Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Glaze.
Hi Kat, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Long Beach, California as the eldest of four adopted kids. I started taking classical violin lessons at the age of four when my adopted parents realized I had some musical abilities. I found out later that my biological grandfather had been a fiddler his entire life and when I turned seven, I won my first fiddle contest at the Orange County Fair. After that, I was always finding a reason to fiddle or improv to anything that I was listening to; church music, country, folk – you name it.
As a kid, I remember listening to old Doc Watson and Bill Monroe albums and trying to copy what they were doing. We relocated to Arlington, Texas, when I was 14 and I kind of lost momentum for a while during the adjustment, but when I got accepted to Texas Tech on a violin performance scholarship, things changed. I began to really study traditional music and joined the Celtic ensemble while continuing my classical education and performing with the Lubbock Symphony for two seasons before returning to Dallas in 2010. My first gig back in Dallas was working for Uptown Players as a pit musician for their performance of Hello, Again and since then, the theater community has been a driving force behind my growth and success here in Dallas. I’ve even had the opportunity to perform on stage as an actor-musician with WaterTower Theatre (Ring of Fire, Last Five Years, Ballad of Little Jo), Dallas Theater Center (A Christmas Carol) and Theatre Three (Once the Musical). As part of Uptown Players’ collaboration performance of Sweeney Todd with the Turtle Creek Chorale, I was introduced to Sean Baugh, who was just about to take over as their music director. He invited me to come play for Cathedral of Hope, where he is the associate music director.
Soon after, I became the resident violinist for the Cathedral of Hope Orchestra and for the Turtle Creek Chorale and have performed with them on tour and as a soloist for the last six years. During that time, I was the fiddler for the Celtic rock band, Rathmore, with whom I played three years in a row at the State Fair of Texas opening for Charlie Daniels, Scotty McCreery and Billy Ray Cyrus. Last year, I joined the musicians union for the first time as part of my band, 5 Second Rule, but since the pandemic hit… well, things are a bit different. With everything moving online, musicians (including myself) have had to find new ways to share their art and remain relevant when live music and crowds are not an option. Somehow, I found myself on TikTok and began sharing covers of movie music, arrangements of popular tunes and show themes and the occasional fiddle tune. As luck would have it, I went viral performing a cover of Once Upon a December (from the animated movie Anastasia) and 1.2 million views later, I have a following of nearly 60K and growing!
Alright, 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?
The biggest struggle of my career has really been surviving this last year. There is nothing on this earth that prepares you for watching $18K worth of gigs disappear in less than 48 hours when a shutdown occurs with no end in sight. Of course, I understood and respected the reasons. But, as a single, freelance, full-time musician, that kind of thing can crush the very soul right out of you. There was no one but me to fall back on after all. So, what does a fiddler who is used to putting 100+ miles on her bow hair in a week do when the stage lights turn off in the middle of a performance? Well, at first, I can tell you that I stared off into the abyss watching all the possibilities and big dreams disappear. But, when the mourning period was done, I had to learn to let go of the what-ifs and learn to hope against hope that I could figure out how to make lemonade out of thin air without a recipe from Great-Grandma What’s-Her-Face.
The truth is, there is no guidebook for surviving a pandemic as a freelance artist. Heck, I still don’t know what I am doing most of the time, but I’ve had a little luck going viral on TikTok, which has given me the ability to host weekly live concerts and grow a small family of listeners who donate and tip as I play. Because of their influence and demand, I am learning to record, edit, mix and release my own music for the first time, which has given me some passive income with the release of my first single, Once Upon a December. Along with a wonderful network of emotional support in family and friends, I’ve been able to use this time effectively to truly grow as a musician and learn what it really means to fight for the thing you know in your soul you are meant to be doing. Turning to social media has become a full-time job and really my only outlet for performing as I continue to learn how to use it properly for my music. Because of apps like TikTok and Instagram, I get to create art and promote myself with the hope that the right people will still take notice when the time is right. I am learning to trust in myself more than anything and really rest in the knowledge that what is meant for me will never pass me by.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I believe the thing I am most known for would be my passionate musicianship and artistry, specifically with fiddle. I am a full-time professional violinist and fiddler. I literally LOVE my job. I teach, perform, educate and am now learning how to record, market and promote myself! I would say that being a cross-over musician is definitely one of my superpowers. The fact that I was trained classically, but I branched out to include traditional music means that I can pretty much cover any genre of music with ease. The best gig day I ever had was one where I started off teaching a classical lesson, went to record a fiddle lick for a friend’s country song, drove to Denton to rehearse with my Celtic rock band at the time and then headed into Deep Ellum to improv with a singer/guitarist at a bar for a couple of hours before ending the day performing in a musical theater show as the fiddling Irish ex-girlfriend in Once the Musical! My head never hit my pillow with more gratitude in my life. I can’t wait to get back to it when the time is right!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Honestly, who knows what the future holds! The pandemic has literally flipped the arts and music industries on their heads and we’ve seen some incredible changes and new ways of sharing art come out of it. The fact that TikTok is deciding who the next up and coming artists are without them being signed or promoted by a label is incredible and it feels like a massive win for the little guy. I hope that that is a trend that sticks around and blooms. It’s given a voice to people who might otherwise not be heard, so I definitely think the future of the music industry is in apps like TikTok with its ability to connect artists with millions of people at the tap of a screen.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.katglaze.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/katandthefiddle
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/katglazemusic
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/katglazemusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/katglazemusic
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@katandthefiddle
Image Credits
Barbara Brands Michael McGary Jeffrey Schmidt
