(LOOTPRESS) – Rising country music sensation and West Virginia native, Kate Boytek has been working for much of her life to establish herself as a force with which to be reckoned in the country music scene.
Boytek has captivated audiences throughout the state and beyond as a headlining act, as has shared the stage with the likes of Diamond Rio, Easton Corbin, Joe Nichols, Jo Dee Messina, and other country music superstars. She continues to spread her music through live performance and is gearing up to perform at the St. Alban’s Fall Y’all Festival this weekend. The event will feature performances from Bent Whiskey, APBC, Travis Vandal, and of course, Boytek herself.
The singer-songwriter graciously took time from her busy schedule of performing and prepping for the release of new music to chat with LOOTPRESS about her own musical background and what is next on the horizon in her burgeoning career.
You’ve got shows coming up, and it’s my understanding you’ve been performing since you were quite young. After all this time, do you still get a touch of the pre-show jitters or is it sort of automatic for you at this point to just be able to go out and perform?
Boytek: Well, I think you always get a little bit jittery if you truly care about your performance, just because you never know what’s going to go wrong. It could rain; you could trip; forget your lyrics, even if you sang the song for 10 years.
Right.
Boytek: I think just wanting to provide the audience with the best show possible gives you a natural jittery feeling at first. But other than that, me and my band, we’ve been doing it for so long now that after that phase within the first couple songs, we just go for it. And you know, I kind of have the mentality of, if I forget the lyrics or anything like that, I’m just human. So I’ll either ask the audience for help or I’ll shrug it off and laugh and go on. It moves forward either way.
Sure! Those are a lot of the coolest moments in music. The “mistakes” give it character.
Boytek: Oh yeah, absolutely!
You come from a musical family, right?
Boytek: I did, yeah. My whole family grew up playing and singing in church. My grandma was in a traveling choir for a little while, and that’s where I started. When I was about 5 years old, I started singing in church with my great grandmother. She played guitar and it just kind of went from there. All my uncles play music. My mom, she wrote songs and she also sang in her early 20s and did local competitions and things like that. So, it’s just always been there, you know? At all the family reunions and all the holidays and all those things; we just grew up with it. It just very much became a part of everyday life.
That’s awesome! I recently interviewed Ben of the Brothers Comatose, they’re a band out West. They played Mountain Stage over the summer. He was saying that he and his brother came up in that sort of environment [with] folks always just kind of strumming guitars, harmonizing to old songs together. That’s such an interesting dynamic. How do you think being exposed to music in that way from a young age affected your development as an artist? And do you think you would have arrived at being a singer-songwriter otherwise without all that exposure?
Boytek: I don’t know that I would have necessarily without all the exposure and all the support. There’s always so much support from my family [who were] like, ‘if that’s your dream and that’s what you want to do, then we’re we’ve got your back.’ And they’re like that to this day. So I definitely think that that influenced me into being able to feel super confident in my choice of career and really pursue it at the level that I have been. Growing up in a music family just makes it so much more comfortable. It doesn’t feel foreign at all. Everybody in my family likes different types of music. So I think it really gave me an opportunity to explore not just one route. So that has definitely affected the type of music that I write and the type of music that I like to perform, just based on all those different genres and constantly being exposed to different styles and things like that.
It’s great to have that support because there’s sort of the parental instinct to protect your kids and try to get them to avoid taking that riskier path – because it’s a tough industry, obviously.
Boytek: Oh yeah. My mom was like, ‘let’s go!’ We all have the mentality of it, we’re going to give it all we’ve got. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m still going to do music no matter what scale it’s on. I’m always going to have music in my life. So either way, it’s a win-win. You can’t really go wrong when you approach it like that.
You’ve got such a distinct voice. Who are some of the singers that inspired you the most? Is there anyone maybe you pulled inspiration from early on when shaping your sound?
Boytek: Well, thank you first for the compliment, that was very nice. My mom listens to a lot of Fleetwood Mac, so Stevie Nicks was definitely an influence. She was doing the cassette tape karaoke when I was five and six years old. We had everybody from Whitney Houston to Trisha Yearwood to practice too. So, all of those types of artists and those 90s country singers and things like that were really influential in how I developed my sound early on.
You’re also a songwriter. What is your process like? I know not long ago you’d mentioned you were starting out of learning an instrument. Has that changed the way you approach writing? Are you lyrics first? Do you try to do music first? Or is there even a process?
Boytek: I leave it open for myself, so I don’t really have a very specific process. I’ve had it to where I think of the melody and then the lyrics come after. I’ve had it to where I only ever get the lyrics, and I have to try to build a melody around it. And then I’ve had it to where I get both at the same time and they just come together. And then I’ve had it come to me in dreams and I wake up and I try to make sense of it at 2:00 in the morning.
Those are the good ones, [where] the melody and lyric and just everything kind of falls in your lap together. It’s like it came from somewhere else.
Boytek: When they come together like that, those typically end up being my favorite songs.
Usually that’s the good stuff! You’ve been at this a while, you’ve been rubbing shoulders with some big names. Do you ever find yourself still in situations where you’re legitimately starstruck?
Boytek: All the time! Yeah, I mean, I just kind of approach all those situations like a fangirl in a way. I just played with Diamond Rio and I’m so grateful for the opportunities, truly. I truly appreciate being able to meet these people that I grew up listening to and idolizing. I even told the guitar player, I said, ‘I’m trying super hard to not fangirl right now! My inner 14-year-old is going nuts!
I remember I met Steve Earle and I was a mess.
Boytek: I met Steve Earle too!
I couldn’t pull it together.
Boytek: I’m pretty sure before I even told him my name I offered to give him a hug!
As a listener, are you, are you generally strictly a country music fan or are there some artists in the library that maybe might surprise some people?
Boytek: Oh, I have zero one-strict route in that area, I’m all over the place. I listen to 80s, 70s, 60s, 1940s music; Everything from Billie Holiday all the way up Luke Combs. I could keep you here for hours. I don’t have any restrictions in those areas.
That’s the way to be, especially as a creative and a writer. You’re pulling from so many different places that it kind of ensures that your material doesn’t get stale.
Boytek: Oh yeah, for sure!
Is there any one artist you’re stuck on right now in particular?
Boytek: Right now, let me think. My oldest daughter loves Sabrina Carpenter. So I guess if you were to say what’s being played in my vehicle right now, it’s gonna be Sabrina Carpenter. You know, I enjoy it, but it’s mostly at the hands of my 15-year-old.
I have that with my three kids. My Spotify Wrapped comes out and it’s like, “Beatles; Zeppelin; The Cars Soundtrack.”
Boytek: Mine is like Bon Jovi; Kidz Bop.
Are you familiar with the lightning round question format? Basically, I’ll present two options from which to choose and we’ll move on to the next one.
The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
Beatles.
Acoustic or electric?
Oh that’s hard. I’m going to have to go with electric.
Hank Sr. or Hank Jr?
Hank Sr.
I’m a Hank Sr. guy myself. Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen.
Tom Petty
Quiet night in or exciting night out?
Quiet night in.
You touched on this one earlier, so I have a feeling I know when it’s going to be. But 90s country or current day country?
90s.
Classic West Virginia dilemma. Without taking into account the recent weather conditions. If you’re vacationing to one classic West Virginia resident destination, do you go to Myrtle Beach or Pigeon Forge?
Pigeon Forge.
Same. There’s something about Tennessee, even the touristy parts; it’s all just drenched in like culture and this old world music thing.
Boytek: Oh, I love it! I love it so much. And now they’re allowing the acoustic acts up on Anakeesta, where you ride this lift up onto the mountain.
Thanks so much for taking the time, it’s been an absolute pleasure!
Boytek: Thank you so much, I really enjoyed it!
What is next for you and what can folks look forward to as far as upcoming shows or new music. Is there anything you’re working on?
Boytek: Yes, actually I have a performance tomorrow in Saint Albans. I’m headlining the Fall Y’all Festival. Then there’s several dates following that and everybody can check those out on my website. We have Christmas music releasing. We’ve got some live performances that I’ll be doing, and then next year we’ll be releasing new music.
That’s exciting! I’m a Christmas music fan. A lot of people get annoyed with Christmas music, but that’s exciting for me. I’ll have to check that out.
Boytek: I love it! I turn the Christmas Elvis album on, it’ll be like it’ll be two weeks [into the season] and I’ll be playing it in my car.
But I will let you go so you can get back to it. Thanks so much again!
Boytek: Thank you so much! Have a wonderful day.
You do the same.
