FOLKROOM PRESENTS: Katie Spencer

“Her articulate picking, with suggestions of folk and jazz, frames
intelligently written songs”- Guitarist Magazine

“… a world-class folk guitarist” – fRoots

Raised in the East Yorkshire flatlands on the fringes of Hull, Katie Spencer’s landscape has always been that of open skies and widening rivers. This sense of space and movement flows through the assured guitar style and songwriting of ‘What Love Is‘, her third album.

The record sees Katie turn her focus to those deeper inner spaces, inviting the listener to engage with heartfelt, intricately crafted songs that recall the music of artists like Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, Julie Byrne, and, perhaps most evidently, Michael Chapman. Katie absorbs these influences into her songwriting, and with her distinctive deep vibrato and crystal-clear guitar style, she makes the music inimitably her own.

‘What Love Is‘ evokes the spirit of Joni Mitchell’s finest later works, while marking Katie out as one of the UK’s most accomplished singer-songwriters. Lyrically mature and at times pastoral, the album is melodically sophisticated and unflinchingly honest. She moves effortlessly from wide-open jazz-tinged soundscapes, influenced by Pharoah Sanders and John Abercrombie, to folk-baroque fingerpicking. Her singing is powerful yet warm, true and pristine in delivery.

Support on the night will come from Satnam Galsian, a British Asian singer-songwriter and progressive folk artist from Leeds, whose music blends the rich tradition of Punjabi folk with contemporary, feminist storytelling. Her songs are deeply rooted in her personal experiences, drawing on her own journey of identity, belonging, and empowerment.

“Katie’s guitar playing has echoes of Bert Jansch. Like a musical
weaver, she threads her poetic lyrics through the guitar’s strings and
produces tapestries of song.” – Ralph McTell

Line up:
Katie Spencer
Satnam Galsian