With years under their belt touring in numerous projects, Katie Skene & Andrea Whitt, have joined forces to create a vibe musical journey of their own. I had the opportunity to chat about their passions in life, where live music is headed in the future and much more.
Question 1:
Your genre is described as “Acid Americana”. How do you put that description into words on your end?
Andrea:
We came up with the term “Acid Americana”. My roommate, who Katie went to school with (USC), was listening to our first two singles we put out. He was like, “Oh my gosh, this sounds like Alison Krauss on acid.” We thought that was a perfect description and we ran with it. It makes sense with the sounds we create and our influences.
Katie:
For us, Americana encompasses the fabric of American Music, which is blues, country, folk, soul, jazz and everything in between. Andrea and I both love all those things and with Andrea’s pedal steel and fiddle it leans more into the country and bluegrass element. I was raised playing blues in the South. We try to melt it all together and put in crazy effects, and get weird with it.
Christopher:
I was going to say it’s sort of like a melting pot between you two, the genres you come from and played in your past.
Andrea:
We kind of encompass every genre I can think of.
Katie:
We try to. Andrea is classically trained on the viola and violin so there’s even that “fancy” element.
Question 2:
Both of you were in other projects before you met up. What was the energy like when you girls first met up and hit the stage together?
Andrea:
The first time we played together we decided we were going to make a video.
Katie:
We got put on a gig in Southern California (Uncle Duane’s Band & Jerry’s Middle Finger). They had us as a special guest, along with John Molo. We had never met but everyone had been telling us for a year “You should know this girl! You guys got to meet!”. It was a Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band cover gigs. That day we decided to film a video for “High Time” (Grateful Dead) . We put it out and got a really good response. It was great to find another female in the industry on the same page.
Andrea:
Yes, great to find another female to go to shows with and someone who likes the same type of music. We both knew a lot of the same people and even one degree of separation apart, our networks kind of just pulled together.
Christopher:
That’s sort of how the music world works. When you’re on tour and festivals you meet up with different artists. It may take months or even years to connect with the people in person.
Katie:
It was actually backstage at a Gov’t Mule show we met. I said “Are you that girl that everyone is telling me to meet?” Backstage at a Gov’t Mule show you’re my kind of girl.
Christopher:
When I go to shows and I am meeting up with someone for the first time I usually dress appropriately, in a lot of tie dye.
Question 3.
What was the first show you attended and did it spark you to become musicians?
Katie:
My first rock show was Bonnaroo in 2005. I was only twelve, though. We went for my brother’s graduation present. My Dad took me so it was “all in”– the first person I saw was Joss Stone and then I saw Alison Krauss right after. We were going because The Allman Brothers Band were playing. It ended up being one of the greatest music festival experiences for me ever! I saw Earl Scruggs that weekend and I had no idea who he was. My Dad was like “We got to go!”. It was all over then, I just started playing guitar and said “Okay! This is what we want to do now!”
Christopher:
Bonnaroo is an experience and half. I went in 2003. You can see any genre across the board and get familiar with different types of music.
You went to see The Allman Brothers Band, even though all the original members are not in tact, there is something super special about the group.
Katie:
Before The World shut down we were in New York that weekend and we got to The Brothers final show (3/10/2020 at The Garden).
Christopher:
I was at that show too! We may have met! Who knows!
Andrea:
I started playing classical music when I was nine (viola). So technically my first shows were orchestra concerts. My family went to a Jazz Fest every year. So every summer I got to see really heavy jazz musicians: Herbie Man, Tito Puenti, The Marsalis Brothers, Rosemary Clooney. I was introduced to a lot of jazz growing up and studied jazz in college, along with classical. My first rock show was actually Hootie & The Blowfish. I was 12, the age where you go to shows with your parents. I was determined to see every rock show I could. My second show was Tom Petty so I feel like that made up for my first show. As well “The Smokin’ Grooves Tour” featuring A Tribe Called Quest, George Clinton, and many more.
Christopher:
I’m really glad your parents took you to shows at a young age.
Question 4.
Tell us a little bit about your past projects before you two met.
Andrea:
I do a lot of sessions here in LA when I’m not on the road. Some of the bigger albums that I’ve played on are two of Kendrick Lamar’s albums as well as Kamasi Washington’s albums, “Epic” and “Harmony Of Difference”. My first tour with a prominent artist was playing with Shania Twain. I did her Las Vegas residency for about two and half years on viola and fiddle. That’s when I fell in love with pedal steel. I started learning pedal steel when I was in Shania’s band. After that residency ended got the gig with Zucchero Fornaciari, who is a big Italian artist. He’s Joe Cocker-esque, and sometimes referred to as the ‘Bruce Springsteen’ of Italy. I toured for about three years with Zucchero on a number of instruments: violin, viola and pedal steel and also a couple songs on mandolin. I was excited to tour this past year with Zucchero, but the pandemic put it on hold.
Question 5.
You were invited to do the VIP Lounge for Dead & Company. How did that all come about and what were the emotions when you got the call?
Katie:
It was all sort of a string of whirlwind of events. I worked with a lot of the guys in the jamband scene in Northern California. I was playing with California Kind, with John (Molo) and Barry (Sless). Through that I was working with Moonalice a little bit and through that I met Steve Parish, and he was invited to a stand up gig on the road. We were talking one day at a Wolf Brothers show and decided we were going to do stories and Grateful Dead covers. Steve and I did a few shows on the East Coast with me playing solo and him talking. Through that, the Dead & Company Summer Tour came up. Bob (Weir) wanted Steve to come out and be a part of it. Right about that time, in April, is when Andrea and I started playing together. We were off on this trip and already doing Grateful Dead covers so let’s add her (Andrea) into the mix. So we made it our duo, and that’s what our music was born out of. We spent our first few months playing together, just doing covers.
We learned a ton of Grateful Dead stuff and working up arrangements as the “acid duo”.
Andrea:
We had a week and half off, called our friend and asked if we could come into the studio, throw down some originals. People were asking “What’s your group called?” and we came up with about five different names before we settled on Katie & Andrea.
Katie:
To me original music is more gratifying. It’s really important to have covers in the set, and you can learn so much from that. At the end of the day, you want to write a great album, and it’s really wonderful to write a song and have people connect to it.
Christopher:
It’s great when groups do original music and fans tell them that their songs really resonated with them.
Katie:
It’s incredible. I can’t think of a higher compliment.
Christopher:
Some days it’s not about the money, it’s about the compliments.
Katie:
It’s usually not about the money.
Question 6.
The music industry was turned upside down last year. Where do you see live music going in 2021?
Andrea:
As of now the Zucchero band that I’m a part of, some tour dates are rescheduled for April. Who knows? Nobody really knows what is going on with live music.
Katie:
We’ve moved out of L.A. I would like to see live music go in the direction where it’s in the hands of the artists again. Where it’s built around a community of musicians, which has always been there, but we didn’t necessarily have the control. With all of this slowed down, taking a breath, being in the same place, there’s an amazing community of people. The spirit that in the early 60’s and 70’s, bands like Delaney & Bonnie and the Joe Cocker scene… the people that were working together, making music together and playing on each other’s records… I would really like to see it come back. Like a “festival express caravan”. A musician can be a front person or a side person– I would love to see that spirit come back. Especially in the L.A., it’s been so tough on musicians. You have to beg people to let you play for free. It’s just hard and not sustainable.
I wish we could take the control back and put on shows with our friends on some land. I’m going to be honest, it’s gotten a little corporate. It doesn’t need to be that way, there’s a beautiful spirit in the air right now, where musicians are being creative. That is my utopian vision.
Andrea:
What is great is that recently, we have both just relocated to just north of L.A. We are out of the city with our musical friends. What Katie is talking about is actually happening.
Katie:
We’re all neighbors and we can just jam. Southern California, we’re not settling down, we are going to come out kicking. There are a lot of good records that are going to come out of this time in the next year. I’m about to go record one of my housemates’ records (Farmer Dave Scher). I would like to get back in the studio and lay some stuff down. There’s a lot of good music that will come out.
Christopher:
Since things have started to slow down it’s great to see your friends again. I feel like so many musicians are touring and you only get to see each other for five minutes or so in passing or on a video chat. You don’t get to sit down with them and talk about life.
Katie:
Being able to have weekly or bi-weekly practices as well. No one really had the time to just sit down and create. We’re always rushing around all the time. We have been able to craft some music that we are really proud of, as well as some great reflection time. I’ve listened to so much music, record shopping and geeking out over music with your friends. I’ve listened to a shocking amount of music over the past ten months. The sense of urgency has been removed and you have learned to be a human again and it’s been good.
Videos:
“Raincatcher”
“Sugar Magnolia”
Website:
Katie & Andrea
