| ‘the impressive Kate Bramley’ Daily Telegraph
Kate is a fine singer and
instrumentalist, best known as fiddler and vocalist for the North-east’s ‘Jez
Lowe and the Bad Pennies’ and the American band ‘Sweetgrass’.
It was while growing up in Cornwall
that Kate starting singing around the local folk clubs with her father, and even though
she went on to train as Theatre Writer and Director at Hull University she kept open
her links to the folk world.
In the early 90's she frequently
performed in the USA with the four part a capella group, Northern Harmony, and some of her
early songs were published in the book of the same name.
In 1992 she met Jim Striebel and Mike
Schachte of 'Sweetgrass' in Ireland and joined the band shortly after, recording three
albums in five years, and touring extensively across the western states of America and the
UK.
In the late 1990's Kate was the
fiddle player and harmony vocalist for the Yorkshire based band 'Freewheelin', with
songwriter Jacquie Hanham and guitarist Pete Dean. Later as a duo with Jacquie Hanham the
pair played around the North-east and Scotland until Jacquie returned to her native New
Zealand.
It was around this time that Kate
collaborated with Jez Lowe for the first time on a millenium commission 'Sea of Light'.
Jez had been asked to compose a 'folk concerto' for a son e lumiere display to mark the
Millenium on the sea coast of County Durham, and Kate leant a hand with fiddle parts and
backing vocals.
In 2000 Kate joined Jez Lowe and the
Bad Pennies and has toured almost exclusively with the band since that time. She has
performed occasional solo concerts, as well as continuing her theatre writing and
directing carerr, but the busy touring and recording schedule for the band has meant
little in the way of solo music projects.
In the summer of 2006 Kate is to
release her first solo record in over five years. |
