Kat Edmonson

Kat Edmonson is an American singer and songwriter who calls her music vintage pop. The Texas native began crafting her signature sound while performing in Austin’s local club circuit for years before releasing her debut Take To The Sky in 2009. She went on to tour worldwide with high profile acts including Lyle Lovett, Chris Isaak, Gary Clark Jr., Shawn Colvin, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Nick Lowe and more. 

In 2014 Edmonson released The Big Picture, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers, #1 on Contemporary Jazz Chart, and #2 on Total Jazz Chart. Her 2015 performance on “CBS This Morning: Saturday” garnered the program’s highest rated viewership since 2006. Her 2012 Way Down Low was described by The New York Times as “fresh as a spring bouquet,” and her performances at WNYC’s Soundcheck and Daytrotter were included in “Best Live Performances” and “Best Sessions of 2012,” respectively.

In 2018 she released Old Fashioned Gal, which Billboard calls “an intimate journey from doubt to resolve and implied triumph.” NPR Music raves the album is “a handsome showcase for her songwriting, which has grown ever more confident over the last decade,” while the Associated Press says the record “sounds like an alternate soundtrack to an Audrey Hepburn film.” 

Edmonson’s new album Dreamers Do reached the #1 spot on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz chart, and the album debuted #1 at iTunes Jazz, #2 Most Added at Jazzweek and was named Deezer’s Album of the Week upon release.

3 words to describe Nature?

Inherent. Steadfast. Adaptable

3 things Nature taught you?

There is always a place to grow from.

As long as I am living, I can adapt to anything.

The most important thing, at any point, is to be present.

3 most treasured Nature spots?

I live near Prospect Park in Brooklyn and I go there frequently each week. It is a grounding place for me. 

I annually visit the mountains in the Northeast in the summertime and hike around the Taconics, the Catskliils, the Berkshires, the Adirondacks and more. It’s my favorite time of the year. 

Also, I just visited the Redwoods when my band and I were on tour this month and they were incredible! I was stunned by how quiet it is in the forest. The stillness there is incredibly powerful.

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?

Scaled-to-size. It’s a funny thing to articulate but walking around in the city, I feel very big and important- quite full of myself- and standing in front of an ocean, I am immediately reminded how small my conceptual self is in proportion to nature and I am humbled- gratefully, so. 

When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?

Safe

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?

Powerful

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?

Inspired

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?

Both excited and scared at the same time! Thrilled!

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?

Uncertain

Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?

Can I pick two? How about a forest on a mountain? ☺

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

10

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

I didn’t have great opportunities to be in nature as I grew up in a metropolitan area and we really didn’t travel but I went to camp every summer in Central Texas. I slept in a cabin with no air conditioning for a month and was subject to plans being cancelled when a big thunderstorm blew through and I loved it. I cherished the giant Cypress trees that live by the Guadalupe river. I fancied them wise elders that protected the river and us as we played around it. I loved how low and vast the land lay there around the water beneath the towering guardians that sheltered everything. The grass was cool no matter how brutal the sun beat down on any given day.

by proustnature