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Kat Edmonson

In her most powerful presentation to date and with minimal accompaniment, Kat Edmonson will interweave humorous stories about herself and her music with disarming candor and vulnerability. Subtlety and nuance will be served up as main courses for this show and the music, so delicately played, will leave you feeling entirely full.

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Kat is a Songwriters Hall of Fame award-winning songwriter and singer. She has been featured on Austin City Limits, Tiny Desk Concerts, CBS Saturday Morning and has released six studio albums to date. Her original songs have been featured in major motion pictures, television shows and commercials including her song “Lucky” featured in the Coca-Cola “Footprints” ad from the Winter Olympics.

From Carnegie Hall to the Montreux Jazz Festival to the Blue Note in Japan, Kat has headlined tours across the United States, Europe, and Asia. She has performed in support of Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Gary Clark, Jr., and Willie Nelson to name a few. Kat appeared in Woody Allen’s Cafe Society as a 1930s jazz singer and was highlighted on the official soundtrack performing her version of “Mountain Greenery.” In the winter of 2022, the singer made her theatrical debut in the four-time, Drama Desk Award-nominated off-Broadway show, "The Hang” by Taylor Mac and Matt Ray.

“Hearing Edmonson makes it virtually impossible to do anything but stop and listen.” -NPR Tiny Desk

Concerts many "Who was THAT?’s were heard from the crowd after she performed -Billboard

“Arresting”— The Austin Chronicle “…her lasting contribution might very well be her songs.” -JAZZIZ

“terrific” -American Songwriter

“A timeless sound…”—NPR “All Things Considered

” Kat Edmonson is a new-fashioned hero shining illuminative beams of truth and power. Do not miss." -The Morton Report

"Her blend of traditional jazz and singer-songwriter pop is unusual but not without analogues…Willie Nelson, Rufus Wainwright, Gregory Porter and Edmonson’s longtime champion, Lyle Lovett have all explored similar territory. And there is something so distinctive about Edmonson’s voice and song-writing that she deserves a place among those fellow travelers." –Texas Music

"Her music is like fairy dust. It has this magical… timeless quality to it that it just instantly makes you feel good and settled and childlike, but the good part, where your imagination is still pure. -NPR, Song Confessional
 

Kat Edmonson

Kat Edmonson is a Songwriters Hall of Fame award-winning songwriter and singer. She has been featured on Austin City Limits, Tiny Desk Concerts, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Tonight Show and has released six studio albums to date. Raised on the music and film of the early-to- mid-twentieth century, Kat performs original songs and familiar classics in her live show interweaving humorous anecdotes and philosophical musings with disarming candor and vulnerability. “Hearing Edmonson makes it virtually impossible to do anything but stop and listen.” (NPR)

“Intuitive about melody and handy with a turn of phrase (The New York Times), the songsmith has been writing ever since she was a little girl. JAZZIZ magazine says, “…her lasting contribution might very well be her songs.” NPR says, “she’s a savvy student of ’60s film soundtracks, jazz- pop stylists and Brill Building songcraft, nodding to her influences at every turn. But her take on those stylized musical languages is so fresh and fluent that the referencing never feels cumbersome.” Her original songs have been featured in major motion pictures, television shows and commercials including her song “Lucky” which was featured in the Coca-Cola “Footprints” ad from the 2014 Winter Olympics.

From Carnegie Hall to the Montreux Jazz Festival to the Blue Note in Japan, Kat has played major stages across the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition to her own headline tours, she has performed in support of Lyle Lovett, Gary Clark, Jr., Smokey Robinson, and Willie Nelson to name a few. Kat appeared in Woody Allen’s Cafe Society as a 1930s jazz singer and was highlighted on the official soundtrack performing her version of “Mountain Greenery.” In the winter of 2022, the singer made her theatrical debut in the four-time, Drama-Desk-Award- nominated off-Broadway show, “The Hang” by Taylor Mac and Matt Ray.

Kat Edmonson

Kat Edmonson is an award-winning songwriter and singer “with an equal foothold in jazz, cabaret and vintage cosmopolitanism pop” (The New York Times). Raised on the music and film of the early-to-mid twentieth century, Kat is a rare artist who embodies the spirit of the past while remaining resolutely au courant. She performs original songs and familiar classics in her live show, interweaving humorous anecdotes, philosophical musings, and her love of film with disarming candor and vulnerability. Her longtime band members’ keen and sensitive accompaniment allows Kat to freely veer off-script as she’s often inclined to do. She has been featured on Austin City Limits, Tiny Desk Concerts, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Tonight Show.

Kat’s sixth studio album Holiday Swingin’! A Kat Edmonson Christmas Vol. 1 was released in November of 2021 and was included on the NY Times list of “13 Albums That Revisit (and Redefine!) Holiday Classics” and was described by Jazziz as “impeccably hip”. In 2020, the vintage-pop and jazz artist was on a 40-city tour promoting her new critically acclaimed album Dreamers Do when the pandemic struck. Kat quickly transformed her living room into an attractive set where she performed live every Sunday night at 7PM ET. Drawing from her love of old variety shows, Kat dubbed her livestream The Kat Edmonson Show. Her modern-day variety show ran for 66 episodes.

Kat’s fifth album, Dreamers Do (2020) combines mid-20th century Disney songs (from Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, Babes in Toyland), with familiar classics (“What A Wonderful World” as well as “All I Do is Dream of You” from Singin’ in the Rain), and features two new, original songs (“Too Late to Dream” and “Someone’s In The House.”) The LP, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart, takes place in a single night, from bedtime till morning. “It’s about our concepts around dreaming- all of the wonderful things, the fearful things, and the things that keep us awake in the middle of the night,” Kat explains of the music, “It’s also about the quiet power of merely having a dream. There are interludes between the songs indicating different points in this nocturnal journey and if someone wants to listen to the entire record as an experience, it’s available to them.” Of Dreamers Do, American Songwriter says, “terrific!” and UNCUT calls it a “Bewitching songcycle from a masterful vocalist.”

Recently, The Songwriters Hall of Fame awarded Kat the Abe Olman Scholarship Award for Excellence in Songwriting. “Intuitive about melody and handy with a turn of phrase (The New York Times), the songsmith has been writing ever since she was a little girl, having published over 40 songs to date. JAZZIZ magazine says, “…her lasting contribution might very well be her songs.” NPR says, “she’s a savvy student of ’60s film soundtracks, jazz-pop stylists and Brill Building songcraft, nodding to her influences at every turn. But her take on those stylized musical languages is so fresh and fluent that the referencing never feels cumbersome.” Her original song “Lucky” was featured in the Coca-Cola “Footprints” ad from the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Kat Edmonson is an award-winning songwriter and singer “with an equal foothold in jazz, cabaret and vintage cosmopolitanism pop” (The New York Times). She has been featured on Austin City Limits, Tiny Desk Concerts, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Late Show with David Letterman. The New York Times describes her music as “fresh as a spring bouquet” while NPR says, “Hearing Edmonson makes it virtually impossible to do anything but stop and listen.” Kat Edmonson will perform swingin’ Yule-tide favorites such as “Jingle Bell Rock”, “O Christmas Tree”, and “Let It Snow” as part of her festive show, Holiday Swingin’! A Kat Edmonson Christmas.

With a sweetly mellifluous soprano echoing Blossom Dearie’s lighter-than-air approach as well as her gift for evocative songwriting, Kat Edmonson is a rare artist who embodies the spirit of the past while remaining resolutely au courant.  Her unusually charming and seamless blend of old and new has garnered attention on “NPR Tiny Desk Concerts”, “Austin City Limits”, and “A Prairie Home Companion”.  

The vintage pop and jazz vocalist’s new album Dreamers Do is out February 7, 2020 with a forty-city, U.S. tour to follow.  The album blends original compositions and reimagined mid 20th century classic Disney songs, and tells a story which takes place over the course of one sleepless night. Dreamers Do follows the release of 2018’s Old Fashioned Gal, which Billboard calls “an intimate journey from doubt to resolve and implied triumph.” NPR Music raves the album is “a handsome showcase for her songwriting, which has grown ever more confident over the last decade,” while the Associated Press says the record “sounds like an alternate soundtrack to an Audrey Hepburn film.”

Edmonson’s critically acclaimed 2014 release The Big Picture, which debuted #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers, #1 on Contemporary Jazz Chart and #2 on the Total Jazz Chart. NPR First Listen described the record, “She’s a savvy student of ‘60s film soundtracks, jazz-pop stylists and Brill Building songcraft.” Her 2015 performance on “CBS This Morning: Saturday” garnered the program’s highest rated viewership since 2006. She recently appeared in Woody Allen’s Cafe Society as a 1930s jazz singer and is highlighted on the official soundtrack performing her version of “Mountain Greenery.”

2012’s Way Down Low was described by The New York Times as “fresh as a spring bouquet” while The Boston Globe’s Steve Greenlee heralded it as “one of the greatest vocal albums I’ve ever heard.” The record debuted at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart and was featured on several major year-end lists including Downbeat Magazine, WNYC Soundcheck’s “Best Live Performances” and Daytrotter’s “Best Sessions of 2012.” Edmonson was featured on NPR an impressive five times that same year. 

The Texas native began crafting her signature sound while performing in Austin’s local club circuit for years before releasing her debut LP Take To The Sky in 2009. She went on to tour worldwide with high profile acts including Lyle Lovett, Chris Isaak, Gary Clark Jr., Shawn Colvin, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Nick Lowe and more. 

Songwriter and vocalist Kat Edmonson’s fourth album, Old Fashioned Gal, is set for release April 27 on Spinnerette Records. NPR Music’s “Songs We Love” premiered the title track, noting, “Edmonson is astute with her references, and canny about the flirtation at the center of the song.” NPR goes on to describe the upcoming LP saying “The album is a handsome showcase for her songwriting, which has grown ever more confident over the last decade, nostalgic in tone but clear-eyed in the application.” Read the full piece HERE and share HERE.

Edmonson will hold a winter residency at City Vineyard in New York City February 6, 20 and 27 following her performance at The Django on January 13 as part of Winter Jazzfest.

Of writing Old Fashioned Gal, Edmonson says “I wrote these songs while holed up in my Brooklyn apartment during the winter of 2016.  I had a terrible, reoccurring cold that winter and was often laid up in bed.  I’d go back and forth from watching 1930s movies on Turner Classic Movies to working on a song. While writing this album, I realized that I was seeing what looked like scenes from a film in my head – a film not yet made.  I ultimately sat down and wrote an entire outline for a screenplay – a musical, of course – with this music, the score.  I processed a great deal of self-doubt in order to write this hopeful record.  Old Fashioned Gal is about believing in yourself even when it seems no one else will.”

Old Fashioned Gal was entirely written and produced by Edmonson with associate production by band member and drummer Aaron Thurston. It was recorded over several sessions throughout the summer and fall of 2016 at Atomic Sound Studios in Brooklyn with Grammy winning engineer Fernando Lodeiro. This is her third time working with twenty-two-time Grammy-winning engineer Al Schmitt who mixed the record at Capitol Studios in Hollywood.

The album follows Edmonson’s critically acclaimed 2014 release The Big Picture which debuted #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers, #1 on Contemporary Jazz Chart and #2 on the Total Jazz Chart. Her 2015 performance on “CBS This Morning: Saturday” garnered the program’s highest rated viewership since 2006. She recently appeared in Woody Allen’s Cafe Society as a 1930s jazz singer and is highlighted on the official soundtrack performing her version of “Mountain Greenery.”

2012’s Way Down Low was described by The New York Times as “fresh as a spring bouquet” while The Boston Globe’s Steve Greenlee heralded it as “one of the greatest vocal albums I’ve ever heard.” The record debuted at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart and was featured on several major year-end lists including Downbeat Magazine, WNYC Soundcheck’s “Best Live Performances” and Daytrotter’s “Best Sessions of 2012.” Edmonson was featured on NPR an impressive five times that same year.

Growing up in Houston, Edmonson wrote her first song on a school bus at age nine. The Texas native evolved her signature style in Austin’s local club circuit for several years before self-releasing Take To The Sky in 2009. In the proceeding years, Edmonson toured throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan while also supporting high profile acts including Lyle Lovett, Chris Isaak, Gary Clark, Jr., Jaime Cullum, and Shawn Colvin, Smokey Robinson, George Benson, Michael Kiwanuka, Nick Lowe and Willie Nelson.