Katie Knipp – Live at Theater 5150
Self-Released
16 Tracks – 73 minutes
Katie Knipp was born in Alameda, California. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in music from the California State University. Her first album, Violent in Here, was released in 2003. While focused on the blues, her songs shift into roots, Americana and soul. On her 2025 album, Dance Me, she took a plunge into electronica. This album is her tenth.
A regular performer in the Sacramento area, she has won two Sacramento Music Awards for Best Blues Artist. Her albums have landed in the Top Ten on the Billboard Blues Charts four times. She is a multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, harmonica, piano and lead vocals on this album. Her band consists of Pancho Tomaselli (War, Tower of Power) on bass, Steve Utstein (Bo Diddley, Junior Wells, Lonnie Brooks) on the B3 and Wurlitzer, Chris Martinez on guitar, and Neil Campisano on drums. The album was recorded live at Theater 5150 in Carmichael, California and features songs from across her lengthy catalog. She cites that the live release is a “celebration of something that cannot be replicated by algorithms, artificial intelligence or automation”.
The album opens with “Santa Cruz Blues”. After a brief introduction, Katie asks, “Hey everybody, is it okay if we blast your face off a little bit?” and launches with her harmonica before jumping into a driving, rocking blues number letting the whole band playing into the sound. She tells him, ” I Don’t Sing for You” “anymore” with her piano featured. She notes “our love is like a “Bullet Train”, “Call it what it is – irresponsible love”. Her unique voice, sometimes warbly but always powerful and driving is supported by Steve’s B3 as she ultimately declares “I want to hear you talk shit when you’re eighty-five.”
Justin Townes Earle’s “If I Was the Devil” is the first of three cover songs. Some nice acoustic guitar shifts into slide as she moves into a sultry vocal with Steve’s B3 sliding in. On “Dirty Cables” she learns some bad news on her phone while playing in a bar with an hour to go in her show noting “a rock grew heavy in my gut”. “I don’t want to sing”, “Dirty cables, dirty hands, calloused fingers and a broken heart. That’s how it starts, you are in it for the haul”. She introduces the next song as being about addiction as she warns “When you sit in “The Devil’s Armchair” soft woven fire burns”. Her voice clearly expresses the pain she feels as she identifies “a moment of bliss, another empty kiss.” as the music builds in intensity and the guitar swirls into a raging finale.
“Metro in Paris” is a jazzy song with some fine keyboard work as she sings “We’ll take off to my room and you’ll be satisfied.” “You can’t deny what you need. When you looked away but then smiled to yourself, it told me everything” “By the end of the night, you are going to be mine.” She explains that “Outlaw Doc” is the story of Tom Bell, who robbed stagecoaches. The slide guitar flies into a hard rock driven drumbeat with Chris called out for a soaring guitar. Each of the band members are given an opportunity to step out on the traditional “John the Revelator”.
She says “Get Outta My Dreams” again leads with the piano followed by a B3 solo as she cites, “You came into my dreams like an elephant in a liquor store”. And she “demands stay away from me”. “Sad Eyed Lover” is explained to be a song about a guy that blamed everyone else and was very whiny. So, I dumped him”. “You think the world is against you”. The final cover is Bruce Spingsteen’s “State Trooper” from his Nebraska album. She introduces the song by saying “My favorite thing to do is just watch the sun go down, have a good cocktail in hand, and listen to the Nebraska album.” She makes the song her own transforming it into a hard-rocking guitar track.
“Chamomile and Cocaine” features some bouncing keyboards and rousing guitar. She cites “I been singing the blues since age thirteen, got one foot on the tambourine. I’m in the game, I’m here to play”. Who has the time to listen? Well, I do.” On “Gone to Town” features her piano in another jazzy, sexy blues as she says, “I didn’t know I was so strong.” and leads into some solo guitar from Chris. “There is a “Stillness” in the air right now” expressing some social concerns about what is happening around us today and notes at the end “I’m really pissed. Aren’t you pissed?” “Mud” completes the album as she says, ” I am trying to write songs that aren’t about you”.
Katie has a unique, powerful voice that sometimes reminds me of Beth Hart. Her lyrics are full stories that are frequently delivered in rapid fire. All the musicians are excellent performers and provide frequent solo incursions into the songs that draw you further in. While the music takes you along many paths, I would generally label the album as blues rock with an emphasis on the rock.
