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Stephanie Williams and Katy Guillen

Blues in the Bottoms Feature – Womanish Girl

Each month through September, the Kansas City Blues Society will feature one of the artists who is performing at our 2023 signature event, Blues in the Bottoms, on September 23, at Knuckleheads Saloon. This month we feature one of Kansas City’s favorite local artists, Womanish Girl.

This duo, comprised of Katy Guillen, guitarist and vocalist, and Stephanie Williams, drummer, have been collaborating and touring across the U.S. and internationally together for nearly 7 years with Katy Guillen & the Girls. They have an undeniable chemistry and love for blues and roots music in their stripped-down formation as Womanish Girl. They’ve taken their musical partnership to new heights as Womanish Girl, exploring the guttural roots music of Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, Big Mama Thornton, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Katy and Stephanie pour their years of touring and creating together into an interpretation of the blues that is raw, energetic, deep, and improvised.

Womanish Girl in performance

Katy was asked where does the impulse to create something come from. She responded that she creates some of her favorite work based on emotional responses to life experiences and inspiration usually strikes when she’s feeling impassioned about something. She likes to sit down and have deliberate writing sessions too because creating in that way allows her to truly focus and work on her craft with a more structured and thoughtful approach.

She was also asked what role do often quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics, etc. play in her creative processes. She responded that the role of dreams, journaling, stream of consciousness, responses to visual art or music, personal relationships, mental health issues, the state of society and how it affects people and dealing with the loss of loved ones have all been woven into music she’s written over the years. Their new album is full of songs that cope with change and taking care of your mental health through challenging times (song example Because It’s Blue), a song about personal relationships (Another One Gained, Different), and a song written in the memory of her uncle (Nothing Comes Close).

Katy was asked if she has certain rituals to get in the right mindset for creating and if certain mood stimulants such as coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play a part. She replied that if she’s planning on doing a writing session, she prefers silence, either alone or with Stephanie, and being in nature. She’s done a few retreats where she went to a friend’s cabin by herself and unplugged from social media and the internet, and the only thing she did was write for a few days. She would go on walks and runs and spend time outside listening to nature. She prefers peacefulness and silence and loves to drink coffee when writing. On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes when she’s stuck with a lyric or melody during chaotic and inconvenient times, like driving to a gig or during soundcheck, she just writes down the ideas in her phone or records them in voice memos.

Womanish Girl will be the closer at Blues in the Bottoms festival on Saturday, September 23, at Knuckleheads Saloon.

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