Katie Pruitt

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With her powerful voice and strong narrative sense, Nashville singer/songwriter Katie Pruitt fuses rock grit with folk-driven storytelling, touching on themes like religion, LGBTQ issues, and mental health. Known for her dynamic live shows and emotionally direct writing style, she earned critical acclaim for her 2018 OurVinyl Live EP and soon signed with Rounder to release her 2020 debut album, Expectations.
Growing up in suburban Atlanta, Pruitt began playing guitar and writing songs during her teenage years as a form of self-expression. Initially drawn to rock and punk bands, she soon grew to love artists like Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt. Pruitt showed a distinctive talent for songwriting and developed a soulful and vocal style which she soon continued to work out on the local open-mike scene during her high school years. As a gay teenager in the conservative South, she wasn’t yet comfortable openly expressing these feelings in song, and would often change the pronouns to mask love songs she’d written about other girls. After heading to college in Nashville, she played in bands and began learning the ropes of the music industry, working out a more complete and honest self-image in the process. A personal and critical breakthrough came with the song “Loving Her,” an openly gay love song that challenged norms and became an audience favorite, especially after the 2018 release of her OurVinyl Live EP, which she recorded on-stage with her band. She inked a deal with the Rounder label and released a studio version of “Loving Her” in 2019. It became the lead single from her 2020 debut, Expectations. ~ Timothy Monger