Katie Boeck has had one of those musical careers that get called “varied”, indicating that she has taken many paths over the years – some of them more fruitful than others but all going to form her as a songwriter. After graduating UCLA’s Theater program, she spent her early twenties playing every Westside LA dive bar and coffeehouse, living on Lookout Mountain and soaking in that Laurel Canyon sound. She landed a spot in an all women Bollywood band that took her on a surreal six month “Eat, Pray, Love-esque” tour of India, playing everything from farm weddings to the Indian Navy’s annual gala. Afterwards, Boeck found herself back in LA with reverse culture shock, her old Chevy Caprice Classic and a heartbreak from a recent Spanish romance. These experiences formed the backdrop to her first album ‘Speaking Of You.‘
Boeck then moved to New York to star in Duncan Sheik’s musical, ‘Spring Awakening’, where she shared the lead role of Wendla with deaf actress Sandra Mae Frank. The play’s success occasioned appearances on Late Night with Seth Meyers, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and a 2016 Tony nomination for Best Revival of a Musical. Boeck’s rendition of ‘Ave Maria‘ was featured on HBO’s television series ‘The Newsroom.‘ Katie Boeck has played Electric Forest Festival, Mile of Music, the Cutting Room, City Winery and Carnegie Hall. Boeck now lives in Nashville with her five-year-old son.
This latest song has that jazz-folk feel that we can find with Joni Mitchell and the later releases of David Crosby. Katie Boeck told Americana UK her feelings about ‘Calico (Lonely Love)‘: “This song is about how lonely we can actually feel in such a hyperconnected world – dm’s, texts, stories, no one just picks up the phone anymore – it’s overwhelming. This became my personal anthem of freedom and empowerment when I finally came to the realization that my worth didn’t come from being chosen or seen, but from choosing and seeing myself.”
