Just call her ‘Dr. Blues’: Kat Danser launches Goin’ Gone
Kat Danser doesn’t just play the blues; she studies it, lives it, breathes it and elevates it from sweaty, smoky beer joints to elegant centre stage in the finest of concert halls.
Her sweet vocals, lyrical genius, and instrumental prowess beautifully combine with her sharp wit and commanding stage presence to deliver unfailingly memorable live performances. True to her Polish Gypsy heritage, Kat, who is from Edmonton, is in perpetual motion, and her swampy roots and blues style is a fine-tuned reflection of life lessons from the road.
Her fifth album, Goin’ Gone, released Friday on Black Hen/True North, is a collaboration between Kat and Juno award winning producer Steve Dawson.
The recording is a highly energetic album that sits the listener right beside Kat on the vinyl seat of a 1949 Ford Lead Sled as she rolls and rumbles through the Deep South, USA. It celebrates her passion for the roots of blues music and her achievements as a graduate student at the University of Alberta, where she has now officially become Dr. Kat Danser, with a PhD in Ethnomusicology.
Her accolades have been many. Kat is a three-time Western Canadian Music Award nominee, a winner of the Ambassador of the Blues Award from the Blues Underground Network and the International Blues Competition Best Independent Blues Album prize.
She also recently directed her first documentary film entitled Rails & Rivers: Searching for the Heart of the Blues.
In addition, Kat is an award-winning scholar who has presented at conferences throughout North America. She combines her performance and education skills to assist community-building between marginalized peoples and educational institutions.
To that end, Kat has been the Artist in Residence at the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts (Calgary), she has facilitated music and healing at the U-School Program for Marginalized Youth and the Foothills Youth Psychiatric School, and she instructs her own
music education program across the lifespan from elementary schools to adult instructional camps.
Kat’s primary goal is to use music as a space for personal exploration and as a method to strengthen intercultural relationships.
See her live on tour as she launches her new album!
- Oct. 17 – Festival Place, Sherwood Park, AB
- Oct. 18 – Geomatic Attic, Lethbridge, AB
- Oct. 19 – Mikey’s on 12th, Calgary, AB
- Oct. 22 – The Bassment, Saskatoon, SK
- Oct. 24 – The Artesian, Regina, SK
- Oct. 25 – The West End Cultural Centre, Winnipeg,
- Oct. 27 – Sleeping Giant Folk Society, Thunder Bay, ON
- Nov. 2 – Hinton on Stage, Hinton, AB
- Nov. 3 – Borderline Concert Series, Demmitt, AB
- Jan. 18 – New Moon Folk Club, Edmonton, AB
- Jan. 19 – The Grande Parlour, Cold Lake, AB
- Feb. 1-3 – The Marriott Courtyard Toronto Downtown, Toronto, ON
- Mar. 23 – The Rogue Folk Club, Vancouver, BC
- Apr. 13 – Vermillion Folk Club, Vermillion, AB
