Singer-songwriter and Michigan native Katie Pederson discusses moving to Nashville, building a community and the joys of running in a Local Spins interview conducted by Enrique Olmos in the Music City.
‘Limitless’: Katie Pederson releases a new studio album in April. (Photo/Loren Johnson)
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Katie Pederson and I go back a few years. We shared a bill at The Ark in Ann Arbor in 2016. We also performed back-to-back sets on air at 107.1 FM’s Tree Town Sound sometime after that.
But we truly bonded over a 740-mile roundtrip to Mile of Music in 2019, a buzzing summer festival in Northern Wisconsin.
My role was that of the backseat, playlist spinning, third-wheel companion along for the ride with Pederson and her good friend, Lindsey Thatcher. We talked for hours and miles about music, spirituality and our respective childhoods.
We stopped at The Cheese Castle alongside northbound I-94, which one could equate to the Disneyland of Dairy. I even met her parents who lived in Green Bay at the time. They hosted us on the final evening of an exhausting festival schedule, providing cozy accommodations and hearty Midwestern meals.
It was on that very trip that Pederson began contemplating her move to Nashville. One afternoon between sets, she and Thatcher sat down to compile a list of pros and cons; she was weighing her options between relocating to Nashville or Grand Rapids.
On Stage: Pederson performing last weekend at Grand Rapids’ Listening Room. (Photo/Loren Johnson)
“I wanted to move to lean more into songwriting and music, but was also torn between the two places. It was a gradual decision, like a series of doors closing one after the other in Michigan,” says Pederson, who grew up in Saline about 20 miles south of Ann Arbor.
“I was not in a good place mentally. I just knew that I wanted to get out of Michigan. And I knew that I was going to get to Nashville. I needed a blank slate. I needed to branch out and start my own thing.”
After Mile of Music, the three of us made the long, late-night drive back home, said our goodbyes, then parted ways. A few months later, Pederson would make the transition to Nashville.
The piano pop artist moved all of her possessions into portable storage containers and shipped them south. Then she hit the road in the opposite direction for Canada, embarking on an exploratory road trip through the neighboring country. During the trip she got a call about a job offer in Nashville, further affirming her decision.
When she finally arrived in Music City in late 2019, Pederson didn’t have a place to live yet, so she stayed at the Nashville Hostel until she found housing.
A few months later, the world seemed to catch fire. COVID-19 would shutter businesses around the globe and stunt the music industry as a whole. Soon after, Nashville would be hit by a devastating series of tornados.
Despite the obstacles to normality, Pederson remained impressively prolific. She released seven singles, including the wistfully captivating “Shrapnel,” while working with mid-Michigan producer Jake Rye of Social Recording Co.
LISTEN: Katie Pederson, “Shrapnel”
Her next single, “One Before The One,” will be released March 18, followed by her record, “Limitless,” due out April 22 with a release show at The Ark planned on April 24.
Before that, she wraps up the final shows on “The Nashigan Tour” with fellow songwriters Grace Theisen and Bronte Fall — playing 20 Front Street in Lake Orion at 8 p.m. tonight (March 10) with Amy Petty also on the bill. (The tour played Grand Rapids’ Listening Room with Kalamazoo’s Kaitlin Rose on Saturday. View the photo gallery here.)
CO-WRITING AND LOVING NASHVILLE’S TANGIBLE, INSPIRING ENERGY
The next time that I see Pederson after our 2019 Wisconsin summer adventure, it’s a sunny winter day in Nashville. She picks me up outside my Airbnb and we head to brunch.
Pederson is taking me to Pinewood Social, a hidden gem for the impossibly hip. Located inside a nondescript industrial building, the establishment’s sprawling interior (complete with bowling alley) invites brunch-bound millennials and their parents for a taste of trendy dishes. Yes. Avocado toast is on the menu.
Musician and songwriter Jefferson Rinck (former bassist for Michigander) joins us. He’s also a recent Nashville transplant from Michigan and a good friend and collaborator of Pederson’s.
In true Nashvillian form, the pair have co-written a number of songs together and performed at showcases around town.
After a handsomely bearded waiter takes our caffeinated orders we delve into a conversation about Pederson’s art.
“There’s a ton to be drawn to with Katie’s music, but for me, it’s the one-two punch of integrity as a writer and the vividness of her storytelling,” Rinck says.
Connecting with Michiganders in Nashville: Pederson (Photo/Loren Johnson)
“There is never any doubt that she believes what she’s singing, and that’s so special. Combine that with her incredible ability to make the listener visualize the scenes she’s writing about by making even the simple lines jump out at you, and I think you’ve got an unstoppable force on your hands.”
Following brunch, Pederson recommends a stroll through nearby downtown, on account of the sunshine. We walk and talk and make stops for photos along the way. I ask Pederson how she’s taken to her new town.
“I just absolutely love Nashville. It is one of those places where everyone you pass on the street is a creative in some way, and so the energy is just tangible and inspiring,” Pederson says, while trace the banks of the Cumberland River.
“Over the last year, I’ve really enjoyed going to hole-in-the-wall shows, playing rounds, and just meeting so many people who all do music in different and brilliant ways.”
In addition to her work as a songwriter, Pederson finds great solace in exercise; specifically running. With headphones in and feet to the pavement, she hits nearby parks and neighborhoods while listening to podcasts and her favorite songwriters.
“I enjoy running because it helps me think. It’s one of the only times where you just have to focus on your breath and you get to look around and slow down a little bit. I guess you could say running helps me to be mindful,” says Pederson, who graduated from Saline High School and Butler University, then earned a master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology from Eastern Michigan University.
During warmer weather, Pederson will run a few times a week, averaging 3 to 5 miles per session. She plans to run in Detroit’s International Half Marathon in October.
Later that evening, I join Pederson at her home along with Rinck and drummer Dalton Thomas from Brother Elsey. It’s an off-record hang, but we share a bottle of wine and take turns spinning favorite records. Sitting at a table with Michigan pals transcends the fact that we’re a few hundred miles away in an entirely different region of the country.
It feels like home. And Pederson is beaming.
“It’s literally the best. When I was trying to decide between Grand Rapids and Nashville, little did I know that many of my friends and acquaintances in Grand Rapids were also considering the move to Nashville,” she says.
“They’ve all slowly been trickling down here and it has just been awesome to connect with a group of people that I loosely knew before, but now consider some of my closest friends.”
VIDEO: Katie Pederson, “Guard Down”
PHOTO GALLERY: Katie Pederson
Photos by Loren Johnson
