A Kentucky award-winning singer, songwriter, and cultural organizer, Jeri Katherine Howell, has been on tour with her third solo album..
Thirty-two-year-old artist Jeri Katherine Howell said she’s been playing music and writing songs since she was 12 years old. The Frankfort native’s song, Woman, is the title track from her latest album. And she said it’s about self-liberation.
“When I introduce the song when I perform it live, I say it’s titled Woman, but it’s really for all of us to recognize how the world may label us, how other folks may label us based on stereotypes or whatever, but it is us as beautiful, complex, messy beings in this world to identify and share who we are. And that that can be a challenging, painful process, especially if you don’t fit into the mold of how other folks view you,” explained Howell.
This album is Howell’s third solo album and features nine original songs. Howell said she wrote the track Thinking and Loving in response to loss in her life. She said she wrote it as a way to recognize that feeling of grieving someone who’s not in your life due to reasons other than death.
“You know, for me, this song particularly is resonant in the context of addiction. And I shared that while I was on tour and for the first time a person came up to me after the show and said, you know, I am one of those people who has been separated from my family and I was able to feel through your songs and be reminded that even though I might be separated from my family someone’s thinking of and loving me. I want to cry right now that on both ends, for someone who has chosen for someone to no longer be in their life, to recognize you can still send that person love by thinking of and sending love to them,” said Howell.
Jeri Katherine refers to herself as a Folk/Americana singer-songwriter and cultural organizer. She said she’s greatly influenced by Bluegrass and World music and calls her music a blend. Although she was born and raised in Frankfort, Howell explains how she’s inspired by Appalachian culture.
“I have always been, since age 12, really inspired by Appalachian culture and the connection to nature as identity, and also connection to community and taking care of each other, and that sense of resilience, of resilience through culture, through music, food, and dance. You can really make a difference with this music rooted in these traditions but also bringing it into a contemporary context and in response to what’s going on,” said Howell.
Howell talks about the theme of the album Woman.
“Woman is about letting your heart break open in a way that lets you fall in love with yourself and the world around you every day. And there’s a lot that fits into that for me, but that’s also kind of how I phrase Always in Love, which is the last song on the album,” said Howell.
Howell has just returned from touring and is planning to lead a virtual songwriting workshop this winter. More information is available at the artist’s website.
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