Katherine Nicole Pruitt (born March 4, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter based in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. Her debut album, ''Expectations'', was released in 2020 by

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

. Her second album, ''

Mantras A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

'', was released in 2024.

Early life and education

Pruitt grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. She was raised in a Catholic family and attended Catholic school. She began singing as a child in musical theatre productions. She began learning guitar in middle school with her mother teaching her basic chords and hymns. Pruitt continued singing at open mic nights in

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

while attending community college. She attended

Belmont University Belmont University is a Private university, private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporate ...

in Nashville, Tennessee, where she joined a band and received the first annual Nashville Songwriting Scholarship from the BMI Foundation.

Career

In 2017, Pruitt was awarded the Buddy Holly Prize from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and signed with Round Hill Records. Her EP, ''OurVinyl Live Session EP'' was released in March 2018. She was named by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' as one of 10 new country artists you need to know and by

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

as one of the 20 artists to watch, highlighting Pruitt as someone who "possesses a soaring, nuanced and expressive voice, and writes with devastating honesty". On September 13, 2019, Pruitt released "Expectations", the title track from her full-length debut. Additional singles from this project were subsequently released: "Loving Her" on October 21, 2019, and "Out of the Blue" on November 15, 2019. On February 21, 2020, Pruitt's debut album, '' Expectations'', was released by Rounder Records. She earned a nomination for Emerging Act of the Year at the 2020

Americana Music Honors & Awards The Americana Music Honors & Awards is the marquee event for the Americana Music Association. Beginning in 2002, the Americana Music Association honors distinguished members of the music community. Six member-voted awards and several Lifetime A ...

. In the same year, she duetted with Canadian singer-songwriter Donovan Woods on "She Waits for Me to Come Back Down", a track from his album ''Without People''. In 2021 the artist was inter alia part of the

Newport Folk Festival The Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival was founded by music promoter and Jazz Festival founder Geor ...

in July. On March 18, 2022, Pruitt recorded an episode of The Caverns Sessions (previously known as Bluegrass Underground), which aired nationally on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

on October 15, 2022.

Artistry

With roots in folk music, Pruitt attributes growing up in the south of the United States as a key influence on her songwriting, both stylistically and thematically. Her music often deals with complex coming-of-age issues such as mental health, navigating toxic relationships, and questioning religious faith. She describes the tension between coming out as a lesbian and growing up in a conservative household while attending Catholic school as the catalyst for using her music as a platform to speak openly and honestly about issues faced by LGBTQ youth. She has said in interviews that she hopes her music makes young people struggling with their sexuality feel less alone. Pruitt cites

Brandi Carlile Brandi Marie Carlile (born June 1, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and producer. Her music spans different genres, including folk rock, alternative country, Americana, and classic rock. Throughout her career, she has received eleven Gramm ...

as an inspiration for her music.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Expectations'' (2020) * ''

'' (2024)

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pruitt, Katie 1994 births Living people Belmont University alumni Americana musicians American women country singers American alternative rock musicians American alternative country singers American pop rock singers American folk-pop singers American women pop singers American folk rock musicians 21st-century American women singers American country singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters Singers from Nashville, Tennessee Singers from Atlanta American lesbian musicians American LGBTQ singers LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) LGBTQ people from Tennessee 21st-century American guitarists Rounder Records artists 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American LGBTQ people Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)