ON BEAT: Katie Pruitt

Katie Pruitt will play Nashville’s The Blue Room at AMERICANAFEST on Sept. 17, the same day her third album, “Fools for the Fleeting,” releases.

Pruitt teased that her upcoming album will showcase her queer identity in a more subtle way than how she’s historically presented it.

Pruitt’s 2020 debut album, “Expectations,” featured songs “Loving Her” and “Normal,” both central to the album theme of navigating her journey through her sexuality.

“Orion’s Belt,” featuring Sierra Hull, and “Disaster” are songs about her girlfriend, Pruitt said.

“Disaster” as the most overtly queer song on the record, she said.

“’Did I make you question that conventional life?’ is a line about my girlfriend, I’m the first woman that she’s dated,” said Pruitt.

At the beginning of the relationship, there was some uncertainty on Pruitt’s behalf regarding whether or not her girlfriend wanted to be in a queer relationship.

“I think that’s a common thing in queer relationships, especially when one person is kind of newer to being queer. There’s this hesitancy,” Pruitt said.

Katie Pruitt. (Maria Eilert)

Not only does her music relate to the queer community, but it also contains political messages.

She believes her approach to political messaging in music would make her conservative parents proud, she said.

She thinks appealing to listeners’ empathy is her job when writing political songs, she said.

Neil Young is an Americana inspiration of hers, she said.

“That song, ‘Ohio’, he’s literally just spitting facts. He’s not saying, ‘That’s what I believe.’ He’s [saying] ‘Four dead in Ohio’. That’s a news headline. That’s not a debatable feeling or opinion,” said Pruitt.

The second verse of “The Aftermath” is a moment where she shares her opinion instead of stating a fact in the lyrics, “Handed the wrong man the keys, capitol’s under siege, and somehow it’s you and me that he is blaming,” she said.

“I have faith that enough people will agree with that opinion too. And the people that don’t, don’t,” she said.

The “Fools for the Fleeting” album cover. (Maria Eilert)

As Pruitt anticipates AMERICANAFEST, she recalls some of her favorite experiences with live music.

Pruitt once opened for Brandi Carlile, an outspoken lesbian singer/songwriter in the Americana genre, at Red Rocks.

“It was just me and a guitar, and the way that the entire Red Rocks shut up and listened was insane,” said Pruitt.

Another time, she performed at the Ryman with the Wood Brothers and fellow Nashville musicians, Jess Nolan and Hadley Kennary, and did a three-part harmony.

“It was just a special show, and it felt important to us,” Pruitt recalled.

Purchase tickets to see Pruitt live at AMERICANAFEST here.

Pre-save “Fools for the Fleeting” here.