For women to pursue and maintain a life in music requires special sacrifices and determination. Katie Knipp knows all too well that making music as a wife and mother is one such challenge.
After giving birth to two sons in quick succession, the Californian blueswoman had to make major adjustments to her song writing routine: "Some of these lyrics to the songs were typed into my phone at 3am while breastfeeding" she says.
She doesn't say this to gain sympathy and is quick to point out that there's a genuine upside to her situation: "I started writing songs from a more natural state of just pure love and they come easily to me now.
This is her 5th album and it features a tight backing band comprising Neil Campisano on drums, Zack Proteau on bass, and Brett Vaughn Rechtfertig on guitar. Knipp sings and plays various instruments including piano, slide dobro guitar and harmonica.
W&H dubbed her debut release in 2010 as gutsy and intelligent and these qualities are still very much in evidence. What has changed is that now, somewhat incongruously, she sings the blues from a position of gratitude and optimism. She acknowledges the paradox of this in the opening track Ya Make it So Hard to Sing the Blues. Lines like "I don't walk around complaining no more" make it plain that suffering and depression are not high on the agenda.
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In her video introduction to the album she comments that the songs go "from psycho to Mardi Gras and all the fields in between". There's a song for hubby and one for New Orleans with full horns (Another Round) while tracks such as Metro in Paris or Get Outta My Dream prove that you can be a mom and still be sassy and sexy.
'Take It With You' is an album that affirms that, with the right attitude, obstacles and hardships are often just a state of mind.
Katie Knipp's website
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