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In the second of our Wickham Festival interview-shorts, John Whalley catches up with Katherine Priddy, who chats about her recent musical journey and her third album.
With two very well-received albums under her belt, and around ten years spent touring, Katherine Priddy is clearly several steps further along her career path. However, our conversation still touched on uncertainties, tricky decisions and at least one topic she shared with Muireann Bradley (interviewed here) as Katherine has also appeared on Later… with Jools Holland on BBC TV, a gig she described as a terrifying but really good experience.
Known as a singer/songwriter/guitarist, over time, her music has increasingly incorporated other musicians, not just in the studio but also on stage. At Wickham, she performed as a duo with regular collaborator George Boomsma on electric guitar and vocals. For her tour earlier this year following the release of the second album (Pendulum Swing – reviewed here), she expanded to a trio incorporating Harry Fausing Smith on violin and mandolin and also adding a third voice. Her enthusiastic description, especially of their 3-part harmonies, showed the experiment clearly went well, she summed up the last few months as “really enjoyable, getting out and playing the album live”.
With the May tour followed by several festival dates, had she found time yet to start work on new material?
“I found it quite hard to focus on new material in the run up to the release of the album. I felt quite torn between writing and wanting to give my attention to the new baby that’s about to go out into the world. It also feels quite callous to go, “right, the album’s out now, what’s next?” But actually I’ve been quite enjoying doing some co-writing stuff. I find that quite difficult, getting out of my own head, my own ideas, and co-operating with other artists.”
One hears, time and again, how second albums can present a tricky step for many artists. I expected, with The Pendulum Swing having been so extensively praised, any such thoughts would now be behind her. However, Katherine did have something to say on the subject, the second album had its difficulties in one specific way.
“With the first album, I had no expectations, and it ended up doing better than I thought it would. With the second, the pressure was not wanting to let people down, people who had been so nice, so supportive of the first. People who had bought it, come to gigs. Those are the people who I didn’t want to disappoint. But they seem to have liked the second one as well. So now I feel that I can go into the third with a bit more confidence.”
So, does that mean a third album is on the way?
“I’m still thinking how to tackle it. The first two albums were with the same producer and so I’m looking at how I could move out of my comfort zone. Those albums feel connected, but I feel the third should be the start of a new chapter. I don’t want to rush that, so I’m definitely going to have a couple of new songs out before the third album. Things I can’t talk about just yet, but there will be new music quite soon.
“Having done some co-writing, collaborating, Jools Holland and a couple of other big shows I feel more confident in myself, which is a nice feeling. I feel a little bit less imposter syndrome.”
For Katherine’s upcoming tour dates, visit: https://www.katherinepriddy.co.uk/shows/
