UK Singer/Songwriter Katy Hurt kindly helped us out at The Long Road Festival this year (2022) as we originally couldn’t make the Friday and Sunday. Katy joining us was very last minute, we are talking a days notice and most of the interviews were short notice as of course we hadn’t planned to do any as weren’t originally going to be there . These interviews are Katy’s first ever interviews and Drake is her first ever interview. We are so proud of what she has done and very grateful, thank you Katy!

Hi, How Are Ya?

I’m fantastic how are you?

I’m good, How’s your trip been so far?

It’s been good, it’s been good, a lot of great fans, a lot of great things have happened, so I’m excited.

Awesome, Okay, so what do you have planned for tonight’s show?

Um, you know, just you know we’ve been playing a lot, playing a lot of shows so we’ve got a, got a really kind of energetic, soul, Appalachian, funk country show that’s just (the best kinda country show)

You know we get after it, and it’s high energy, it’s kinda a rollercoaster ride that carries you through, you know, this past record and what the last two years have been very challenging for us, going through a stroke and an injury and then through the pandemic has been a tumultuous to say the least so um yeah the show is just, is just that.
But it, man it hits, it hits hard and its fun.

Who has been your rowdiest crowd so far?

Um the rodiest crowd was Monday, Monday night in London. It was, they were lit! To say the least.

They usually are!

Okay, so you obviously have an incredible relationship with the UK fans and it you know, they are pretty loyal and dedicated. Do you have plans to come back over anytime soon after this trip?

Oh yeah, yeah, this was, this is something that started way back, you know 2014 for me. You know I always have had a nomadic spirit, I’ve always wanted to expand into different parts of the world, not just, I love my country, I love where I’m from and Alabama and what I bring to the table there as far as my southern heritage but, it’s a its just such a big world you know and I’ve always loved traveling and I’ve always been a road dog, and loved meeting new people so yeah I wanna come back, once if not twice a year. (Brilliant)

Okay, is there anything that you have to eat and drink, anytime that you come. Is there like a specific thing that you have to have in the UK?

Yeah I always have to have Thai food, and I always have to have Italian food in the UK. I mean in, London especially.

Anywhere in particular that you go? What’s your favourite, I’m just asking for restaurant tips!!

Right, we stopped at, I can’t remember the name of the place, the thai food place, I’m sorry.

Tell me, about your new single?

Um, well I mean we’re going out there, as independent artists right now, so like, Power of a Woman, is something that we’ve really pushed and that we ran a campaign where I kinda spotlit these women in my life that had pushed, and just strong women in general, and wanted to really record that song in a soulful way and we did and played tribute to, to you know ladies out there that are working hard. I mean just normal nurses and you know, waitresses and teachers and all kinds of stuff, so we did, we asked people to submit their powerful women stories and they did, thousands of them came in and we kinda pushed that (that’s incredible) so yeah it’s just a tribute to the women out there that’s rocking, cause you know my wife helped me learn how to walk again at 35 years old, my mom’s been a incredible powerhouse you know, for as long as I can remember, you know my grandmother was the same way. Yeah power of a woman.

And I hear you have a song called Hurts The Heeling out too, (yeah) and I have a bone to pick with you on that one cause my surname is Hurt and my fan’s call themselves the Healers, so when I saw that you put that out I thought “Dang, he’s stealing my thing!”

Drake Laughs

But how’s that one going so far?

It’s been great you know, over here, you’re right they are playing hurts the heeling, and American thunder as well, but hurts the heeling is, is I told my publisher that I wanted to write soon after the stroke had happened, and he said you can’t write, the pandemic had set in and nobody is meeting at the publishing house or anything, would you be interested in writing on zoom, and I said man I’ll write in smoke signals, man I don’t care, I’ll figure it out, and the first zoom write was Alison Velts Cruz and Aaron Chaf and you know we just wrote my story, that is my story, um, and it’s all about embracing, embracing your bear attacks, and embracing the challenges in front of you and man it was hard, it’s very very hard and you know I had a rough time for a long time with getting through that, so that’s what that song is about.

How have you found the balance getting back it afterwards, cause I previously had a spinal injury, so I know what it’s like having to learn to walk again, and the trickiness of that on stage, and balancing health vs music. Have the band been super helpful with that for you?

They’ve been incredibly helpful, um, it is, thank you for asking that question, it’s incredibly challenging, there are times where I have to stop and breathe, there’s times where I have to stop and go ok what am I doing? We’ve been really busy, so it’s getting better, and music truly does heal, and repetition heals, and whether it be a spinal injury or a brain injury that is all nerve, nerve related damage and nervous system type stuff, and when you do stuff like you and me are doing, singing, you know that is your brain going oh yeah, I remember how to do that, I’m gonna create this passage around the injury and do it again. So that’s what I’m clinging on to, the hope and the faith that that is happening every time I sing. So you know it’s hard as shit you know, to stand up some days its easy, some days I’m dancing, and some days I’m standing behind the mic. But it’s a show that means something, it’s me showing my fans and showing people that with help and with prayer and with faith you can do it.

Well I’ve found music to be, like a light at the end of the tunnel ..

absolutely

..you know it was something to work towards as well. It gave me a little bit more strength to get through, cause I knew I could get back on stage again. So you know its so cool that you’re back again. As a fan of yours as well I’m so incredibly glad that you’re doing okay.

Thank you!

Okay just a couple more questions, am I to understand that you have a new album you are working on? What are you busy working on?

So we, when my career for one reason or another, has been, the path has been the scenic route to stardom to say the least. The release of the Optimistic on March 11th and that was my record to say hey I’m still alive, we made it through a near death experience and we are here. And now, my buddy Jonathon Singleton and I are going to go into the studio starting in September and I’m just going to pour it home, I’ve got a lot of songs that I’ve written over the years and that I’ll continue to write, that I love, that I wanna get out there and I wanna make an Appalachian, soul funk record that you just wanna ay hell yeah that’s it. Dig in and we are going down to Mississippi to cut it down in the Delta and I’m sink into my roots and into what I do.

Well dang I cannot wait to hear it.

Thank you!

Are there any songs that, last question, that didn’t make the album? And why? … and then can I hear them afterwards?

Oh, yes. There is a song called gypsy that I have always loved that didn’t make it, just cause it didn’t really fit on this album. I loved this song called Tequila Mockingbird, that’s even got a boo radley reference in it, that didn’t make it just because it’s more of this low country sound that I’m gonna go into. So those two are good to start with. There’s one called Always Want What you cant have. I mean these are 12 year old songs,(wow) songs that I wrote a long time ago. (sometimes they just have to wait for the right place though) Yeah that’s it! You gotta let them, and timing, you gotta understand that the timing is perfect, and it’s frustrating, as I’m sure you’ve experienced in the music industry (Defintiely!) but you can’t control it, so you just keep a good attitude about it and keep going.

Well thank you very very much for talking with me today, and those are all the questions that I have, and I hope that you have an incredible time this evening playing the long road!

Oh I’m going to, We are going too!!