Katy Moffatt has never broken through to the country mainstream, but she has earned a substantial cult following among roots-music fans and plenty of critical respect for her blend of country, folk, rock, pop, and blues.
Interview conducted on May 29, 2020
“Folk, Country, Blues, Rock… Roots? She erases the boundaries. They call the music ‘Americana’ now. Well, close your eyes and listen to The Voice. It’s midnight in Fort Worth; the radio glows a magic yellow-orange….”-longtime collaborator Tom Russell
UnRated: What is your upbringing?
Katy Moffatt: I was born and raised in Ft. Worth, Texas. I have one sibling, Hugh, who is 2 years my elder. Our parents were older…. Of the generation of most of our peers’ grandparents.
UnRated: How did you discover music?
Katy Moffatt: Our father was a great appreciator of music —- He would come home from his work as an aeronautic design engineer and put on records of Wagner, Spike Jones, or Gilbert and Sullivan. The first live music we experienced was probably a musical theater. A local theater-in-the-round called Casa Manana hosted traveling repertories that performed most of the great musicals of the era…. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe, Rodgers and Hart, etc…. The romantic stories and irresistible songs were mesmerizing to me, and I was somewhat prepared for that form by even earlier exposure to the complicated harmonies and hilarious lyrics of Gilbert & Sullivan. By age 10 or so I was completely involved with Top 40 radio and when I first heard the Beatles, I got a guitar.
UnRated: How did you start to write music?
Katy Moffatt: I started writing poems, as young girls will. When I got my first guitar and a chord book, and began teaching myself the rudimentaries, I tried to put some of my poems to music. That’s when I learned that poems and lyrics are usually 2 different things, so I started writing songs.
UnRated: Do you remember how you got your first guitar?
Katy Moffatt: I was 14 and since I’d given up classical piano, my parents took me to Montgomery Wards and I took home a very cheap Airline acoustic 6-string.
UnRated: And do you still have it? And did it have a name?
Katy Moffatt: I don’t know what ultimately happened to that Airline. When I got my 1st “real” guitar, a Gibson B-25, my brother Hugh inherited the Airline and that’s what he learned on, too.
The Gibson had a lot of problems, so in 1970, when “Billy Jack” was being made, I got the guitar which is now my life-long comrade-in-arms —- a beautiful 1969 Martin D-28. (she performed the song The Ring Song with was featured in the movie).
No name…. I’ve never done that, though my guitar is definitely a “she”.
UnRated: How did you get your first record deal?
Katy Moffatt: I was living in Denver and playing in a 4-piece original acoustic band, and after that, a duo. When the duo broke up, I played solo, often as the opening act at Ebbets Field, a small but important original music club, which presented all the up and coming touring artists. Just when I had decided I’d hit a low ceiling and intended to try my luck in Los Angeles, the club owner said he wanted to manage me. He asked me to give him 6 months —- I’d play his club, he’d pay my expenses and if he didn’t have a record deal offer that I wanted, we’d part ways. I did showcases he set up and when the Columbia offer came, I accepted it.
UnRated: You worked with John Prine. Can you say anything about the time you spend with him?
Katy Moffatt: I had opened for John often in Denver, and later did a string of tour dates as his support act. He was kind enough to let me travel with him and his band on his bus, which helped the tour work for me financially. He was a great guy…. very friendly and unassuming; it was wonderful to hear Prine and his great band every night.
UnRated: How was it to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the tribute for Les Paul? What was the best part of being there?
Katy Moffatt: There were many best parts: Working with the Bobby Wood band with Lenny Kaye guesting on guitar, seeing all those great guitar artists perform, from Duane Eddy, Richie Sambora, Billy Gibbons and more, to Les Paul himself…… This was an unforgettable experience, and I felt so honored to be there, cast to represent the vocal presence of Mary Ford.
UnRated: If you could pick an artist to do one of your songs. One who you have not worked with before who would it be and what song would you have them do?
Katy Moffatt: This would involve time travel —- I’d have loved to have heard the Judds do “Walkin’ On The Moon” in their up-and-coming days.
UnRated: Tell me about your release on Chrysalis Records? What is your favorite track and did you have any say on what tracks went onto the record?
Katy Moffatt: My new release “Chrysalis” is the re-issue of 3 acoustic albums made 10 years apart, with guitarist Andrew Hardin on second guitar and co-producing. The 1st of these, ‘Walkin’ On The Moon’ (1988) is my favorite album in the collection, but my favorite track is probably “Getting’ Over You” from Fewer Things,’ which is the last record in the trilogy.
UnRated: How do you stay healthy while touring?
Katy Moffatt: I read a lot.
UnRated: Digital vs. vinyl?
Katy Moffatt: I’m an analog girl all the way.
UnRated: Any plans to tour?
Katy Moffatt: A U.K. tour put off from Spring 2020 I hope to do in the Fall of 2021. And I agreed to play a Western music festival in Texas scheduled for November 2020…. We’ll see if that can happen.
UnRated: How has the Me 2 Movement change society?
Katy Moffatt: The Me 2 Movement is about an extreme, violent and specifically sexual form of bullying. This bullying is so deeply rooted in subconscious malfeasance that the perpetrators often have no awareness of the consequences of their actions. I think this will take a very long time to impact the inner depths of our collective true consciousness to effect real change, but it begins and ends with actual submission, acceptance and complete capitulation to honoring The Golden Rule. Can we get there? I hope so.
UnRated: Anything you would like to say in closing?
Katy Moffatt: Thank you so much for listening to and caring about the music — You are most humbly appreciated!
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