Kat Wright
“There's soul flowing in and out of her rock 'n' roll with a serpentine seduction. Some of soul music's sweet, grand dames belt, shout, seethe, and succumb, while Wright sings gently like a heartache's apology. It's funky in spots and beautiful all over. And it hurts a little ... like it should”.
After touring for the last decade as a 7–9-piece soul band with horns & keys blazing, this new era finds Kat Wright being born anew - more herself than ever - revealed, simply in a startlingly honest & glimmering naked light. With restrictions imposed by the pandemic, Wright & her cohorts have recently come to enjoy writing & touring in a stripped down formation, mostly trio or quartet, in contrast to the big band she fronted for the better part of the last decade where she was described “a young Bonnie Raitt meets Amy Winehouse”. Fans of Wright’s singing & style have been thrilled to discover this paired down line up which puts the groups true talents front & center to shine, instead of drenching them in horns and fanfare. You’ll still hear the Raitt & Winehouse influences, but now also likenesses with Brandi Carlisle & Norah Jones. The resulting music is more intentional, more distilled, more potent - a direct balm for the trying times we face today. It’s truly a scenario of “less is more” - allowing Wright’s voice to really finally take center stage, to shine and ache and yearn and howl - unburied, out in the open, beaming.
A quote from the folk publication Red Line Roots from November ’21 sums it up best: “The first time I saw Kat Wright live was a festival gig where the band’s horn section alone was comprised of 3 people. Wright has that special balance of power and grace in her voice that can shimmer and float to the top of a big band setting, I don’t think anyone who has witnessed her perform could deny that. But the intimacy and vulnerability that she and collaborators Bob Wagner and Josh Weinstein has crafted with their newly (and COVID necessary) formed (trio) outfit is something truly magnificent.
