They say you have to suffer if you want to sing the blues,
but if the truth be told, the most memorable American roots music -- be
it country, folk or the blues -- is always informed by a simple fact of
life: you live and you learn. Just ask Katy Moffatt. Or better yet listen
to her sing, be it a song from her own prolific pen or a choice cut from
a favorite songwriter. It's clear that Katy sings and writes with the voice
of hard-won authority.
Debuting in
1976 with Katy on Columbia Records, Moffatt has continued to
grow and expand her own artistry. Yet in a career marked by consistent
critical acclaim, industry appreciation (a 1985 Academy of Country Music
nomination as Best New Female Vocalist), movie appearances (Billy Jack,
Hard Country and The Thing Called Love), songs being covered (by such
talents as Hoyt Axton and Janie Fricke), and an album that outsold Garth
Brooks on the U.K. country charts (The Greatest Show on Earth a.k.a. The
Evangeline Hotel, which stayed on those charts for six months),
she has had to survive and thrive outside the mainstream.
