Kaia Kater

Kaia Kater

Friday, April 25, 2025 @ 8PM

Kaia Kater is an indie folk and Americana artist whose jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from NPR’s Tiny Desk, The Guardian, Rolling Stone and No Depression. Through her artful banjo playing and lush songwriting, Kaia draws on influences rooted in Quebec, the Caribbean, and Appalachia, all of which reflect the diversity of her background; her ties to the Canadian folk music scene; her college years spent soaking up Appalachian music in West Virginia, her father’s experience growing up in Grenada, and her recent work in film composition.

While influenced by folk music, Kater cites Nina Simone, Erykah Badu, and Lauryn Hill as important voices in shaping the direction of her artistic, social and political expression.

Her new album, Strange Medicine, opens with a haunting vision of the women burned at the stake as witches in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts and their wish to strike back: “I dreamt I moved through you and / Burned my name into your chest”. It’s an opening salvo from an album that celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history as they rise up and turn the poison of centuries of oppression into a strange kind of medicine.

With lush arrangements and unexpected musical ideas drawn from genres as surprising as minimalist composition, jazz drumming, and film scores, Strange Medicine is made beyond the white gaze of Americana, unbeholden to a music industry that so often tokenizes and silences marginalized voices, a Black Feminist perspective on a genre that refuses to cede power to Black women. But ultimately it’s a celebration of the self.

“Kater is rapt, inquisitive, straining for intimate, embodied understanding that transcends mere familiarity.” –NPR

“…plaintive, mesmerizing…writes and performs with the skill of a folk-circuit veteran…” – Rolling Stone

“You want some authenticity in your folk music or bluegrass – I give you Kaïa Kater.” – No Depression

“A star in the making…” – Folk Alley