Music Interview: Katie Garibaldi

What’s your Artist/Band Name? And why did you choose it? (any special meaning)

My artist name is my name, Katie Garibaldi. I never questioned using my real full name because that’s just who I am.

What got you into music?

Music definitely chose me, as opposed to the other way around. For as long as I can remember, creating melodies is something that has always come naturally for me.

Ever since I was a kid, I’d hum songs and then have an urge to put lyrics to them. But they didn’t form into full songs until I started playing the guitar around 11 years old. Then I hit the ground running with songwriting, and all these stored-up melodies came flooding out.

The guitar was the key ingredient to match up my lyrics to my melodies, and I was finally able to let the music flow from my mind to an instrument, onto a written page.

What made you realize that music was your path?

Once I started writing songs like crazy, I found that I loved music so much that even though I was naturally shy and scared to speak in public, I found performing live surprisingly enjoyable.

I started performing when I was a teenager and let the music guide my career ever since. Career wise, it can be a struggle trying to make a living as an artist, however when I committed to music as my path and started learning how to market myself as a young artist, I discovered that I really liked the idea of operating my own business.

I think I became serious about my path in the music world when I knew I loved working on the business of it as well as loving the music. It became more than just a fun hobby for me, but an actual lifestyle.

Tell us about your new Album? And what’s the story behind it?

My newest album is named Home Sweet Christmas, which is a collection of original holiday- and faith-inspired songs. I just released a new music video for one of the songs on the album called “Safe and Warm (Lullaby for Jesus).”

Since the song is all about giving thanks to Jesus for taking care of me, I wanted the music video to show a little glimpse of my personal relationship with God.

I’ve always felt the closest to God through music, so the video is based around me singing and playing my guitar in an empty church. My music videos in the past have been more heavily focused on storytelling with multiple characters involved.

But for “Safe and Warm,” the story is really simple: God’s love for me, and for everyone, is constant and everlasting, and I can show my thanks to Him through singing and my music.

What makes your music unique?

What makes my music unique is that I don’t try to sound like anyone else. I know some artists who try to replicate or mimic other artists and I never really understood that.

If music is true from the heart, it doesn’t come from trying to sound like someone else. So I think my music is unique in the sense that it comes from a real place of inspiration, which comes from God and the creativity that He’s given me.

And I suppose I’ve always been a bit of a rebel in the sense that when I was younger, if anyone in the industry tried to tell me I couldn’t do something with my music, I took it with a grain of salt and always stayed true to my heart at the end of the day.

I think that probably makes my music unique because I don’t put any pressure on it. I try to allow it to happen organically and present it as genuine as possible to the listener.

How would you describe the music that you typically create?

My music is roots based with a pop sensibility that I think shows in my melodies. When I can add other instruments live or on a record, I love combining my acoustic guitar tone with strings like violin and cello so sometimes you could even call my music chamber-pop.

But there’s definitely a country influence. So maybe the genre is roots-pop. I also have enjoyed embracing my Christian roots and incorporating gospel influences into my songwriting in recent years, which I’d describe as Roots Gospel.

So if I had to put it in a box, it would be a big box of Roots-Pop sprinkled with Gospel.

Do you play any instruments? And why do you love it?

I play the guitar, and acoustic is my weapon of choice. There’s something about acoustic guitar strings that just makes me melt. I love the sound of an acoustic guitar and I love the feel of playing one.

When I was a kid, my mom taught me how to play piano, and it’s a beautiful instrument, but I never really connected with it as a musician. Then when I was in elementary school one of my teachers played an acoustic guitar for the class and used to sing us classic folk songs.

I was totally mesmerized by the instrument and couldn’t wait to play one. It was love at first sight I guess. It took me many years to find my favorite guitar.

A few years back I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to create a custom guitar by Breedlove, so I couldn’t be happier with the tone and feel of my Custom.

But each guitar definitely has its own personality and sometimes I’ll pick up one of my older guitars and a new song will be conjured up just because it’s a different voice with something different to say.

How is your creative process when recording music?

I definitely used to consider myself a performing artist first, and a recording artist second. In other words, it took me a long time to feel comfortable in a studio.

As a lot of people probably know, recording a song in an isolated booth is completely different than performing a song onstage to a live audience.

It took me years to gain confidence in a studio setting, and part of that is due to finding the right people to work with, and the other part of that is just time. The more I did it, the more I learned from each experience.

So the creative process for each album has been a bit different but I feel like with my latest album, Home Sweet Christmas, I finally found my groove that works for me. All my songwriting happens outside of the studio.

Then I spend a good amount of time doing pre-production, planning on which instruments I want on which songs, work out background vocal ideas and harmonies, as well as make plans for the release.

Then the studio work begins and I’ll record the basic tracks (my guitar, bass, drums) with a scratch vocal. Afterwards I overdub my guitar and vocals, and then the remaining musicians will come in to add additional instruments.

I then like to be involved in the mixing and mastering process as much as possible with the engineer to oversee the editing and make post-production decisions.

I still have a lot to learn and there are some challenges to overcome as an artist in the studio for me personally, but I used to feel anxious about recording, but now I feel excited. So it’s definitely a new chapter for me at this stage of my career.

What makes a good recording session?

What makes a good recording session is the people you work with in the studio, hands down. As a songwriter and artist, when you’re recording your music in the studio, it’s a very intimate and personal experience.

If you’re in the room with people who are not supportive, it can be very difficult to not only enjoy the process, but to produce the best final result. You might think, ‘well duh. Work with people you like—that’s an obvious answer.’

But sometimes it could be harder than you’d think. You might think you’re going in with the right people but a different side of them shows up once you’re in there. You feel uncomfortable being vulnerable as an artist performing in front of someone who you can’t trust.

And then the recording will suffer. But if you have people that support you and fulfill their role, it can be a very powerful experience, the performance will shine. So you learn as you go and find your tribe eventually.

When you’re feeling good vibes with the people you’re working with, you produce the best results. That’s true for every job I’m sure, but there’s even more on the line when you’re dealing with something as precious as music.

Do you think you get better as a musician? And if so, how would you achieve that?

I think musicians can become better with time if they’re naturally connected to an instrument from the start. I learned to play the piano when I was a kid but couldn’t find a personal connection to playing it so I lost interest in practicing.

It’s hard to say if I had forced myself to practice every day whether I’d become much better, or not. I’m sure I would improve, but if the love isn’t there, how far could I really take it? With the guitar, I loved it from the start, so playing didn’t feel like a chore to me.

However, I was never the best traditional student in the sense that scales and theory didn’t interest me as much as learning songs did. I was always a songwriter first over a musician. Every musician is probably different in the ways that practicing works best for them.

For me, songwriting has been the catalyst to my guitar playing evolution. I hear the parts I want to play in my head, and then for the sake of the song, I will spend the time and effort figuring out how to play those parts on the guitar, which has made me a better musician in the process.

Who would you like to collaborate with in future?

There are so many great artists but I was just listening to his music the other day, so I’ll say the first one that popped in my head, and that’s Jonny Lang. He’s a guitar player and singer/songwriter, mostly well known for his blues playing.

He’s got such a cool voice and his guitar playing is obviously outstanding. I’ve been a fan of his since the beginning and have seen him perform live several times.

I think a lot of people generally remember him for his blues but aren’t necessarily aware of his newer music, which is more roots and gospel based.

I love the positive and faith-filled messages he shares through his music, plus his guitar technique and tone are so unique. If he’d ever play on one of my songs, that would be a dream come true!

How do you balance your music with other obligations – family, friends or job?

I don’t. Just kidding. It can be very difficult though. My career consists of working at home and traveling a lot, so there is no 9 to 5 clocking in and clocking out. My schedule is never the same any week so it can be hard to make personal commitments too often.

Even though I’m blessed with the most supporting and understanding family and husband, I still struggled with figuring out how to feel balanced for a long time because work seemed to become my life and my life seemed to become work.

The lines definitely get blurred and I have to juggle a multitude of things at any given time. However, there is a solution I actually discovered just this year for balance issues. I’ve learned that if you truly are present in each and every moment, everything becomes pretty easy.

If you’re living in the now, whether it’s a moment of working or a moment off with your family, you have no choice but to appreciate that moment for exactly what it is and your mind doesn’t stress out about anything else you may be “missing;” anything that’s not involved in that specific moment.

You’re just grateful. I really believe that’s the key to balance.

Has there been one particular moment in your musical career that you’re most proud of?

Something that sticks out in my mind that I’m particularly proud of is the making of my music video “Delightful.” I had done a music video before but the acting I had to do in it wasn’t particularly challenging as it was a small production.

But “Delightful” was a much larger production with the biggest cast and crew I had worked with up to that date. The video is heavily story based and so I was required to do a lot of real acting that time around.

I remember I was nervous leading up to it because, well, I’m not an actor. I’m a songwriter. So I was scared I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. But once we started filming I just had a good time and followed the director’s cues without any problems.

I put my nerves aside and accomplished the job. The video turned out better than I had expected and I was so proud that I didn’t let my fears stop me. Then I was floored when it started winning award after award at film festivals around the world.

It now has over 50 awards and still screening in new festivals. So I’m beyond proud of doing that video.

Which was your best public performance and why?

A big show that comes to mind is my CD release show for my album Follow Your Heart back in 2014 in San Francisco at a club called Neck of the Woods. I had toured a lot with my previous album and then worked on Follow Your Heart for a couple years in the studio after many unforeseen delays.

So this release show was kind of my ‘come back’ show where I was able to debut a whole new sound that was heavily roots and country. I played with a full band including a pedal steel player and string players, which was a fresh setup for me.

The club was completely packed and I just remember being totally overwhelmed by the amazing support that night. It felt good to release an album I had produced on my own terms the way I wanted and share it with everyone by celebrating with such a huge live production.

And that really kicked off a whole new path for me with the direction of my music career ever since.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

I’ll always cite Jewel as one of my biggest influences musically because I was just starting to learn how to play the guitar when her big debut album came out.

Seeing a young woman sing and play her songs that weren’t like anything that was on commercial radio at that time—they were just real and unique to her—had a big impact on me. I thought, ‘if she can do that, I can do that.

I can be honest with my songwriting and true to myself and share that to connect with other people. It’s possible.’ So that was a huge encouragement for me as a young writer.

She also inspired me as a guitar player because I would learn how to play her songs just to practice learning new chord inversions. I liked how she didn’t play full chords a lot of the times, but usually chose some inversion of a chord.

That opened up my mind in guitar playing in the sense that I wasn’t afraid to go outside of standard major chords.

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?

Success and happiness are defined by you alone, not by anyone else. It’s easy to forget that sometimes with the pressures of social media and other people’s expectations in this business.

For some reason some people in the music industry are quick to tell you what you can do and what you can’t do. But only you can decide that. Be a rebel. If someone says you can’t do something, just go do it.

Don’t play it safe. Don’t let fear stop you from doing anything. It pays off to take chances.

If you had one message to give to your fans, what would it be?

Thank you for listening to and supporting my music!

If you didn’t become a musician what would you be doing?

If I didn’t fall in love with playing music, I would say I’d definitely still love to be involved in the music business on the other side of the coin, doing maybe publicity and marketing work. I already do a lot of that being an independent artist and I enjoy the business side.

I’ve also recently gotten into screenwriting, which I love, so I would be doing that as well. So I guess basically I’d be doing the same things I’m doing right now minus the actual music.

What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects or tours?

Up next is actually to focus more time on the screenwriting project I’m working on. It’s something I’m really excited about and hope get to share more about it next year.

At the same time, I’m finishing up writing my next album and will be starting to put the wheels in motion on recording plans for that next year as well. Prior to that, I’ll be working on a special new music video, which I’ll be releasing before the holidays so stay tuned for that soon.

All my updates and news can be found on my website, www.katiegaribaldi.com.