female singer-songwriter, guitarist, and music producer
Explore My Newest Music:
Bright Somewhere
Bright Somewhere is in conversation with my previous album,
Bright Nowhere (2021), and explores what comes next.
If Bright Nowhere was night, Bright Somewhere is day.
If Bright Nowhere explored the dark, Bright Somewhere reaches for the light.
If Bright Nowhere studied boundaries, Bright Somewhere seeks freedom.
Listen now
“One of the next great American songwriters.”
– Jay Newland | twelve-time Grammy Award winning producer/engineer
About Kate
Kate Schutt (pronounced “shut”) is an award-winning singer-songwriter, jazz guitarist, and music producer whose voice NPR calls “glassily clear and glossily sweet.”
American Songwriter called Kate’s last album Bright Nowhere (2021) “illuminating … the work that ought to bring her the wider recognition she so decidedly deserves.”
Kate’s two biggest musical influences are Tina Turner and Cole Porter. They are an unlikely pair, true, but you don’t always get to choose the sparks that light your creative fire, do you?
Sometimes Kate writes music with the intensity and propulsion of Turner’s pop anthems; other times, she crafts songs that could be mistaken for lost jazz standards or newly old-fashioned tunes from the Great American Songbook.
If you’re a fan of the literate, sophisticated songwriting of, say, Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, or Joni Mitchell, Kate’s music will draw you in. Twelve-time Grammy-winning Producer Jay Newland (best known for his work on Norah Jones's 2002 worldwide 27-million-selling album Come Away with Me) has called Kate “the next great American songwriter.”
Kate has won top honors from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, the Billboard Songwriting Contest, and the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
She’s shared stages across the U.S., Brazil, Canada, and Europe with many of her musical heroes: Terri Lyne Carrington, Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Scott Colley, Gregoire Maret, and Bernard Purdie, to name only a few.
Wander with Me:
The Short and The Sweet Newsletter
For the past 20-ish years, I’ve sent an email to my fans, friends, and family every two weeks–except when I’m completely off-the-grid backpacking in the wilderness or on a silent meditation retreat.
My newsletter is called The Short and The Sweet or TSTS, for short.
It’s not at all typical, and that’s why people rave about it…
“I love how you share your life with all the people who are subscribed to The Short The Sweet. You really do make my month each and every month. It is an inspiration. You make the world a better place”. –C
“Rock on! These are the types of mailing lists we need to see
more of.”N
“I’m writing to tell you that yours is among my top 3 favorite newsletters!” –K
TSTS is more of an intellectual wander.
It’s an opportunity to explore what’s curious, strange, hilarious, amazing, baffling, and wonder-filled about life and the living of it.
Sometimes it’s prose, sometimes it’s poetry. It could be a drawing from my sketchbook or a recipe I’m crazy about. It definitely includes music!
Whatever goes into it, the point is to make you stop and think, laugh out loud, dance around, grab a book or three, take a pause, change a habit, call a friend, go for a walk…
Won’t you join us?
WHY I DO WHAT I DO
I practice and play guitar, write the best songs I can write, and joyously share my music with the world…
For all the 11-year-old girl guitar players out there … so they can have a bad-ass, female guitar hero to look up to. When I was 11 years old and learning to play the guitar, everywhere I looked, all the guitarists were male. I didn’t see a single person who looked like me.
For women artists everywhere in every medium who have to deal with and carry twice as much baggage as male artists and do it in the face of demoralizing cultural conditioning that scrutinizes and sets up a double standard for their every word and deed.
For my mom, who continually put her own hopes and dreams aside to be the responsible person her family needed her to be and who, as she was dying of ovarian cancer, wasn’t convinced her life mattered, even though she was, literally, the best person any of us have ever had the privilege to know.
For anyone who thinks they couldn’t possibly chase that secret dream of theirs and who continually talks themselves out of taking even one small step in the direction of their heart’s desire.
For anyone who thinks they're too old or they started too late…and that, because they didn’t start playing an instrument when they were 4 (or 14 or 24 or 34 or 44) years old, there’s no point in even trying to do anything creative, like write a song or play an instrument.
For my heroes, who’ve toiled, suffered, and persevered. I see you. I hear you. I read your words. I remember you. You give me the hope and the strength to continue on my path. Your light shines. Without you, I wouldn’t be here.
For focus, inner peace, and self-knowledge in a world that, if I’m not careful, aims to reduce me to two lidless eyeballs connected to a finger that can scroll and tap connected to a credit card.
Time & Rhyme
Coming Soon:
My Songwriting Book
Almost everyone at some point says they want to write a song.
You should let it out. It’s time to.
Time & Rhyme–My how-to book about songwriting is where you start.
I didn’t start out as a songwriting prodigy or musical prodigy; I had to put my head down and work.
This is the book I wish I’d had when I was just getting my feet wet.
Even if you’ve never sung a note or touched a piano or written a line of poetry, I’ll guide you through the entire process from no idea to a finished song, complete with compelling, heartfelt lyrics that tell your story.
“The people who love Kate’s music are connoisseurs. They’re the smart ones. They hang on every word because her music connects spiritually and emotionally.”
– Julian Lage | Grammy-nominated composer and guitarist
