BY MARK DARE

If you ever look into the choices for my weekly ‘I Dare You to Listen’ feature on Country Lowdown, or listen to any of my radio shows, you’ll know that independent musicians and artists are the heartbeat of everything I do. They are the future, and my angle is never going to change.

I’d like to introduce you to a rising artist I really believe you’ll love and buy into from Minute One.

Kate Boytek hails from Southern West Virginia, the most northern part of where Americans define “The South”.  

She’s grown up in a musical family and the genetics are strong! Kate actually started out singing a few years back, but took a good few years out to raise her daughters, following a break up. 

Well, she’s back now, and not part time either…she’s diving into music as a full on career and I, for one, am very glad she is doing so!

Her first three singles, I believe, are inextricably linked, and all dealing with some aspect of her divorce, and the breaking of the family unit. Kate epitomises the country songwriter … penning tunes about true life experiences … and reinforces the adage that, If you’re together with a country writer in any capacity and it all falls apart, expect it to appear in a song soon after. Three chords and the truth!

‘Hell or High Water‘ (Oct 2022) is the first in what I’ll call the trilogy and was what made me stop, take a breath … then listen again, and again!  

It’s a rocking introduction, and the the message is in your face and what I would class as the ‘shock and anger’ phase of a breakdown…where you’re going to fight come ‘Hell or High Water’

Powerful stuff, and excellent production by Britton Cameron.

Fast Forward to 7 April 2023 and ‘Anywhere‘. This one cemented my interest in Kate’s story … and has the inspirational addition of a softly spoken but hugely moving opening narrative where she describes the house being emptied after calling the realtors in. It’s a completely different feel … completely! Now, everything is real, finalised … and it probably equates to the start of an acceptance phase, but also confusion about how things have turned out. It has a wistful take on life at that time, during which she called her mother to get the girls and just drove around on her own, ‘Anywhere’, trying to make sense of it all.  

‘Anywhere’ was expertly written with Kim McLean

February 2024 saw the “final” episode ‘What If I Still Care?’

So we’ve had powerful, we’ve had wistful … and now we get what I can only describe as a full cinematic experience! This starts out as a plaintive ballad. We’re still in a reflective mood, but this builds up into something where you can actually feel and imagine the emotions on display, still sad but also more general acceptance … and just magical!  

And this is the magic of music is that it truly can have the powers to move you … these three songs took me on that journey … and more! 

Once again, incredible production … this time from Jason Wyatt, at We The People Productions in Nashville.  

And that’s pretty well it … well, nearly … Because yesterday saw the release of Kate’s 4th single, ‘House Fire‘.

I’m still not absolutely sure whether this forms another part of the trilogy I’ve identified above or not? Personally I don’t believe it is, but it’s not really important either way because in terms of building up to a crescendo, this is the peak of the wave so far, a wave that has suddenly veered way off course to what we might have expected! Another sublime product from Jason Wyatt and Mason Douglas at We The People Productions.

It’s raw, feisty and, of course, utterly epic! 

You’ll have to decide for yourself who held the flame, who lit the fire and is this the phoenix roaring from the flame, signalling a whole new era for Kate and her musical creations?

Only time will tell, but I’m clearly invested in her continued journey and thought you might be interested too. There are another 4 songs planned in for 2024 so plenty to look out for.

Spotify Playlist is at the link below and everything I said will make perfect sense on listening! Best played in order … and enjoy! 

If you liked what you heard, do give Kate a follow, like and comment (socials: @kateboytek)  and if you’re lucky enough to be in Music City or W.Virginia, look out for her live shows!!