News of a new album from Kaia Kater is sure to generate a buzz of excitement after her last album, Grenades, was released on Smithsonian Folkways in 2018, and things are looking exciting for the year ahead. 2024 looks like it’s going to be quite a year for Kater, who has an upcoming tour to the UK and Europe in January and February (see below). She will also be appearing as part of a newly formed Black string band supergroup, New Dangerfield, featuring Jake Blount, Tray Wellington, and Nelson Williams.
Kater has now signed to Free Dirt Records, through whom she will be releasing her new album that will feature key special guests and celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history as they rise up and turn the poison of centuries of oppression into a strange kind of medicine.
Today, she released her lead single, The Internet, a song that encapsulates the manipulation of our modern digital age. Inspired in part by Kate Bush’s song “Watching You Without Me”, in the chorus, Kater riffs on old modem sounds by rendering some of the lyrics barely intelligible and slightly garbled.
It’s also our Song of the Day.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Kaia Kater into the Free Dirt family of artists,” says general manager Jonathan Een Newton. “We’ve long admired her exceptional songwriting as well as her powerful banjo playing. We look forward to sharing more of the gorgeous new music she’s crafted on the label soon.” Kater will be joining a host of other cutting-edge roots musicians on Free Dirt Records, including Willi Carlisle, Jake Blount, Cinder Well, Mama’s Broke, and more.
Kaia Kater’s previous album, 2018’s Grenades on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, saw a wave of acclaim for Kater’s transgressive vision of Black North American roots music, culminating in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Following this album, she took a break from recording solo work, choosing to focus on film composition and songwriting, though she did release a single with jazz trumpeter Christian Scott a Tunde Adjuah in 2021. Her work in film composition is also coming to fruition this year with the release of the new film My Dead Friend Zoe. Acclaimed composer Dan Romer (Station Eleven, Beasts of the Southern Wild) tapped Kater to co-write a song for the film, and Kater also sang and played banjo throughout the film’s soundtrack. This film features performances from Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman will have its global premiere at SXSW 2024.
Kaia Kater on Tour in the UK and Europe
Jan 16, 2024 Birmingham – Kitchen Garden Cafe
Jan 17, 2024 London – Paper Dress Vintage
Jan 18, 2024 Bury – The Met
Jan 20, 2024 Glasgow – The Hug and Pint
Jan 24, 2024 Dublin – Women of Note Show
Jan 27, 2024 Belfast – The Deer’s Head
Jan 28, 2024 Derry – IMBOLC Festival
Feb 1, 2024 Brighton – Folklore Rooms
Feb 2, 2024 Cambridge – The Portland Arms
Feb 3, 2024 Bristol – The Folk House
Feb 4, 2024 Brussels – Indies Keeping Secret
Feb 6, 2024 Gent – Trefpunt
Feb 7, 2024 Veltem-Beisem – De Melkerij
Feb 8, 2024 Tilburg – Paradox
Feb 9, 2024 Amsterdam – Tolhuistuin Zonzij
Website: https://www.kaiakater.com/