Our LCM featured artist today Kate Ellis is an Americana singer-songwriter who was born in Louisiana, grew up in New York and is now based in London. Having performed in festivals and concerts across the USA, UK and Europe, the timeless sound of her music reflects her love of classic singer-songwriters from Gram Parsons and Gillian Welch, to Mary Chapin Carpenter, Leonard Cohen and Nanci Griffith. Released as a single today, our LCM #SongOfTheDay 'I Believe' is one of our favourites from Kate's critically acclaimed debut album 'Carve Me Out'. Kate and the band will be on a UK tour shortly, so catch them if you can. 

The next single will include also a previously unreleased acoustic version featuring Jonathan Colombo on lap steel, recorded between London and Barcelona, offering a simpler, more exposed take on this personal, hopeful song. In her own words: “This song is about those times when you don't believe in yourself but luckily someone else does! It's about the optimism and belief that can cut through feelings of despair and shine light on the darkest places. I think the idea that someone’s spirit can rise above the doubt that another person might have is something very real and, hopefully, an uplifting truth that people can emotionally connect with.”

Fresh from a London show supporting William The Conqueror on Friday, Kate and her band now take to the road for the following dates:

• 3 Mar – Dancing Dog – Sittingbourne
• 19 Mar – The Bedford – London
• 24 Mar – Village Hall – Alstonfield (w/ Robinson & Roe)
• 29 & 31 Mar – Sofar Sounds – London
• 4 Apr – Gullivers – Manchester

Kate’s southern country-folk roots come from her father, an important early musical influence who once played guitar with Hank Williams on the famous Louisiana Hayride, where Elvis and Johnny Cash started out. These influences were explored recently in a ten-episode series of online videos called ‘My Dad’s Records’, in which Kate shared a personal perspective on ten of her father’s  albums, from Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie to Josh White and Bob Dylan, that most shaped the music she loves and writes. The process of making those videos - which have now been viewed over 35,000 times online and shared widely on social media - was partly the inspiration for the release of her own album on vinyl.

Kate’s emotional and seductive vocals take you into a world of private beauty, reflection and feelings; the music is always intimate and evocative – you listen and want to be there. A journalist for the Observer described “hauntingly beautiful songs”, while BBC Radio country DJ Mike Shepherd said “she clearly has a huge future ahead of her”, with No Depression describing her debut album ‘Carve Me Out’ as “an album of great warmth and feeling that just makes you press repeat. Definitely worthy of recognition.”

The critically acclaimed debut was released independently through River Rose Records in June; tracks from the set have now been streamed over 150,000 times by fans all over the world, and with Kate increasingly being seen as a key part of the UK’s vibrant live Americana circuit, this story is just beginning.