Latest / The Scene Projects / Katie Lang on Songwriting, Performing, and Building a Musical Career

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Katie Lang on Songwriting, Performing, and Building a Musical Career · The Scene Projects

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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I am your host Bubba Starts, and with me today is singer songwriter Katie Lang.
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  Katie, welcome to the show.
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  Hi.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  It is absolutely my pleasure.
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  You've been a member of our Midwest original music organization group for a little while
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  now.
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  I appreciate that so much, and I've been following your career down there on the 3rd
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  Coast as it's so eloquently called.
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  We'd like to know a little bit of your backstory before we get too far into everything
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  that you're doing and talking about some really awesome award nominations you got coming up.
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  Yeah.
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  So I got started actually when I was very, very young.
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  At two years old, I pulled myself up onto the bench of my grandma's old piano in her den and
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  started playing around with the keys.
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  And so when my grandma and my mom saw my interest there, my grandma played piano.
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  Her husband was a pastor, so she played piano in the church.
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  So she knew some piano.
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  She took Scotch tape and dry erase markers and actually labeled all the keys on the piano with
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  the letter names.
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  So when I started going and picking out those songs, I could get the, letter names and write
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  them down and be able to go back and play the songs later.
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  So when I was about four years old, I wanna say, the first full song I picked out by myself
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  was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
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  So you hear a little nod to that in one of the songs that I recently released on my EP.
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  How fun.
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  How fun.
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  I love that's one of the first things I do.
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  I have had a couple of friends over there, and I'm not, you know, a guitar teacher by any
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  means.
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  But that would be the first thing that I laid out to them was to kinda draw the guitar and
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  then to put all the notes in the spaces.
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  And now, of course, you can buy those posters or print them online or, you know, whatever.
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  I think my wife, when she got a keyboard recently, we just bought a sticker pack.
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  Right?
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  And we were able to put the stickers on there, but love that grandma, did it the old fashioned
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  way.
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  And it's so it's so awesome that they saw an interest in it for you.
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  And instead of telling you to get down from there, which a lot of parents and grandparents
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  would, they embraced it.
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  And now look what it's turned into for you.
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  That's so amazing.
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  Yeah.
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  And, you know, it it it's so young.
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  They couldn't find a teacher who was willing to take me to give me lessons.
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  They all said I was too young.
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  I would answer too small.
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  I wouldn't be able to do it.
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  Yeah.
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  They they they could not believe that I was I was figuring it out and, like, actually playing
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  songs so little.
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  So that's my grandma took that initiative to help teach me until I got in first grade, and
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  we finally found a teacher who would give me lessons when I was six.
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  Yeah.
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  And even then, very a lot younger than most people would be comfortable giving lessons to
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  and really incredible.
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  What a story.
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  And now here you are, a award nominated artist out there.
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  I know you got some really cool stuff coming up here, new singles that you've released.
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  You know, what was in between there?
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  Obviously, a lot of learning early on, but when did you start playing out and recording music
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  on your own?
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  So I've actually only been gigging for a little over two years now.
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  I stayed in music all through school by junior high.
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  By the time I finished junior high, I had maxed out the teachers that I had.
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  And so I kept teaching myself through high school until I got to college.
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  And then once I got to college, with my music degree over here at Pearl River Community
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  College, in Poplarville right here where I live, I started taking lessons there and kind
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  of getting getting the the push to really want to start gigging and wanna start putting myself
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  out there.
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  So I reached out to some locals where I went to high school in Franklinton.
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  They have the Washington Parish Free Fair out there.
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  And during December, they always do a Christmas event.
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  And so I reached out to them, and they had me come and play some Christmas music out there.
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  So that was my first ever time going out and playing in public.
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  It was a little freaky gig.
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  They set me up with a cute little backdrop and a Christmas tree, and I brought my little
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  keyboard out there and set up and, borrowed some speakers from a family friend and just set
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  up out there and, you know, played for the community where I, grew up going to school.
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  And everybody loved it so much, and that kind of that kinda gave me the the sense of, wow.
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  Okay.
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  People actually do want to listen to me.
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  People actually want want to hear this.
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  And so I I kept going.
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  And about a month later, my husband's childhood best friend, Jared Dawes, was starting a band
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  looking for a keyboard and vocalist.
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  And so as fate had it, here I was.
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  And, so that's how I got involved with them.
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  And, you know, we've we've just been pushing it out and going all over the place ever since.
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  It's kinda crazy how fast it took off.
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  Yeah.
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  How amazing.
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  And, obviously, playing for as long as you have.
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  Were you writing at an early age as well, even just melodies that you were writing, or was it
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  all just learning how to play other music that you were hearing?
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  Were you creating on your own, I guess, is kind of my my question.
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  I did a lot of playing by ear early on.
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  I also learned how to read music really early, but I really liked picking out the songs by
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  ear.
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  So I did a lot of that, but it was a
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  lot of game.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  I thought it was really fun.
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  That's what I would do for fun on the weekends.
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  I was that little music nerd sitting in her bedroom.
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  I'd be like, oh, I really like this song that I heard on the radio.
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  Let me listen to it over and over and over and over again until I can pick it out myself.
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  So I I did a I did a lot of that learning other people's songs.
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  I didn't really start writing full, like, full music until about twenty nineteen.
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  I was twenty twenty one years old and engaged at the time.
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  So the first song that I ever wrote actually came from my wedding vows.
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  I wrote it as a surprise wedding present for my husband and did a surprise performance at our,
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  reception after the wedding with the song.
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  So that's my single that was released in 2021 called I do.
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  That is beautiful.
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  What a what a way to break into, the music scene, if you will, as a songwriter with,
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  something so personal and something that I hope other people, you know, take and use at their
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  wedding in the future as well.
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  Oh, gosh.
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  That would be so cool.
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  Well, we just gotta get it out there so they know it, and and, undoubtedly, they they will
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  for sure.
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  So now that's kinda led us to to, this point, right, where you've been working, now as a, you
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  know, kinda, I guess, gigging musician now for a little while.
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  You've been writing your own songs, now releasing more singles out there.
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  What is, you know, the award show you're I know that you're nominated for.
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  Go ahead, and we'll talk about that, and then we'll talk about the future of Katie Lang.
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  So the nominations are for the band that I'm in.
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  It's Jared Dawes and the Dusk Singers.
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  So we've been nominated for the second year in a row for best country band.
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  We actually won last year, and so we're we're renominated again this year.
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  And then our lead, Jared Dawes, is nominated for, gosh.
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  I think it's best male vocalist, rising star, philanthropy, and a couple other categories.
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  But, yeah, the the band is nominated for best country band again for the second year in a
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  row, so we're super proud of that.
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  I'm really proud to be a part of that.
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  They're my best friends, and, we love what we do.
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  I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
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  Does the band stay pretty busy down there then?
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  Oh, yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  We've been we've been touring for about two years now, locally and some out of state as
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  well.
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  We just recently actually got back from Georgia last month.
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  We went up there and played a couple of shows, for the New Year.
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  So that was really fun.
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  And we've got some things that we're planning for the rest of the year that we can't talk
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  about yet.
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  We're still so early in it.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  So what does I mean, obviously, you have the band and it's like a family.
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  So does your own music career, does it kind of ride in the back seat to what the band is doing
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  and you just kinda rolling with that and not putting a lot of focus on your own career?
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  I would say it's about fifty fifty now.
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  For the first couple of years, I was kind of taking a backseat to things and just kind of
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  riding with the band and doing that thing.
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  But now I'm in my last semester of college, So, my schedule's about to be a lot more open.
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  I'm gonna have some more time to really put the work into my music that I've been wanting to
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  do.
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  So, that's why I had my EP that I released last month, Backroads and Daydreams, to kind of
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  boost things up for the new year, and I plan to keep releasing some more music this year and,
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  you know, keep that keep that going.
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  I don't plan on stopping this time.
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  And if you look back at my previous music, I released one in 2021, and then there was a
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  couple releases in 2023.
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  And so then it took me another three years to get the EP out, but, I don't I don't wanna put
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  the space between it again.
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  So I'm gonna really have time to put the work into it now.
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  I'm really excited for that.
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  Awesome.
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  Well, we're so excited for you, Katie.
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  Where can everybody find you online, both the band, obviously, but you yourself as well?
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  So I'm on Instagram at katie lang official, and I'm also on Facebook at katie lang.
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  And then we have the Jared Dawson, the Dusk Singers Facebook page, and that's the Dusk
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  Singers, d u s k, not the dust singers.
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  And, yeah, that's, that's where we post the most of the stuff.
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  I'm also on YouTube at k d lang official as well.
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  Awesome.
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  Well, we're gonna go follow you everywhere here at the scene projects and, make sure that we're
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  following along on both your career and that of the band as well.
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  I'm gonna see if I can put in for some media credentials for the 3rd Coast, music awards
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  down there.
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  We happen to be in the area at the same time anyway, so a short trip to come up to and and
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  maybe take part in the award show as well.
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  So, Katie, thank you so much for being a part.
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  To see you there.
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  Oh, man.
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  That would be awesome.
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  And I'm sorry that you won't get to join us at our songwriter showcase tour because of it.
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  But
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  No.
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  I know.
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  I wanted to be there so bad.
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  Well, maybe we can work it in with the award show.
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  Who knows?
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  We'll make it all work.
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  We'll host you guys on
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  the tour and
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  and get it done regardless.
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  So what a great time to sit here and share a conversation with you.
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  Thank you for being part of the Midwest original music organization as well.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Thank you for being part of the scene.
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  Yeah.
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  Thank you.
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  Y'all are awesome, and I love what y'all do.
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  I love the support for the local music.
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  It's so important to have the support for the local live music because, you know, if if we're
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  not pushing it out, who's going to?
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  You nailed it.
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  Nice to meet you, Katie.
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  Have a great day.
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  Nice meeting you too.
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  You too.
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  Thank you.
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