Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine Rublein and Daniel Brown.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Katherine: Well I guess you could say that September Moon all started in February 2015 at a singer/songwriter competition at the Whiskey Girl Saloon in the stockyards. It was a five-week long weekly competition whose winner each week got a write-up in a local music magazine called Rattle as well as free studio time. I attended each week to give it a shot with some new songs that I had written. The fourth week I was playing a song of mine called “Waiting For You” (which we later recorded on our first E.P. ‘Float Away’ released April 2018) and noticed a guy standing just off stage who seemed to really be listening although I couldn’t see his face.
Nothing came from that night, but I returned the following week for the final night of the competition, and afterwards, one of the other contestants approached and invited me to his friend’s weekly open mic in Arlington. The next week I followed up with his invitation to J. Gilligan’s to play, and we got to talking and decided to meet up that weekend to collaborate in music. That guy was Daniel.
Daniel: So Katherine came over that Saturday to work on some music. I had found some YouTube videos of hers and taught myself all of her songs, wrote secondary guitar parts, as well as vocal harmonies for each of them ahead of time. We sat down to play, and once we got started, it just really came easily and seemed almost natural. From then on, she and I learned some more music and started to play out as an acoustic duet.
Through all of this, we began to date. We just started to bond through music to the point where an evening of practice and writing together became like a date night. As we continued to gig, people seemed to really enjoy our act, and things just picked up. We even received a singer/songwriter award together called the “Steven Fromholz Rising Star” award. We recorded a 6 song E.P. at Crystal Clear Sound in Dallas with the super talented, Pete Miller, an engineer, Kent Stump. We were then set to finally release the album (‘Float Away’ -September Moon) in April 2018.
Katherine: We decided that for our album release show, we wanted to perform with a full band. We got some musician friends of ours together (P.J. West/lead guitar & vocals, Will Shotwell/bass guitar & Tim Sawyer/drums) and taught them our music. We practiced twice a week for 3 hours at a time for about a month and a half. Because we had already been friends for quite a while, everything went very smoothly. It was so much fun. We scheduled our album release show at the Texas Musicians Museum (formerly in Irving). We promoted as much as we could to make sure attendance was good.
I was absolutely shocked at all of the friends and family that started to confirm they were planning to attend. Even Daniel’s parents and sister drove in from Iowa. Close to the end of our set, while we were playing the first song we ever wrote together (“My Baby, My Darlin’), Daniel suddenly stopped singing and playing and took his guitar off while the rest of the band kept playing, I was incredibly confused. That is when he turned around, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him right there on stage. With a strong, ugly cry going, I couldn’t say “Yes” fast enough. In front of all of our friends and family, at our album release show, we got engaged.
Daniel: We had initially just got the band together for the big album release show/proposal, but we were all having too good of a time with it, so we decided to move forward as a full band. The full band, as well as the third vocal harmony part, created a whole new sound for us. We put together about 3 hours of music and started playing out as a group much as we could. Which leads us to where we are today. We’ve nearly finished writing the music for our next album and have been in the studio recording our upcoming single, “Abilene,” which we hope to have available by late October.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
To be completely honest, the whole process has actually been a smooth road so far.
Everything has just seemed organic and fun. Working together with your partner and great friends makes “the grind” feel like a good time that we’re all going through together.
Please tell us about September Moon.
I think there are a few things that make September Moon unique. For one, we don’t necessarily have a “lead singer.” We alternate between who’s leading on each song. Even P.J. has started to sing lead here and there.
We’ve realized that people really seem to enjoy our three-part harmony songs, so we’re trying to work that in more as part of “our sound.” We’re primarily a Texas country band, but we also love to mix in other genres as well, like soul, beachy type stuff and classic rock.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Daniel: I learned how to play and write from my dad. Growing up, I was always playing for his groups, whether it was on drums, bass or guitar. We would also write songs together on long road trips to pass the time. I’d say that all groomed me into where I am today.
Katherine: I knew I wanted to be a performer from a very young age. I started out acting on stage and in commercials around five years old. Although music is where my passion lies. I credit my years in acting with lighting my fire for performance and the creative arts.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.septembermoonband.com
- Email: septembermoonband@gmail.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/septembermoonband
Image Credit:
Greg Moore
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