Family Values
Miriam Balanescu gets to know Birmingham-based folk maverick Katherine Priddy ahead of her much-anticipated set at Cambridge Folk Festival
When Katherine Priddy released her first EP Wolf – while still testing out her interests post-university – she could never have foreseen the traction it would gauge. It was even named by Richard Thompson as ‘best thing I’ve heard all year’. Her debut album, The Eternal Rocks Beneath, gained a similar response: it launched to rave reviews and over 200 radio plays.
“That’s the beauty of a first album,” says Katherine. “You don’t know what to expect. I was just pleased to get something out there.”
Her second, The Pendulum Swing, is her most personal work yet. “When writing, I’m very much in my own head, which is why releasing it can sometimes feel nerve-racking,” Katherine explains. “As soon as songs are out in the world, they belong to everyone else. They come to mean different things to different people, but I actually find thinking about that makes the nerves easier to deal with.”
This, however, is what Katherine believes is the best thing she can achieve with her music. “Every time I perform, someone will come up,” she adds. “It’s really gratifying. That’s the best thing I can hope for – to go out and hear from people that the song meant something to them.”
Family is at the heart of her newest album – her parents and her brother even feature on its final tracks. “My brother was living in New Zealand at the time, so he sent me a little WhatsApp of him singing along,” Katherine smiles. “My dad is now chuffed to have his name credited on vinyl because he loves records.”
Adding in sonic textures like creaky floorboards, footsteps and a clock’s ticking, she ‘wanted the whole album to feel like an old house the listener could enter for some time and have that same sense of comfort and nostalgia’.
“I’ve always liked the little sounds and textures in music. It gives it a whole other level of intimacy.”
As a past winner of the Cambridge Folk Festival’s Christian Raphael Prize, the singer-songwriter is an esteemed regular at the annual event. “The festival is an amazing institution,” she says. “It has a crowd that goes every year. I have always enjoyed the way they put just as much emphasis on the up-and-coming artists as they do on the headliners.”
You can catch Katherine at Cambridge Folk Festival on Sunday 28 July.
For tickets and more information, visit cambridgelive.org.uk/folk-festival
