Hello! Katie Curley

Hey Katie, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! 

My pleasure, thanks for reaching out. Always glad to talk about music, and especially my new record!

Softball question to start… please introduce yourself to our campers. 

Well, I am Katie Curley a singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, NY, originally from Washington State. I have had many phases as a musician and songwriter, but for the past decade or so, I have been focused primarily on playing in country bands and writing songs in that genre.

And, tell me something about you that I won’t be able to google.

I have a small tattoo of a harpoon on my right hip.

What can you tell me about your new album, Penny For My Heartbreak?

I love it! It is my favorite work that I’ve ever made, but that’s how it always is. Whatever is new is the best and everything else I’d rather forget. It was incredibly satisfying to write these songs, extremely fun to record them, and continues to be a blast to perform them.

Where did the title come from?

That phrase “penny for your thoughts” has always bothered me, because it’s usually something I’ve been asked when I’ve been deep in thought about a heartbreak. It’s just always felt like an invasive phrase to me. Plus, my thoughts are worth more than a penny, thank you. That’s how it wound up in the song ‘DIY Honky Tonk’. Because I loved the idea of only having myself to drink with and talk to, in which case I would get straight to the point, penny for my heartbreak? I suggested it to my husband, guitarist Brendan Curley, as a possible title, and he liked it right away. He said, You should call it Fraction of a Penny for My Heartbreak! It works literally, given the state of the music business!

The opening song ‘DIY Honky Tonk’ is one of my favourites, what can you tell me about the song?

As I mentioned, that’s where the album title comes from, but also that song best captures the state of mind I was in when writing the bulk of the songs, which I did during the most isolated period of the pandemic in NYC. That’s what that song is about, making lemonade out of lemons and realizing that although it’s not ideal, I actually have it pretty good. In fact, I have everything I need to have a really good time, apart from more space and human interaction.

‘Take Your Pro-Life And Let It Die’ is also an excellent song and with a pretty clear message, what’s the story behind that song?

I was watching PBS and a musician whom I admire was wearing a patch on his guitar strap that said in big red letters “LIFE” and it made me mad. Most of the imagery comes from a period in my life when I happened to walk by Planned Parenthood every day on my way to work. It was the same Planned Parenthood where I got my check-ups and birth control and there were always, always these people outside holding up a faded poster of the Virgin Mary with some text on it intended to guilt patients and health-care providers out of entering the building or even the parking lot. I always felt sorry for those people standing there with the poster, because they didn’t seem to have a life. When I was in my early twenties, I unintentionally got pregnant and opted to have an abortion. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I mean, I was not happy to find out I’d gotten pregnant and it was a big deal in the sense that I knew I was in trouble if I didn’t find a way to take care of myself, which I wasn’t very good at at that time, but the decision to have an abortion was not a big deal in my mind. It was the obvious thing to do. That was a long time ago, and it is surreal to me to think it is more difficult for people in this country to terminate pregnancies now than it was then. That’s not actually where I was expecting things to go when I wrote the song. Roe v Wade was overturned just before we recorded it.

I also love ‘Last Night’s Tequila’, tell me about that song.

Brendan came up with the song title. He just blurted it out one day when I asked him what he was drinking. It was during that same lockdown phase of the pandemic when we had little else to do but follow ideas around and day drink. We had constructed a tiki bar in the corner of our bedroom and we spent a lot of time there! I imagined the story in the song taking place there.

And tell me about your absolute favourite drink.

That is impossible! I will say that I have been very fortunate in my life to have had endless opportunities to drink rare and delicious wines and spirits because I was in the wine business for fifteen years. That is one reason I have so many songs about drinking. I know a lot about it! I gravitate toward Bourbon. And I adore all kinds of wine from everywhere.

Which was the first song you recorded for the album?

‘Beauty Queen’. I think you can hear it in the recording, that little extra edge and energy we all had at the start.

I read that most of the album was written during the pandemic, what was it about that period that made you so creative?

Time, isolation, and boredom. There’s only so much TV you can watch.

You’re in New York, but playing the kind of music you do Nashville seems to most obvious place. Have you ever been tempted?

We thought about it seriously when we first started playing music together. We even looked into getting work there, but ultimately it didn’t feel like the right time or the right place. I was definitely too intimidated by the level of musicianship and professionalism there to push for it. Looking back, I’m glad we stayed here and took our time developing as musicians in a really supportive atmosphere. The country music scene in NYC is kind of niche but it is vibrant and full of lovely, talented, and generous people.

Where’s your favourite place to go in New York?

I live near the Verrazzano Bridge, and I like to walk and ride my bike along the waterfront. That’s my favorite spot.

Who’s another artist we should be listening to right now?

Local artists I love are Paisley Fields – I am especially into his song ‘Iowa’ right now. And Mary Lee Kortes’ new record The Songs of Beulah Rowley is incredible. Outside of NYC, I love Tanya Tucker’s album While I’m Still Living and Miranda Lambert’s The Marfa Tapes, both of which came out a couple years ago but I just listened to them for the first time recently and was blown away. I just saw Brennen Leigh live in Brooklyn and got her new album, which is really great too. She’s a badass.

What's the best bit of merchandise you have available?

Probably the album. But I also have some cool t-shirts and very soon I will have knit caps that say “Take Your Pro-Life And Let It Die” available online. The proceeds from those will go to the National Network of Abortion Funds.

What’s your best story? Music-related or otherwise.

Just before my release show last Saturday, Brendan and I went for a walk near the venue we were playing in Williamsburg. That neighborhood has changed dramatically since I first moved here twenty years ago. We were talking about how one of the gifts of growing older is that you have so many stories about your life floating around in your brain. I couldn’t possibly choose “the best.” But I will tell the story of how I met Jim Lauderdale, who is a hero of mine, although he may not be aware of that fact. Last spring, he played a popular venue called Skinny Dennis, also in Williamsburg, and Brendan and I went to the show. There’s no greenroom or any backstage area for the performers there, and as it happened, while I was waiting in line for the bathroom, he got in line directly behind me. I suggested that he should trade places with me because I was worried he might be late for his own show, and he accepted the offer. We then both proceeded to stare at the ceiling until I mustered the courage to ask if I could shake his hand. He gave me a big smile, shook my hand, asked me my name and said, “Pleased to meet you, Katie, My name is Jim.” I couldn’t believe my luck. I would have never had the nerve to go up to him at the merch table or anything like that, so it was perfect that he just happened to show up next to me in line. When the bathroom door finally opened, he returned the courtesy and offered that I should go first. What a nice guy!

Finally, what’s the last thing you want people to hear from you in this interview?

It’s been five years since I released a record. It has been a labor of love and none of it was easy. But it was totally worth it. The best part is always the little moments in between when you connect with people around this shared thing. It’s magic. There were many times I had to pinch myself because I could hardly believe I was working with such top-shelf musicians and they are wonderful souls to boot. Maybe I’ll just leave you with their names, since they really are the substance of the album: Eric “Roscoe” Ambel produced and also plays guitar throughout, Mario Viele recorded and mixed with Eric, Brendan Curley played lead guitar across the album with Jonny Lam on pedal steel, Charles Giordano on keyboards, Dan B. Green and Dave Speranza on bass, Konrad Meissner on drums, and vocalists Sarah Kinsey, Mary Lee Kortes, Barbara Endes, and Joe Flood on harmonies.

Visit Katie’s website to find out more, buy merch, and see all tour dates. Katie is also on Instagram and Facebook. Penny For My Heartbreak is streaming everywhere now and available to buy from Bandcamp.