This is part of our ongoing series on musicians who perform in The Berkshires.
On Saturday, April 22nd, The Katie Henry Band performed at The Stationery Factory in Dalton, opening up for Blues legend Carolyn Wonderland and her band. Katie is a blues rocker who hails from New Jersey and is currently living in Philadelphia. This was her first time performing in The Berkshires.
In 2018, Katie released her first album, High Road, which was nominated for the 2019 Blues Blast Awards and the 2019 Independent Blues Awards. Last year, Katie released her second album, On My Way, which was listed as one of Blues Rock Review’s “Top 20 albums for 2022.” The album reached number six on the Billboard Top Blues Albums Chart.
We had a chance to catch up with Katie in her Philadelphia apartment last week over Zoom. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
MUSIC IN THE BERKSHIRES:
Last Saturday night, you performed at The Stationery Factory, opening up for Carolyn Wonderland. We thoroughly enjoyed the show, and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it, too. How did you feel about the evening?
KATIE HENRY:
I’m really glad that you enjoyed it! I felt that energy and people were very present for our set. And I couldn’t ask for a better venue. I loved the light system, which accentuated the show for sure. One day I’d like to have a lighting crew because I think that really adds to the energy. I was so energized afterward, and everybody was very warm. And, of course, I got to enjoy Carolyn’s set, too. So yeah, it was a really good night.
MUSIC IN THE BERKSHIRES:
The pairing with Carolyn Wonderland seemed perfect. Were you familiar with her music? What was it like to share a billing with her?
KATIE HENRY:
It was like a “stars-aligned moment” for me for a lot of reasons. When I was just starting out, Janis Joplin was a big influence on me, and [her song] “Bobby McGee” was one of the first songs that I would sing. When I was just starting out, someone told me that one of the closest living vibes you can get to Janis is Carolyn Wonderland. So that planted the seed that this was somebody to look up to and that I could relate to even before I was really on the scene.
So it goes deep and far back for me in that way. I first got to meet her right before the pandemic when I opened for John Mayall, and Carolyn was John’s guitarist. That was the first time I really got to see her and enjoy her set. She did a cover of “It’s Nobody’s Fault but Mine,” and it was such a good memory that kept my spirits up throughout the pandemic. So the fact that now we’re coming full circle to this moment when people are coming back out in full force, and for it to be a co-bill with Carolyn, I couldn’t ask for a better matchup.
MUSIC IN THE BERKSHIRES:
Your sound and songs demonstrate a lived experience that transcends your age. Your website says it well: “Scratch this young artist, and you’ll find an old soul.” Do you have any sense of why that is so?
KATIE HENRY:
I feel seen when people say that. So I am happy about it. I was raised in a music-loving family, and I really did grow up on a lot of rock. I felt like I had an old soul as a kid because I was listening to things that were old for my age. That’s not to say I didn’t like Pop and things that were appropriate for my age, but I was always interested in things that don’t necessarily apply to my generation. I think music is such an expressive thing; it comes from a really deep place, especially in Blues music. Deep feelings within me are able to be let out, and I think that resonates with people of all ages.
MUSIC IN THE BERKSHIRES:
I read that you were working on your next album. How is that going?
KATIE HENRY:
Yeah, we’re in the songwriting process, just working on ideas. It’s going well. It’s like putting together puzzle pieces – I have a chorus that I really like here, but now I need to build the rest. That happened with the song I performed [at last week’s show], Blessings. I had the chorus, and I knew the story that inspired me to write it, but I wanted to have the verses support where it came from. So that was kind of like a step two process to that song. I think I’m going through a similar thing with the new stuff where I have bits and pieces, and I’m in the process of putting it all together.
MUSIC IN THE BERKSHIRES:
Switching gears to your origin story, can you tell us a little about how you became a musician and some of the artists who influenced you?
KATIE HENRY:
I mentioned I grew up in a music-loving family. I took piano lessons as a kid, and I had songbooks of The Beatles and Billy Joel, and that really lit my fire in terms of getting that enjoyment of playing music. And I got to connect with my family members and friends. I would play songs for my Grandmother, and she would say, “Could you play that again?” I could just tell it meant so much to her. She wanted to keep hearing me, and I think that was a really important thing for me formatively because I got to understand the power of connection that music affords us.
It was in high school that I started writing songs. I had so much to say, especially to friends, and I didn’t know how to say it. So I would write them poems for their birthday or other occasions. And then I would turn those into songs. The first song I recorded in a friend’s basement was for my friend, who is a huge Beatles fan. She was a year older than me and was going off to college. I said to her, “I’m really going to miss you. I don’t know what I’m going to do – you’re like the Paul to my John – I’m going to be lost!” So the best way to preserve a connection with her was to write a song. That was like a big songwriting moment – I realized that I could give songs as gifts. And that’s actually better than physical gifts.
“So the best way to preserve a connection with her was to write a song. That was like a big songwriting moment – I realized that I could give songs as gifts. And that’s actually better than physical gifts.”
MUSIC IN THE BERKSHIRES:
When did you start playing in bands?
KATIE HENRY:
I grew up in Vernon, New Jersey, then went to Manhattan College in the Bronx. Vernon was a beautiful mountainous nature-filled area, but it is very remote. So I always had a vision of going to New York City. I was an English Education major, and I joined the Manhattan College Jazz Band. A year after that, I did my first open mic. I was very into Dark Star Orchestra, who cover The Grateful Dead, and “It Hurts Me Too” was a song I saw them do that really hit me at my core. I felt like I really needed to sing that song, and I went to an open mic to perform it. And the bartender said he wanted to put together a blues band and asked if I would want to play keys and sing in it.
So that was the first band I was in during my last two years of college. After I graduated, I knew I needed to lock things down and make sure I could support myself while I worked to keep my dreams alive. So I would go to open mics downtown, and I went to one at The Bitter End, one of the city’s best-known venues, and that’s where I met Antar Goodwin, who is my bass player and musical director. And that was a big shift because we got together to write a song, and it seemed like his experience and my goals were really aligned. We shared this vision: if we really put our noses to the grindstone, we can do big things and play big stages.
At the end of 2018, we were to perform at a festival and felt we needed to have some [of our own] songs. So we were inspired to record a couple of songs. We ended up recording at Showplace Studios, which has released a lot of great blues albums. It was very serendipitous because I was living in New York, and now it was like a full circle: I was going back to New Jersey to record these songs. It was originally going to be just a few songs, but it turned into an album. Once the first album was released, it’s been a steady track from there on out.
But in terms of my influences, I like Janis Joplin, The Beatles, and The Grateful Dead. I just love live music. I love when folks are dancing, being in the moment, and connecting with people. Whether I’m playing music or I’m in the audience, the experience is so special to me, so I think I caught that bug. I’m just all about the music.
“I just love live music. I love when folks are dancing, being in the moment, and connecting with people. Whether I’m playing music or I’m in the audience, the experience is so special to me, so I think I caught that bug. I’m just all about the music.”
MUSIC IN THE BERKSHIRES:
Do you hope to come back and play again in The Berkshires?
KATIE HENRY:
Yeah, definitely. To me, it’s like a home base. It feels like home where the doors are open, and everybody feels really close. Those are exactly the kinds of places that I want to be playing, and I definitely will keep an eye on the website because I want to share my next show in the Berkshires.
MUSIC IN THE BERKSHIRES:
Is there anything else that you’d like to share with our Berkshire audience?
KATIE HENRY:
I’m just really looking forward to coming back. I think The Stationery Factory show exceeded my expectation – all across the board between connecting with everybody attending, the staff, and with Carolyn and her band. It was like a match made in heaven. So I’m definitely looking forward to making more of those moments happen.
Katie Henry is currently filling up her summer tour schedule with several upcoming shows in the tri-state area, as well as a trip to Sweden to play in the Åmåls Bluesfest. You can find her music on all popular streaming platforms, including iTunes and Spotify, as well as her website. You can also follow her journey on Instagram.