Houston artist Kate Waters knows the power of music firsthand. As a licensed music therapist, she sees the impact it can have on people’s healing on a daily basis.
“I always have felt like music is a language,” says Waters. “It feels like a first language for me and I think it’s a first language for everyone. I know it is because we don’t process speech until later and it’s just so deeply wound up in how I express myself.”
Waters is celebrating the release of her sophomore album, Some Comfort on Saturday, August 22 at Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge. Joining her will be Serg & Co featuring Sergio Trevino and friends opening up the show and The Fire Ants closing out the evening.
For Waters, Some Comfort is a collection of songs amassed over the past 20 years. The album plays like a story, moving through hope, love, heartbreak and healing as it expands from the individual experience toward a broader sense of community.
“It came together really naturally,” says Waters of the process of selecting songs and her recording process, which she completed in only four days. “There were definitely some songs on that record that were really old that I really wanted to bring to completion so even though they were super old, I really wanted to see them through.”
Throughout Some Comfort, Waters showcases her strength as a naturally autobiographical, honest and poetic writer, pairing those qualities with sweet, luxurious vocals that wrap the listener in what feels like a strong hug after a long day.
“It’s the best therapy for me,” says Waters about making music. “Not always songwriting lyrics and all of that, many times it is, but just playing an instrument. Sitting down and playing a piano or guitar and letting it come out. All of it is very healing. It’s so important for me to hang on to that.”
Waters grew up with two music-loving parents who were ministers in the Presbyterian church, and her family moved frequently throughout her childhood. She describes her parents as both being “guitar strumming hippies” who would often expose her to music. Waters is classically trained in piano and has been singing since she was just a young child.
“Singing is my number one favorite thing to do on the planet,” she says sincerely.
Waters previously released Near, an album dedicated to her mother who passed away from pancreatic cancer.
“I was heavily involved in her care and really present for her death, which was a life-changing experience for me and my family. I wrote songs about it for the next year and then released that album with a friend in Houston.”
Releasing Near, initially as a gift to her family and later making it available for streaming, helped Waters take another step toward the artist she is today.
“She was a poet as well as a minister and she released her first and only book of poetry a month before she died. It was her life’s work in a book and it was incredibly inspiring for me to get my ass into gear and make this dream of mine happen and make an album and it was a very good first step for me to get this studio album going.”
For Waters, music has become both a way of processing her own experiences and a way of helping others process theirs. That dual role is at the heart of her work as a music therapist, where she works with veterans, children with autism, the terminally ill and people of all ages with disabilities.
Waters was interested in music therapy after a teacher in high school told her about the field. She knew she didn’t want to be a piano or music teacher and was drawn to helping others.
“It’s such a beautiful field of work,” says Waters, who is trained in neurological music therapy. “I love that there’s this area of study seeking to affirm what all of us experience. It’s a fascinating field but it’s also just a completely soul-satisfying tool that I get to use every day.”
“Sometimes in my work I’m the person who can reach the unreachable and it’s just such a powerful tool. Music is just so powerful because of the way it engages our brains. It literally touches every center; your motor, your speech, your cognition, your emotions and socially.”
When asked how her work in music therapy affects her artistry and songwriting craft, Waters makes the link between her sense of awareness to the feelings of others along with her own.
“I’ve always been a sensitive person that’s made me the writer that I am. Often a lot of the songs that I’ve written are the kind that sort of pour out of you in twenty minutes, a very emotional and cathartic experience. I think that’s also what makes me a good therapist is being emotional and being in tune to the inner life of others.”
That connection between her work and her art is perhaps what makes Waters’ music feel so deeply personal while still leaving room for the listener. Whether she is sitting at a piano, playing guitar, writing through grief or working with someone who needs to find a way to communicate, music remains a means of connection for Waters.
“I think like many artists I feel deeply connected to what live music is doing for us as a species in this moment in time and how it is therapeutic and how important it is. Obviously like any artist, I hope that my songs bring a sense of connection and help people through being connected because that is what I see in my work all the time.”
Kate Waters will perform at 9 p.m. Saturday, August 22, at Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge, 3714 Main. For more information visit katewatersmusic.com
