Katie Sawicki

I attended the live performance of an amazingly talented singer-songwriter, Katie Sawicki, who was having her first gig performing at The Living Room in New York City on October 4, 2006. Katie was on at 7pm and had a nice showing in the audience of what I gather is a quick developing, loyal following.

Radiant! Katie Sawicki on stage is nothing less than radiant sunshine. She is the type of singer-songwriter that once she steps up to the mic and begins to sing, the audience is in the palm of her hand. She has the ability to wrap her warm maple syrup type vocals around the words she is using to paint her story. In this way, Katie is as much a painter as she is a storyteller. And with good live storytelling, one never takes their eye off of the storyteller. Katie captivates in this radiant presence as much as she does with her smooth, enticing, and very eloquent vocal production. One of the most incredible and mentionable aspects to the artistry that is Katie Sawicki, is that Katie is a self-taught guitarist who most likely passed on grabbing a rattle as a baby, and instead went for the six string! She appears to have been playing that long because she is that comfortable and skilled. It's likely that as long as Katie has her guitar, one senses she is never without a friend.

Katie would best be described as coming from the female indie singer-songwriter family tree of Patty Griffin and Lucinda Williams. I would also add that distant "cousins" of that lineage or influence would be hints of Suzanne Vega, KD Lang and Sarah Maclachlan. It may be redundant to say most excellent women folk/rock singer-songwriters at some point in their evolution have been inspired by Melissa Etheridge and/or the Indigo Girls. Both of which are worthy of redundancy, so it bears repeating!

Katie Sawicki kicked off her set with Take Back. This was the first recognition by the audience of being sung to by a master storyteller. 300 Miles was Katie's second song, in which she was joined on stage by a very capable vocalist, Ryan Etzel, who sang a beautiful tight harmony in compliment to Katie's definitive vocal style of soft, fluid and sometimes breathy vocals. If raw yet soft cotton in the field could sing it would want Katie's voice.

Katie then sang Missing, Not Alone Out Here which was a brand new song, followed by Shitty Day. Katie's ease with an audience was demonstrated when she was explaining how Shitty Day had been renamed 4 Quarters and a Pen. Ms. Sawicki joked that she made an unfortunate booking choice by playing early afternoon last Father's Day and the attendance was 3 people total. After doing the somewhat regular "pass-the-hat" that many musicians opt for instead of a cover charge, Katie reached in and found 4 quarters and a writing pen. To a touring artist making her bread and butter on the road, this is the horror of all horrors. She was a good sport to share that story with her audience which of course made her all the more endearing.

Katie continued on with her 10 song set with For The Quiet, Airport, Tuesday, Good Girls and Come On Home. Of the 10 songs my most favorite from the set were 300 Miles, For The Quiet, and Good Girls. I would say this because each one had its own emotional charge that Katie was able to convey so clearly. It was right before singing Airport that Katie joked with the audience that they were very quiet and not drunk enough yet. It was a well timed joke but the silence was nothing short of being entranced by this truly gifted artist. Katie was wonderfully entertaining and as mentioned before we, her audience, were silently in the palm of her hand.

I believe it is safe to say that Katie Sawicki is a rising, gifted

singer-songwriter whose star is shining brightly. Through word of mouth and continued visibility from gigs like the one I attended, Katie, I suspect, will develop a strong and loyal following. It will be interesting to see how that all evolves in terms of a timeline. There is no doubt that Katie's fate as one of the days most deserving singer-songwriters will come crashing into her destiny of being a celebrated female artist who will be in demand due to her talent. Too often we celebrate the fall of celebrity or a star. However, in Katie's case, it's wonderful to catch her star on the rise!

Visit Katie Sawicki at www.katiesawicki.com

Written by: Terry Christopher