Katie Brianna Garfoot (born 26 July 1988) is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter-guitarist who performs as Katie Brianna. Previously an alt-country performer she expanded her repertoire to include rock and power-pop. Paul Kelly invited Brianna to provide vocals on a track for the soundtrack to drama film, ''

Jindabyne Jindabyne () is a town in south-east New South Wales, Australia that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains, in Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is a popular holiday destination year round, especially in winter. This is due to its p ...

'' (2006). Brianna, Kelly,

Dan Luscombe Daniel Francis Luscombe is an Australian guitarist, producer and composer. He has been a member of The Blackeyed Susans, The Drones, Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, Stardust Five, Spencer P. Jones & the Last Gasp and Paul Kelly and the Boon ...

and the Stormwater Boys won the 2006 ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album. As a solo artist she has issued three studio albums, ''Dark Side of the Morning'' (March 2013), ''Victim or the Heroine'' (August 2016) and ''This Way or Some Other'' (March 2021).

Biography

Katie Brianna Garfoot,' was born on 26 July 1988 as the youngest of five children. She grew up in

Elermore Vale, New South Wales Elermore Vale is a suburb on the western outskirts of Newcastle, New South Wales. Before becoming a residential suburb in the 1900s, the area was used for chicken farming, cattle farming, and coal mining. By the 1960s, the school and the other ...

(a suburb of Newcastle), played clarinet at primary school and sang in choirs in both primary and secondary schools. After leaving

Lambton High School Lambton High School (also known as New Lambton High School) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located in the suburb of Lambton in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1974, the school ...

at the beginning of Year 11, she started a Business Administration correspondence course. Outside of her music career, Brianna has undertaken various jobs: waitress, office worker, retailer and CD packer. In July 2004 she attended the Tamworth Camerata, a six-day "junior country music school" held at Tamworth, New South Wales under the guidance of the

Country Music Association of Australia The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) is an association formed in 1992 that promotes and represents the Australian country music industry. As the peak national industry body, its activities include organisation, promotion and stagin ...

(CMAA). The artist issued her debut four-track extended play, ''Katie Brianna'' in December 2005, which was produced by Bill Chambers at his The Boneyard Studio in March. Chambers also provided acoustic

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

, electric guitar,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and vocal harmony; he was joined in the studio by James Gillard on acoustic guitars, bass guitar,

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

, percussion,

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

and harmony vocals; and Mick Albeck on

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

. One of the EP's tracks, "The Devil Came Back for You", was a finalist in the 2005 International Songwriting Competition in the Teen category. After hearing her EP, Paul Kelly invited Brianna to provide vocals on a track, "Jindabyne Fair", for the soundtrack to the drama film, ''

'' (2006). "Jindabyne Fair" was issued as a single, Russell Marks of ''

The Monthly ''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...

'' described it as "A slow country-folk song" and listed it at No. 135 out-of 403 songs written by Kelly. At the 2006 ARIA Awards Brianna, Kelly,

and the Stormwater Boys won Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album. Early in 2007 she relocated to the Blue Mountains. The artist deliberately took a break from performing and recording, due to "Her shyness, and her concern that she hadn't lived enough to write the songs she wanted to sing." In 2013 Brianna was living in Sydney and described her variety of country music as Americana, "I'm not the typical Aussie country artist. Sometimes I don't even call myself country any more." Her debut studio album, ''Dark Side of the Morning'', was released independently in March of that year. Sophie Hamley of ''Sunburnt Country Music'' observed, "The vulnerability that is on display from the start of this album is also its strength" while its influences, "are strongly alt-country and Americana but there are some traditional Irish sounds there too." ABC Radio's reviewer felt it is a "deeply moving debut LP that meditates on sadness, suburban loneliness and young womanhood." ''Victim or Heroine'' (August 2016) is Brianna's second studio album, which was issued independently and distributed by

MGM Distribution MGM Distribution (Metropolitan Groove Merchants) is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise and was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase. MGM Distribution was specifically set up as a dis ...

. It was produced by Shane Nicholson (Bill Chambers' former son-in-law), who also provided instrumentation, together with Matt Fell on bass guitar and Hammond organ and Glen Hannah on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mando guitar and

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schec ...

. ''Victim or Heroine'' peaked at number 17 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums chart and number 35 on the ARIA Country Albums chart. Hamley noticed, "she combines dreaminess with a consciousness that is anchored in everyday life. Which makes ta salve and an escape, and a fitting second album for an important artist." Stephen of 2NM's ''Hunter Valley Today'' felt it was "mature and restrained" with songs that are "elegant and serene, firmly rooted in the push and pull of modern womanhood." Its lead single, "Birmingham", was released ahead of the album, in June. "Boots" (2019) and "Wedding Ring" (February 2021) are singles from her third studio album, ''This Way or Some Other'', which was produced by Adam Young (ex-the Daisygrinders, Big Heavy Stuff). Josh Leeson of '' The Newcastle Herald'' declared that with this album, "she's expanded her sound to incorporate elements of rock, and even power-pop, to her alt-country foundation." Music journalist

Bernard Zuel Bernard Zuel is an Australian music journalist. Zuel wrote for Fairfax Media newspapers ''The Age'' and ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' since 1992. He became their senior music writer and reviewer. Zuel is a judge of the Australian Music Prize a ...

praised its toughness, which "has nothing to do with abrasive or overpowering sound" but "from structure and arrangement to words and feeling teased out fully." As from June 2021 Brianna is married.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

* "Jindabyne Fair" (2006) * "Birmingham" (2016) – Independent/

* "Boots" (2019) * "Wedding Ring" (2021)

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, ''

'' , Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album , , ARIA Award previous winners. , -

Awards and nominations

Country Music Awards of Australia

The Country Music Awards of Australia is an annual awards night held in January during the

Tamworth Country Music Festival The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual Australian music festival held for 10 days from Friday to Sunday in mid to late January each year, sometimes including Australia Day, in Tamworth, New South Wales. The festival is the second bigg ...

. Celebrating recording excellence in the

Australian country music Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass music, bluegrass, to yodeling to Australian folk music, folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English ...

industry. They commenced in 1973. ! , - , rowspan="1", 2017 , ''Victim Or the Heroine'' , Alternative Country Album of the Year , , rowspan="1", , -

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brianna, Katie Australian musicians Living people 1988 births