Kate Prascher doesn’t want you to look at her. She wants you to see what she sees. She wants to know if you see it too. For Prascher, songs are a chance to say things that don’t usually make it into polite conversation, a recognition of our everyday darkness. They are letters folded up and left at your doorstep. They are half-portraits of characters both real and imagined.
Prascher grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, playing piano and singing. But it wasn’t until moving to New York that she encountered live bluegrass and the lights switched on. Prascher dove headlong into playing mandolin and guitar, going to late night jam sessions, taking lessons with maverick Michael Daves, and penning her own songs. In time, Prascher began honing her craft on stage—at the Knitting Factory and Jalopy Theatre in NYC, Club Passim in Boston, and the Ossipee Music and Leaf Festivals among others. Now based in the Hudson Valley, Prascher considers herself most at home in the music she makes.
Kate Prascher’s debut full-length Shake The Dust will be released August 30th. Over its ten tracks, Prascher reaches toward the depths of human experience—touching memory, absence, second chances and measured hope. She sifts through the grit of living with care, lifts her voice and sings about what she found. Featuring musicians Bobby Hawk (Taylor Swift), Bennett Sullivan (Bright Star), Nate Sabat (Mile Twelve) and Jason Borisoff (Cricket Tell the Weather). It’s a cathartic listen, a healing work of honesty and momentum.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the standout track “Heart Like a Cage” and its accompanying music video. Brimming with bluegrass and country influence, the song is a charming work of folk that captures her lyrical reflection on life’s transitions with poignancy and depth. Gorgeous, angelic vocals are complemented by a rich soundtrack of acoustic instruments that include a stunning fiddle, warm banjo, and a soulful organ as well as some fine guitar picking. For anyone who is a fan of bluegrass, folk, and country music, this song marks an exciting debut for an artist who is sure to finds fans in the scene and is definitely one to watch.
Prascher describes the inspiration behind the song:
I wrote Heart Like a Cage in a time of transition. I was trying to tackle two questions as things in my life were shifting. What comes after? What happens when you don’t belong anymore? The crows in the song became like messengers of change and I tried to access the press of memory, the way that circumstances can turn to ash in your hand.
WATCH:
