Bridport born Kate Garrett returns home to play a gig at the Bridport Arts Centre on April 21st with singer songwriters Abbie Lathe and Lisa Fitzgibbon.
Kate combines a career in music with a passion for encouraging young people to write, perform and record their own material in Oxford. She has been a music project leader at the Ark T, an Arts Centre in Cowley, Oxford for six years and founded the Oxford Young Women’s Band Project, which is also based there. She continues to raise the profile of young musicians in Oxford, and recently did a public lecture on ‘Music Changing Women’s Lives’, as part of a debate series called Key Changes, funded by Channel 5 and the Arts Council.

SINGING WORKSHOP

In addition to the concert that Kate Garrett, Lisa Fitzgibbon and Abbie Lathe will be performing, they are also hosting a singing workshop on Saturday 21 April 10am – 2.30pm Cost £20

Arts Centre programme manager, Gjenya Cambray said, “This workshop is a wonderful opportunity to learn from professionals.  Working in small groups, participants will cover voice techniques, ways of conquering the fear factor of performing and song writing.  To close, the whole group will come together to do a Sing Out rehashing the African & gospel songs learnt earlier in the day.”  

BIOG

Kate began her musical life by gigging with her fellow Beaminster School music student Polly Harvey, playing in local village halls. She went on to tour England and Ireland with local bands Tripping Upstairs, Trio Hysteria and Dr. Burkes, and then moved to Oxford in the early 1990’s having met Sam Williams (producer of Supergrass’s first album). Teaming up with a drummer from LA and London jazz musician Mark Wood they formed rock band The Mystics and were signed to Fontana, (now Mercury records) for several years.

After the band broke up she went back to LA to work with Jonathan Nesmith, son of Monkee Mike, on her first solo album, which she released independently in 2000. Since then she has released an EP on Oxford label Beard Museum with The Kate Garrett Band who have been building a reputation around the country for their intense and powerful live work.

She performs at the Bridport Arts centre on April 21st with band member Barney M. Brown, whose anarchic approach to cello playing is seeing him in demand as a session cellist. Both Kate and Barney have recently featured on a track for the upcoming Imagined Village album, produced by Simon Emmerson. Released on Realworld records later in the year, the album also features Billy Bragg, Sheila Chandra, Eliza and Martyn Carthy and Paul Weller.

www.thekategarrettband.com 
www.myspace.com/thekategarrettband