy Kirby was not raised on The Beach Boys, The Beatles, nor any of the Classic Rock bands that so many of our parents have passed down to our ears. For her evangelical Christian family in Spicewood, Texas, the house music was a little different.
“My parents don’t know bands, but my dad loves barbershop quartets and they listen to a lot of worship music,” Kirby said in a Feb. 26 interview with TexasMonthly. “Once or twice a year, my dad will sucker all of us into learning a four-second barbershop part and it will take us an hour and a half to do, but it’s great.”
These early singing sessions were part of what first drew Kirby to music, an attraction that would eventually lead to her blossoming career as a Post-Folk artist. In February, Kirby released her debut album, Cool Dry Place, with Texas-based label Keeled Scales. The nine-track record calls to mind the sweet, effortless vocals of early Jessica Lea Mayfield and the simple, expressive arrangements of Big Thief.
In a way, the album is a coming-of-age story centered on Kirby’s move from her sheltered, religious upbringing to Nashville, where she attended Belmont University. With space between her present and her adolescence, Kirby has been able to examine what the beliefs of her childhood meant to her now. Music was a catalyst in the process.
“Me thinking about music as a thing to do definitely intersects with me losing my faith, and I was writing my way out of a lot of that confusion,” she said in a Vice interview from Jan. 28.
With its delicate melodies and airy instrumentation, Cool Dry Place will be the perfect soundtrack for fall. Its songs have the softness of late summer, and spacious compositions to escort the change of seasons.
Kirby performs for free at 10 p.m. Sept. 3 at MOTR Pub. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test from the prior 72 hours is required.
More info: motrpub.com.
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