Kat Parsons makes her recording debut with Framing Caroline, ten original songs firmly in the female singer/songwriter tradition. The album is produced by Ralph Covert, best-known as leader of The Bad Examples. Her young, fresh, emotive voice delivers her lyrics of identity and perserverance.

In one of Europe's most prominent musical cities, Vienna, Kat was born on November 8, 1977, to parents Darrell and Julie Parsons, both American musicians working abroad. Her father was an opera singer in the Vienna Opera House. He recorded with the Clemencic Consort for Harmonia Mundi and is the featured tenor on a Philips release of Mozart's "Mass." He still performs occasionally in the Baltimore area. Her mother is a professional keyboardist and singer with a European solo album in the mid-70's to her credit. Upon their return to America, she recorded and released a dance single with her band Foxx Fire.

Raised in Maryland, as a child and teenager Kat sang in local shows with her parents and brother Jon, as well as performing in various musical theater productions. Kat became a theater major at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), where her parents first met. Her interest in music continued with classical guitar studies and performing pop music with other musicians. For a particular show, she became a songwriter out of necessity. Once she tapped into her muse, she continued to write and perform as a solo artist and ultimately with her own trio, Kat, Brian & Tom.

Bassist Brian Cohen and guitarist Tom Barrett met Kat at NU and began working together musically, including a stint in a comedy troupe's pit band. The three of them played together for a year and a half before cutting Framing Caroline. Over the past year, Kat has also continued to perform solo at numerous venues in the Chicago area. She has also toured the East Coast and performed in England. Kat's band has now expanded to a quintet, tho' Tom Barrett moved from the region. With a full band behind her, Kat's music has the strength and power that is merely suggested by the disc. Her winning stage presence brings a vibrancy to both the rockers and ballads that connects her to the audience.

Kat's full-length album of her originals released by Waterdog Music shares the title of her song, "Framing Caroline." An earlier version of that song was released on The Niteskool Project 1999, the Northwestern University compilation series. She hopes to continue playing in smaller venues. "I like intimate settings where the performance can be a dialogue and shared experience between the performer and audience. I leave with a lot more and the audience does as well." Inspired by Joni Mitchell and Ani DiFranco, Kat continues to write and perform pop-folk music that is bound by universal experiences, and she does so with the utmost dedication.

KAT PARSONS Framing Caroline (WM-9903)
WATERDOG MUSIC
329 West 18th Street # 313 Chicago, IL 60616-1120
www.waterdogmusic.com
312-421-7499 Fax 312-421-1848