The Fremont Podcast
The only podcast dedicated to telling the stories of the people and places of Fremont, CA. The diversity and integration of people and cultures of Fremont truly makes it a special place. This podcast explores these stories.
The Fremont Podcast
Episode 133: Runnin' Like a Rebel with Cathryn Price
Cathryn is a genre-blending artist with a voice that hits like a memory you forgot you had. Her music lives somewhere between heartbreak and healing — raw, real, and impossible to ignore. Whether she’s on stage or in the studio, Cathryn brings that fire. Gritty, soulful vocals, lyrics that stick, and a sound that bends rules without losing its roots. She’s not here to copy what’s been done. She’s building something timeless.
Cathryn Price shares her inspiring journey from musical beginnings through darkness to creating a new artistic hub in Fremont's Niles district. Her story weaves together themes of resilience, community building, and authentic creative expression that's revitalizing the local music scene.
• Growing up surrounded by music in a family that made space for creativity
• Finding musical inspiration from Johnny Cash's biopic "Walk the Line" at age 13
• Surviving an abusive relationship and temporarily abandoning music
• Rediscovering her musical identity through support from friends and family
• Currently working as an audio engineer while performing and helping develop other artists
• Plans to open a comprehensive music studio in Niles offering lessons, recording services, and songwriting retreats
• Creating safe spaces for artists to learn, create, and understand the business side of music
• Building community through jam nights and local performances
• Philosophy that artists "shine brighter together" rather than competing
• Special live performance of her unreleased song "Running Like a Rebel"
Find Cathryn performing at the Niles summer series on July 12th, where she'll be opening for a friend before headlining next year.
You can follow Cathryn on her Instagram here: @itscathrynprice
If you need help, you can reach out to Fremont's SAVE.
If you would like to contact The Fremont Podcast, please text us here.
Petrocelli Homes has been a key sponsor of The Fremont Podcast from the beginning. If you are looking for a realtor, get in touch with Petrocelli Homes on Niles Blvd in Fremont.
Ohlone College Flea Market happens every second Saturday at the lower parking lot at Ohlone College. You can find out more information about them not their webpage or on their Instagram.
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
Ooh, oh yeah. Every day is a new day here in Fremont. All the things you need are here today and you meet some new people Might as well and wave and say hey.
Speaker 2:Hello, fremont, ricky B, here with the Fremont Podcast. I'm really excited to be able to bring to you new episodes of the Fremont Podcast. Up until this point, all of our episodes have been on audio. You can find them on almost every audio podcast platform there is, but now we are hoping to be able to bring you the new episodes on both video and audio, so you'll be able to still listen to them wherever it is that you find your podcasts, and you'll be able to watch them on YouTube. With that in mind, I want to just share with you how I envision the podcast to look.
Speaker 2:Moving forward, we took a break for a little bit. For almost two and a half years, we brought you podcast episodes every week and we were thrilled to be able to share with you the conversations that we were privileged to have here in our community. But it's a lot of work and it takes a lot of money. It takes a lot of resources, it takes a lot of effort, and so we needed to take a break for a little bit. From here on out, I am looking forward to being able to continue to bring you episodes, conversations of people here in the Fremont community, but we're going to try to space it out so that it's sustainable. We had been bringing you episodes every Friday and now our goal is to at least bring you two good quality episodes a month and if I get the opportunity to bring more, then that's bonus for you. But our goal is to help make this something that's a staple in our community long term, and I think, slowing down our rhythm, being able to offer you fewer episodes but better quality episodes, will be the hope and the goal that we will have moving forward.
Speaker 2:With that in mind, I do want to take a moment just to thank a few people for making this podcast a reality. First of all, I want to thank my team a reality. First of all, I want to thank my team. For years, I have been able to work with a phenomenal team who have helped to bring these episodes and these conversations to you. There is no way that I would be able to do what we have done here on the Fremont Podcast without them. Andrew and Sarah served as my editor, served as my assistant scheduler and they did research on everybody that we had conversations with, and there is no way that this podcast would have been a reality without them. They served you as a community. Well, they gave above and beyond what was asked of them and they made this a reality. And even when I was not able to continue on, andrew was able to bring you episodes on his own that were just phenomenal. So I would be remiss if I did not thank them for their effort, their time and all of their investment into this podcast. This podcast would truly not be here if it were not for them.
Speaker 2:I also want to thank our sponsors. For years, we've had people invest and share as sponsors on the podcast and, particularly now, I want to tell you about Petrocelli Homes. Petrocelli Homes was our very first sponsor and they continue to be our sponsor until this day. Jennifer Petroroseli has served this podcast to help make it a possibility and a reality for years and, matter of fact, I'm sitting in their office space right now recording this video for you. But I want to tell you that Jennifer Petroseli is not just a sponsor. She actually helped serve as a realtor that I was able to work with.
Speaker 2:In 2023, an organization that I work with was selling a home here in Fremont and I recommended that we use Jennifer Petrucelli to be our realtor, and she was phenomenal. I had known of her as a partner of the podcast, but I had not been able to actually work with her. But when we went through the process of selling this home, she was always a step ahead. She was always aware of what our needs were. She had contractors to help serve us when we needed it. She had everybody where they needed to be when we needed to do it. She was always making sure that everything was getting done so that we could get the house on the market and get it sold as quickly as possible. The experience that I had with Jennifer as we sold this home was phenomenal and I cannot recommend to you enough Jennifer Petrucelli of Petrucelli Homes. She has been a phenomenal partner with our podcast, but she is a phenomenal realtor and I wholeheartedly recommend her to you. If you are looking to buy or sell your home, I want to recommend to you Jennifer Petrucelli of Petrucelli Homes.
Speaker 2:I also need to thank all those who have been sponsors of the podcast as well. If I tried to start listing them off right now, I'm sure that I would miss some, but anyone who has been a sponsor of the podcast, any local business or individual who's been a sponsor of the podcast I want to thank you so much for helping make this podcast a reality. I also want to thank you. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 2:If you weren't listening, there would be no reason to have this podcast. Without you, there is no purpose and there is no motivation to be able to bring you these episodes. So, thank you so much for listening to the podcast and if you know people who have yet to hear the podcast, I invite you to share these episodes with them so that they could be a part of our podcast community. Well, I'm looking forward to bringing you more episodes. I'm excited about the episodes that we've already recorded, the conversations that we've already had, and I hope that these are conversations that will encourage you to be a better resident in our community, to be a better citizen and to get involved with the things that are going on in our community. This place, fremont, would not be what it is without you, and we can always make it better by listening, by sharing and by investing our time and effort to make it what it is. So, with that said, I want to invite you to listen to our new episodes, beginning with this episode, episode 133, with Catherine Price. You ready?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, because that's one thing. It's like I feel like you know, that's always been a separate thing for you, like real estate and then this. And I saw that and I always asked myself the question of like how can I just be and also work, like how can I just live authentically? And that was music.
Speaker 3:It has always been that way and when I discovered that I was like, wow, I don't have to be anything else, like I'm clocked in and I'm like just myself all the time you know there's certain levels of like that professionalism, because you have different interactions with different people and you got to know like tonation and intonation and like how you're speaking to them and what you're wearing, even what kind of setting it's in. It's all, it's all like energy and feng shui and like how it works together. Yeah, yeah, so it's music. So, yeah, everything's music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that, um, so, actually. So let's, let's jump into this, my, my. So a couple things. If I, if I'm fidgeting, adjusting or whatever, don't mind me, just let me do my thing. Yeah, um, and you just kind of enjoy, um, doing your thing and focusing on what you're doing. Um, and if anything, like if anybody, they close at four. So, if anything, if anybody comes down here and they disturb us or whatever, we'll just stop and we can edit and make changes.
Speaker 1:Free tea, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:And yeah, so I appreciate your manager sending me information. Sarah, my scheduler and assistant, would do everything for me. She'd have like a whole page and a half of like research that she did on the person that I was interviewing to kind of make sure that I had a lot of notes and stuff.
Speaker 2:So, um, and it was always amazing to have that uh to work with. But, um, I am very much the vision of this podcast came from just randomly meeting people at coffee shops and in town and just hearing the candid story of their life, without it being set up or prepared or whatever, and so I actually am a big fan of trying to have those conversations here, even though we've got cameras and mics in our face.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's something to get used to you know.
Speaker 3:uh, at first I was like really nervous, but I feel like the more that you do it, you realize like it's just again, it's like a, it's an energy thing. But yeah, I mean, having that organic experience anywhere is is how you, how the magic happens and how ideas come to life. And that's my favorite part about the songwriting sessions too is like usually the first half an hour to an hour you're just kind of setting in, getting to know somebody and sometimes like it's a songwriting session in a coffee shop too and you're just you're vibing with a person. But it's that organic experience I'm really I love that, I'm all about it.
Speaker 2:That's cool, so tell me what you're doing. So what I want to do is let's go ahead and start with where you are now, like what are you doing right now? And then I kind of want to retract that back to how did you get here? So, like, so, what is your?
Speaker 3:what are you in the middle of doing right now with your life, man? That's a big question Living, living, living, succeeding. Yeah, um showing myself how resilient I am in the industry, especially as a woman. Um going into major studios, being behind huge consoles, learning how to track drums with, you know, grammy award winning and nominated musicians, and producers.
Speaker 3:I'm also helping out different artists through artist development. I'm also going to school, so I'm working full time, going to school full time and also performing wherever I can. I have a few shows coming up but, yeah, helping build the brand. Right now I have an amazing uh community that I'm a part of, um, you know, in the Bay area. That was hard for me to find at first and I grew up here so.
Speaker 3:I left thinking like there's nothing here. You know, I went to Nashville and everything and then came back and realized like purpose is here, like I am the community yeah, I have to make it happen.
Speaker 3:So just performing a lot, um, helping other artists doing my own thing, recording, getting in, you know, sync, like libraries. I'd love to have a placement in a movie. You know, do something with a music supervisor. And I'm talking to them and they're like do you have any songs that match this kind of vibe? And I'm like, no, but I'll make one you know, um.
Speaker 2:So that kind of goes to what we were just talking about earlier is that the music that I was using when I originally started the podcast was just, um, let's say, generic. I mean I paid something to be able to get, get it, get it licensed, um, but it was just, I didn't know who wrote it. It didn't have any particular meaning with Fremont or Niles or anything like that, but I just thought it would be really great to have somebody who's local, that writes music, and just use something or have something written that really just kind of matches the vibe of the podcast, to be able to kind of make it true, completely homegrown, you know not just not just pieced out from other places.
Speaker 2:So when we I was taught, we were just talking about the cast of Niles podcast and I didn't did an interview with Michael McNevin. And he played a number of songs for me and I snagged some audio from one of the songs that he played that he wrote about Niles, and that's the music that we use for the Cast of Niles podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, see, yeah, authentic organic, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's what I was thinking about with you. I was like, if you're writing music and you're performing, I out with you. I was like, if you're writing music and you're performing, I saw something on your Instagram recently that how much you were just kind of like you gave a shout out to Niles, your hometown, and I was just thinking it'd be great just to have someone like you, who just really has a love for this community, to be able to give us something to be able to listen to on each episode of the podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, you know. Thanks for bringing up that Instagram post so you know a social media post. It was really vulnerable for me to kind of like tell my truth.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think that, yeah, you do touch a point Like that's why I'm here is to like have that authenticity, and I think that's what we're kind of shying away from with all this new tech and everything we have, ai kind of shying away from with all this new tech and everything we have ai we have. You know ways that you can make beats without musicians. You can do all of that, but we're missing the vital, like meat and potatoes of it, which is the energy, which is you know where you're from and and what comes out of you. Naturally, what were you growing up listening to? That all comes out in the music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's something. Yeah, I love that, um, because I think that there's uh shortcuts available to almost anything you want, like there's ways to get things to get like an end product. But I I think that sometimes we short change um so many of the uh the elements that really make it like a symbiotic relationship with the world that we live in. So in some sense you can write a song that the lyrics aren't don't have anything to do with where you live or who you grew up with or the friends that you have. But you know, if you wrote that song and you've got a band that you've been working with and you've been just like tweaking that and just like bringing it into a really fine place, you know that the story is woven into the fabric of that song that you've written or performed.
Speaker 2:So I love that. The world needs more of that. They need more of you, aw, thank you.
Speaker 3:That's so sweet. I just try to be as authentic as I can and really include other people. Uh, I think that's the biggest thing is I want to help. I also want to do my thing by showing you know that I can, which means you can too. My niece looks at me like auntie you're actually really cool, you're playing on stage. You got a guitar.
Speaker 3:I'm like finally it's about time you knew, um, but yeah, I, I just say, you know, be as authentic as you can and those experiences will happen and the music will come. Um, and I question all the time, cause I'm very influenced by my environment. So when I was in Nashville I was singing the, the, the songs and the country, and, you know, getting a little twang going on, and started saying y'all, and it was a lot of fun. And then I came back to the Bay and I was like OK, cool, like we've got a big movement of like rock here, we've got hip hop and rap going on and I was involved in all of the scenes, for the most part A little bit of punk but, you know, mostly like rock country pop hip hop, a little bit of punk, but you know mostly like rock, country, pop, hip-hop, um a little bit of reggae too, because I'm from san diego.
Speaker 3:Okay, I love, uh like ska and reggae. So, yeah, I, I love all music, but really what comes out of me is the niles character. When I'm just my sixth string, it's like the true, like folk, you know country yeah, very influenced by michael mcnevin I will say because I grew up here and he had the mud puddle puddle shop um, and I'm sad that that's closing I know, you know, I've been there the last two weekends for his uh, what's he called getting getting muddy?
Speaker 2:yeah um his gigs and bringing people in from out of town and stuff, and I've captured a number of videos of him and others doing music there. But it is a sad thing. I mean, in some sense, as long as he's around and his influence is around, that life, that spirit is going to live on. Yeah, but that's just a cool place. I know it's just a cool place I mean it's just a.
Speaker 2:It's just a cool place to be able to go and experience all the chairs hanging on the walls, like the etch a sketch um drawings that he has are just phenomenal yeah, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3:So I hope to bridge the gap because you know, niles is really amazing community, um, and, being from here, I already started a jam night on Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2:That was awesome, which was amazing. I missed it. I got the invite. I even. Rsvp'd and said I was coming and something came up and I was not able to make it, so I apologize, oh my gosh, you missed a popping party. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I will tell you, it was amazing and everybody that came was just, you know, blown away like I started. I am a very emotional person I think that's why I'm a songwriter, but I literally was like looking at everybody and I had this moment of like wow, like I. I did that, you know, as I set it up. It came from a place of not wanting to be alone on valentine's day and I was like I don't know valentine, I was like I'm done moping what to do. I'm saying I was like I'm done moping around, like I'm going to do something. So I set that event up and then the jam night went wild and everyone was like I want to participate in that. So I realized that this community is craving, you know, local music, nightlife and Michael's doing a great job because he's got Frederico's and you know.
Speaker 1:But it takes a community and he's told me I'm passing the torch to you, so that's awesome.
Speaker 3:I definitely want to create the same kind of atmosphere and um, I'm actually launching a project right now where I'm going to open up uh an independent studio where I have uh opportunities for people to take lessons for different instruments, also retreats like songwriting retreats. There also be a studio that eventually I'll allow other engineers to use, similar to you know what's going on at Hyde and 25th like as long as you are an established producer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, at Hyde and 25th, like as long as you, you know, an established producer. Um so I I'm getting ready to create an iconic landmark in this place, and Niles is old Hollywood, but let's make it new, you know new yeah and new Niles, and that's carrying the spirit that has been for so many years. Like this town knows its history and Right, and I'm here to make my mark.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just talking to. Actually it was the people across the street that just they're redoing that whole space by the Devil's Workshop right next door. I was just talking to them last weekend and I was saying that you know it's interesting that.
Speaker 3:The angels are singing.
Speaker 2:I know it's interesting how the Is that coming from inside there?
Speaker 3:I don't know, but yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting how there's so many stories of so many people that live here and they go back generations. I mean you're having people that have you know, their great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents moved here from you know, from the Azores.
Speaker 2:Or they moved here from Italy or they moved here from wherever, and they've got these stories that have been around for a long time and I just think that those stories number one. I feel like that's what we really want to capture. But on the newer side of that, like the more contemporary moment that we're in, I feel like the um, that is so weird.
Speaker 3:Is it like they're? They're devout? Maybe devout coffee is uh, we're at this location today.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's someone is. Oh, you know what. There's a phone in that, in that office.
Speaker 1:I bet if someone is, is that song. Someone is ringing. There you go, there you go. Someone is calling. Do you need Ricky?
Speaker 2:There you go, awesome Because he's podcast falling. I love it. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:There you go. That's our new bumper track.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if that goes one more time, I'm going to have to go in there Do you want to do it now.
Speaker 3:I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2:I don't know what it is. It was a.
Speaker 3:I feel like it could be a phone cord or like a landline.
Speaker 2:Landline. They have a landline in there.
Speaker 3:Landline. It's a landline.
Speaker 2:All right, so where were?
Speaker 3:we about this devil's workshop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, the devil's workshop. So I was just telling them that I feel like those stories are amazing. I think history is important because it's where we came from, but I mean, niles has not gone away yet, there's still the heart and the spirit and the character and everything that's here. But do you feel?
Speaker 1:like it's slowly encroaching, like there's still, like the heart and the spirit and the character and everything that's here.
Speaker 3:But do you feel like it's slowly encroaching, Like you? Know, that's why we have to branch out.
Speaker 2:you know, that's the biggest thing and not reinvent it, but, like create the new version of it. Refresh it, yeah revitalize.
Speaker 3:you know, I think that's the same thing Like evolving right, everything's got to evolve but we, we nurture the spirit and it's alive and well here and we need to bring more people who are willing to contribute to the arts and the excitement happening here.
Speaker 3:We don't need people who are going to come in and break into these local shops owned by small families, you know so I think that's the biggest thing is like again bringing the community together and branching out and just remembering like we're evolving. You know so, like the devil's workshop is turning into the white rabbit you know so and things like that. And then the gallery downtown is turning into an amazing place. You can go, talk to the owner and you could potentially you know have a jam night, or you know he's offered space.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, he's amazing great and then flying a with all the stuff, like there's things going on on that side of town. Right, what's happening on? This side of town we got to give the firefighters a, you know some entertainment, that's right. But uh yeah fremont's a great place, but niles niles is amazing.
Speaker 2:That's where I'm from. That's great, that's great. So tell me, tell me, um your story. Like what? Like I'm hearing your dream, like you are like announcing in essence this, this, uh, beginning of, like, the new era of Niles, and what you're bringing to it. Um, where did this come from? Like what, what is your story? How did you get here?
Speaker 3:the phone's gonna go. I need some ringtones. Yeah, no, it's my story. How did I get here?
Speaker 2:yeah, like like you grew up here and like how did you get to playing music? And like what was the, what was the inspiration behind it?
Speaker 3:I mean, wow, yeah wow, um, how did I get to playing music? Well, I would say I've always been surrounded by music because my family's always made space for it and I think that's the biggest thing, because it's it became my friend. Um, so at a young age, my family always had like a music room slash living room, where we had like our living room, and then we'd also have like a piano in there, and forever it's been like that and I would just dang on that and everything. Um, and then my dad there's actually a video of me as a baby on my instagram right now. He played guitar, so he would always play this, the 12 string guitar. Um, and that really influenced me and my mom and I, because our piano was like a kawasaki, you know, yamaha, some sort of like electric piano, I don't know off the top of my head right now, but, um, it had these floppy disks we would like put in.
Speaker 2:I remember those.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we uh the piano I had, that had that was a clavinova, yeah, yeah so we'd pop the floppy disk in and like have like five songs we're singing, and of all those five songs was, um, you know, caribbean king, caribbean queen, that she turned into caribbean king.
Speaker 3:So we'd be like like we would go off all night and that that slowly evolved to my sisters who were older than me, becoming teenagers, developing their own like genre, and that just got passed down Like Sublime 311. You know, we got Green Day, we've got Tom Petty from my mom, we've got Coldplay from my dad, we've got like Image and Heap and like all kinds of different things, and that was mostly like in san diego. And then, um, we moved up to the bay and then all of a sudden it started like e40, there we got mr fab, there we have like there we go. You know, I was like grew up in the bay, I was in the school, so that was like a whole thing because it was a culture shock and I loved it.
Speaker 3:I was like, tell me when to go, tell me when. You know, I was a kid right, so that's what I grew up with. And then my sister, she would play the guitar, right, so she had a six string and, like I said, music was kind of always around me and I really wanted to, you know, connect with her. She was a cool older sister and my oldest sister had already passed down her music knowledge and now it was just me and my middle sister, so we had pretty big age gaps. The oldest one was already out the house, so it was just me and my middle sister, erin, and we were jamming and we would write songs and we made songs about crazy things, things amazingly funny, hilarious things, and we would be up in the middle of the night just making songs you know.
Speaker 3:So that's really where my songwriting came from and then when I turned, like 13, this is like the defining moment, like this is all building up and then I watched Walk the Line with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 3:Changed everything for me Because I was over here listening to like all this old classic rock and everything. And then I was like what is this country like love story, like I was enthralled by it you know, that's cool.
Speaker 3:And then from there I asked my dad and my parents to get me. Actually, I think I got in trouble and they were like here's your guitar. And I was like, if I get a guitar, I want it to be all black because I want it to be like Johnny Cash, you know. So I entered into that era of Johnny Cash lifestyle and then I started songwriting like crazy. Like 13 years old, I wrote my first real like verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge chorus I already knew like structure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know yeah.
Speaker 3:Because I think it was just because I grew up singing so many songs, I was like subconsciously okay, this has to change here, this needs to be something else.
Speaker 3:And it developed into that. And then I would song write. My mom still has the first song that I wrote, which was called monsters, and she's like you got to redo it Me. I like do it again. I'm like okay, but she's like it doesn't sound the same. I'm like yeah, cause I'm not a sad like 13 year old anymore, mom, but uh, you gotta be able to.
Speaker 3:But after that I grew up right, so I moved out. I left home at like 16. And then I went into like a really difficult time in my life. I had a really abusive partner, unfortunately, and you know we were living like homeless and that was crazy because it was so disconnected from like what everybody saw from the outside in know, but it's, it's different when you're living it and nobody can understand. But I feel like the that experience took me to the place I am today. So I went back to san diego and I just decided like I'm gonna give up on music, like completely, like I don't. You know, I was in this like abusive relationship, had this guy like telling me you're worthless. You know, I was in this like abusive relationship, had this guy like telling me you're worthless, you can't do it. You suck like everything I would create.
Speaker 3:He'd put down and he was physically, emotionally and mentally abusive, keep in mind. So I'm a survivor of that, so yeah I'm sorry you went through that, that's it's tough, you know talk about, but I feel like it's it's been like six and a half years now that I'm finally on the other side, where I'm like whoo, you know, like I can say that you know, that's not something that, no, anybody should ever go through so well, I was just yeah on that.
Speaker 2:I you know I hate that like. I think those, I think relationships and the connection you have with people are some of those beautiful things in the world and it's the things that we rely on the most Right, and I think that when you go through something like that, it's like a betrayal. It's something where you have leaned on that, put some hope in it, trust in, trust in it, and then it just it pulls, pulls the rug off from underneath you. And um, I've not been in a. I mean the same thing.
Speaker 2:There it goes again, I've not been in the same thing, but uh, I do know, I do know that the um, when I've had, when I've had moments where I feel like the, where, in a relationship that I had, I suffered the betrayal of that relationship. I just I mean it's horrible it really is horrible.
Speaker 3:You go through the dark night of the soul, you know, and I think I really was deep in it and I didn't have any self-love you know, because I didn't understand and now, looking back hindsight, I'm like okay, this is why the data, data and I've worked with some amazing people shout out save in Fremont safe alternatives for violent environments. They helped save me that's great.
Speaker 3:Wow, I came back so amazing Fremont shout out to them yeah, so that was happening, right. And finally, like I called my family up and because there was an incident that happened, I'd gotten away, I'd like done this thing in, you know, san diego and everything, and I was like I give up on music completely. So I went and I did health care for a little while, um, and I was like fully involved in like, corporate health care, you know, staffing nurses and all these things for hospitals that needed them and whatnot, and I was working a lot like I was working and then I had this really good friend.
Speaker 3:Her name is amazing, I'm not gonna say it now because she wants to stay anonymous, but, um, shout out to her because she really saved my life, wow, woo. So, yeah, but she went through the same thing that I did, you know, and she told me, like from the outside perspective, what I couldn't see. And she's like when's the last time? Like, I want to talk about music, I want to talk about things that you like and everything. And for the first time ever, I was like reminded in a very long time, right?
Speaker 3:So, she really helped me out and, and you know, we went to the 50 cent tables. I got, you know, shirts and pants from there, cause I wasn't going back and I escaped that relationship. Um, but you know it, it came with a price and unfortunately it wasn't Catherine Price Um or maybe it was cause I had to find myself again.
Speaker 2:Right the new, the new, the new, catherine Price. That was the price, exactly.
Speaker 3:So, um, I had to let go of the old Catherine Price and, and you know, become who I am today, which you know. When music came back into my life, I actually quit the corporate job. They had screwed me over royally and I was like you know what Screw corporate companies, I don't ever want to work for them. And I was like full blown in music. I wouldn't work in a corporate office again because I was typing all day and, you know, in pain, so it's no place for a songwriter. Like even if you got a bartend and do other things in the meantime, like that's okay, you know, just make sure your brain power is not sucked out. Um, but yeah, I got the six stream back in my hand after, you know, leaving an abusive relationship. My friend helped me and my family helped me and then I kind of was like, like you know, building myself back up again, uh, working as a parent educator for severely handicapped students, k through 12 wow, that's cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was amazing I mean I love working with those kids and then in the nighttime I'd go to olive garden and I'd bartend so morning night and then I would like walk dogs in the meantime, also do like like dog sitting, house sitting. All that to fund like my next venture, which was music. So I started building my studio, slowly getting like new strings for my guitars built. Like you know. I have a table now where, instead of working on like a you know pop-up table, I actually have like a studio table where I can pull out my MIDI keyboard and and all of that and um, you know I also work, um at a music retailer, which is great because that helps me stay in you know the zone all day and then I learn about different equipment and I meet different people. That can I, I can help and you know we connect with and maybe even do shows with which is really fun.
Speaker 3:But that's pretty much what's led me up to this point today, where I'm in school for audio engineering. I'm in major studios recording. I'm getting better and better at my guitar every day. It's going to be a lifetime thing. I will always be a student of guitar.
Speaker 1:it's going to be a lifetime thing.
Speaker 3:I will always be a student of guitar, um, but yeah, just just making that like really coming home to myself and like music's been there for me since I was a baby, and what am I doing to give back to that? Yeah, so that's great.
Speaker 2:I love it. You know I want to. There's so many things that came into my mind as you were talking there, but I'm so glad you got to share that. I think one of the things I'm not a songwriter. I mean I've tried to write songs occasionally and I've come up with maybe small little phrases that sounded good, but that was about it.
Speaker 2:It's a start. It's a start, yeah, but I think the thing that really catches my attention when it comes to songwriters are the like, the various and and the many different experiences that they go through. That somehow the filter that is in their mind and in in who they are, um, just kind of filters out like gold in some sense, of those experiences and then somehow that is refined and formed into a song that's able to be shared. And I'm listening to all the experiences that you went through and honestly, the abuse is just horrible and I hate that. But there's so many things that even a negative experience, it's kind of like having that black velvet background. Putting a diamond on the black velvet background, it causes the beautiful things, the peaceful moments, the moments of just walking dogs. It causes it to shine and make it something more beautiful, because you remember the kind of misery that you were in when you went through what you were going through.
Speaker 2:You know, and I do think that what you're doing, I love it, because I think what you're doing is you're creating a place and a space for people to have the opportunity to have a future like that you know, I mean, you could look at it very simply and very two-dimensionally and just say it's a place to perform and to create music, but in another sense, you're creating a place to beautifully and multi-dimensionally tell stories and share stories, and I think that that's the kind of thing that really resonates with people, because I mean, even like what you were saying about the movie that you watched and Walk the Line and how that influenced you I don't know anything about the people that produced that movie. I don't know what they had in mind, what their intention, what their hopes and dreams were, but something that they created influenced you in a way that I mean it's changed your life.
Speaker 3:You should tell them that I've never even thought about that.
Speaker 2:You know, like yeah yeah, that's a big deal, but you're creating something, too, where somebody you know 20, 30 years from now is going to look back and say I was going through this and this and this and then I found katherine price and I found her studio and, um, she gave me she, she loved she, she helped me believe in myself, what I could do, what I could accomplish, she helped me dream about something you know bigger than myself and and they're going to look back at that as a life-changing moment.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's my blessing and curse is that I can see the potential of somebody, but there's like a like. Also a dark side to that is that you know I'm molding you based off of what my perception is right and so I think it's just important to allow people a space to be vulnerable and show themselves who they are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, because people will show themselves eventually, right? It's just a matter of if they feel safe enough to do so, because you have ego and you also have like business deals that you're dealing with and then you also have to like competition, like I am, so that is not my level.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like, I don't even think like that. I'm like I'm here on earth one time, um, one ticket don't get a return and it's a one-way flight, um, and I would like to make it a really nice, smooth ride. And it might be a little turbulent at some times, but you know, we're smooth sailing and I think the reason for that is because I don't really have expectations and I set goals and I compare myself to myself and as long as I continue walking forward, one step, one day at a time, I'll be okay, and that's the same message I want to send to everybody that's in my orbit. You know, we're all our own planets, our own stars, and we will come together in in my orbit, you know um we're all our own planets, our own stars, and and we will come together in a line.
Speaker 3:You know it's not about who's better than the other person right and if you truly are, that it will show you'll shine. Yeah, but I think that we all, we shine brighter together and that's my mentality, because I come from sports and I think that's like where that comes from. Sure, and being like the captain of my teams and just seeing like, all right, let's do this like I'm, I've always done that and I want to win you know, I really want to win. That's great, so I love it well, you know it's interesting too.
Speaker 2:I was just uh, we're, I mean I don't need to give an explanation why, but weirdly enough I don't know if you've seen it I was just watching the movie jobs. Have you seen that with about?
Speaker 2:it's about yeah, about steve jobs and I. I had watched it when it first came out and I was watching it again recently and there was a scene where, um, they're like apple's about to go public and um, ashton kutcher sitting at one end of the boardroom table and he's drinking a beer and and I can't remember who the other characters play play by Josh Gad, but he's, he comes in and they were co-founders of Apple and they have this conversation that basically Josh Gad, his character is. Basically he says you know, the reason I started this company or did what I did, is because you, because you're the coolest person. I know what I did.
Speaker 2:I felt like I was basically a geek or I was very like, you know, weird or, you know, disconnected from the rest of the world, but you, you know, you made, basically made me look cool. You gave me an opportunity to do what I love in a space that I could basically get paid for doing what I love to do, because what was happening was Steve Jobs was changing to just like, wanted to dominate and everything had to be his way.
Speaker 2:It had to be, like you know, and in the movie it displays his life being as one going from just appreciating beauty. In the movie it displays his life being as one going from just appreciating beauty in the outdoors and the sky and the fields and the mountains and the trees, to now there's this guy who's just honed in on conquering everything or being the best at this, and I feel like anyway, I was just hearing you talk about it and I was feeling that tension as well, kind of, between the two of them. Like there's a sense in which, like, for instance, I wish I knew the guy's real name, but the guy who's Josh Gad is playing, he wanted to win too, but he wanted to do it because it was fun, it was good, it was something that like resonated with, just something that he loved, um, whereas, uh, ashton Kutcher was willing to sacrifice friendship, sacrifice, um, uh, people's dignity, um, because he just wanted to accomplish what he, what he was, uh, what he was after.
Speaker 2:And so I feel like and this goes back to what you're talking about with the studio so I feel like and this goes back to what you're talking about with the studio I feel like when you give people a safe space where they can exercise their muscles of creativity and be able to pursue things that are welling up inside of them, allowing them to figure out what that is and to put it out into music. I think it's a great thing. But on the flip side, I feel like sometimes we just sit in that puddle and we're just like I don't know how to get beyond where I am right now and you kind of need a sense of like I want to win sort of spirit.
Speaker 2:Like it's like I want to be creative but I don't want to get stuck, I don't want to get bogged down, and there's just kind of like that tension in between the two that are. That's really important, yeah.
Speaker 3:You can get in your own way, especially if you're overthinking it all the time you know, and I think that it like I bet that Steve Jobs at the end of his life wasn't even thinking like like he gave back so much because he, I feel like he realized that that was the wrong way to go about it Right.
Speaker 3:And there's people like that in the music industry where they will just cut throat, they'll steal from you, they'll take, they'll take advantage of the knowledge that you don't have, like maybe talk about royalties and like tell you that there's oh yeah, you'll get 50 on publishing, but you don't know anything about the songwriting split or vice versa. You don't own the masters and you know there's so many hidden, yeah, doors like I want to just open all of those for artists that may not know. Um, and you know that's come from me having negative experiences where I'm like I don't want anybody right to go through this again.
Speaker 3:You know, or anybody that works around me or with me has an experience like this. Yeah, and it's funny because you know I always laugh at like artists that I work with that are like skeptical of me cuz I'm like, yeah, I love your.
Speaker 1:Your healthy level of distrust is beautiful right now because we're both kind of like on guard, you know but eventually it becomes a friendship and then a business relationship.
Speaker 3:But if not, then it's just be. It's just a business relationship and you know very early whether or not that's somebody you're going to be working with long term or not. Um, and I think it's just about you know, being transparent in the best possible way to empower people to do it on their own. Um, and I think that you know that's why I'm going about it a different way is because I was shown community within the music industry and I know how it feels to be like I can't trust anybody here, Like where's the right information? You go on YouTube, you go down the rabbit hole. Then you're buying $506,000 worth of courses that aren't going to help you.
Speaker 3:So it's like one-stop shop. That's what I want to have, where you know, you have like your understanding, you know artist development, there's recording, there's lessons, you can do it all. There's a pathway to it. And the best thing about today is there's no gatekeepers. Anybody telling you there is is lying to you. It's business, you know. So if you build a brand, you build it up and that you know there's steps to it. But depending on what your goals are, it's very real very realistic.
Speaker 3:And the people that treat you like cutthroat and all that stuff. They literally do that because they don't know.
Speaker 2:Right right.
Speaker 3:And there are people up there I'm not gonna say, like you know, there's, there's not bad deals and people like that in major labels and big industry corporations.
Speaker 3:I haven't met them and I never want to yeah, right so if you want to do a deal with me, it's because we're both gonna win and we're, you know, I don't mind like if your services and everything I laid out, the contract looks good, but you. I'm at a point now where I'm just like I've put so much time and energy and effort and, like you said the beginning, like you know, people don't see the behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:That goes into it.
Speaker 3:Um, and that's the thing. So, yeah, creating that one-stop shop and making sure it's done authentically, organically, you're connecting with people and the relationships you build are really big too, because you never know where you might meet somebody down the line. My mom taught me that too. Your reputation will follow you and always leave a place cleaner than you came.
Speaker 2:That's right. My mom told me that too. That's right.
Speaker 3:Love my mama.
Speaker 2:That's great. That's great. So I want to hear a couple more things. I need to go upstairs and make sure I settle up with them before they close. So is there any more details about your special space in Niles that we get to hear, or is this something that we have to wait for?
Speaker 3:Yes, um, this is going to be something that will be rolled out, hopefully, uh, before the summer series that I'm going to be performing at this year.
Speaker 2:Um, so there'll be more announcement in the coming summer series in Niles.
Speaker 3:Yes, july 12th, I will be opening up for uh, one of my dear friends.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And I hope to do more of that honestly. I said next year I was like I'm going to headline because I've done two years now of opening. It's about time. A Niles girl headlines.
Speaker 1:That's right For sure, so I got to get everything in order Good.
Speaker 3:And I'm confident that this year is going to just bring all of that.
Speaker 2:So more to come. Yeah, I'm going to ask you one other question before I go up there and take care of that. So my other question for you is what's the favorite song that you've written? Do you have a favorite song that you've written, and why?
Speaker 3:My favorite song that I've written I would say my favorite song that I've written recently is Shades of Jade, because it was like such an authentic experience. And then, boom, I wrote the song like the next day.
Speaker 2:And I found some really cool chords that I took to my producer. That was awesome. And he put a reverb plate on it. That is amazing.
Speaker 1:That would be my favorite too. I haven't heard your other stuff and it just like that is amazing. Yeah, that would be my favorite too.
Speaker 2:I haven't heard your other stuff, but I love that. The song Rebel, that's great Okay.
Speaker 3:Because I started writing that song and it ended up being like a family venture. Because it was Christmas, the fire was on. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:My whole family was in the living room, and I don't know, I started writing this song and I was like, okay, running like a rebel.
Speaker 2:I'm out here on the road, that's right. That's right. You want to hear something that no one's ever heard before. We got it right here. So yeah, that's great. Well, it's a bootleg copy.
Speaker 3:Fighting off the devil.
Speaker 2:Fighting off the devil, Like I started doing all these crazy ideas and everything and doing all these crazy ideas and everything, and then I finally just got my guitar out putting on paper my brother-in-law shouting things, my sister shouting things. We got a whole song. We got chaos going on and we came up with a whole tune.
Speaker 1:And after that I revised it.
Speaker 3:It's literally the number one most requested song anywhere I go, and it's not even recorded yet, so that's. The next stop is to record it.
Speaker 2:How long ago did you write that Um?
Speaker 3:probably about two years Wow there we go.
Speaker 2:That is a special thing, though, Cause you know I I shoot photography. I love doing video and photography where I can, and I have so many photos that I love that nobody's ever seen yes, you know, like I feel.
Speaker 2:I feel like I can't like Instagram is not gonna do it justice, like it's like and I understand that there's like a, there's like a diminishment that happens through like a uh, uh, like a platform like Instagram, because it's like, if you love something so much and you get, like you know, 53 likes, you're like you don't understand, like this is my baby like why did I sacrifice it to the world? You know?
Speaker 3:oh, but 53 people put in a room, that's right. You'd be surprised. That's right. That's exactly right, that's exactly so.
Speaker 2:There's kind of like a, there's kind of like a feel to like I I don't want to share it, like I want to, I want to enjoy it and without like taking away from, like the origin and the body of it you know, I wanted to be there now, with that being said. Now, with that being said, you can't get too like selfish about it.
Speaker 3:Well, it's hard to feel like because you feel unappreciated. You're like 53 likes dude, this would be like 3 million right, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2:Why did this not go viral, right?
Speaker 3:but just because, like those 53 people, I guarantee you I've done this before where I'm like I got like 10 likes and I like take the post down. They're like dude. What happened?
Speaker 2:to the post.
Speaker 3:Yeah so I would say like think bigger. You know what, what if you those pictures, you could even publish them yourself right and have like your own line of books where your photos are inspiring people, like that's the thing. We all have, this within us and it's not to put all your power in one platform that might be gone tomorrow. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:I was reminded recently of and I'm going to butcher it, I'm not even going to say correctly, so if you're listening to this, you can just look it up but CS Lewis, who, like you know, wrote Chronicles of Narnia and all that.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he said something about like something is not fully enjoyed unless it's shared, and so there's something about like you can experience a moment, a moment like I can experience something, but until I share it with someone, like it's my joy is not actually like fully complete. Yeah, you know and so there is something about that idea of like, yeah, you can, you get the 53 likes and you know whatever.
Speaker 2:But then it's like but I put it out there, but by putting it out there and creating a platform that you're proud of, to put it on like a book, like creating books or something like that. And people like really really can appreciate it to the extent that they can through that medium. It means so much more. Yeah, you never know who sees it, that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 3:Like Tyler, the creator was going on Instagram and like looking at these artists that didn't going on Instagram and like looking up these. You know, artists that didn't have any followers and like working with them you know the power the one degree of separation.
Speaker 3:also like and also the power of our social media, like we have an ability to contact people. Back in the day it was like Cher was visiting Clive Davis hospital, was it Cher? I think it might've been, and she was like you're signing me, you know, you get out of this hospital, I'm on your label, you know, and like you'd have to go and have that in-person thing. But now it's like I'll just shoot you an email and if it matches and we're on the same page, then cool. Like yeah you know.
Speaker 3:So that's what I go back to saying like just live authentically. I do not want to work with people like it's OK to not know who you are yet, but don't fake like, don't fake that vulnerability with like a puffed up ego. Yeah, like just be yourself and be like I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, and that's for me to take too, because sometimes I'll walk in a room like I know everything and I'm like no, I don't you know, slowly, like sinking down. But I think that's why I started studying audio engineering too is because I'd walk in the studios. I'm like, just like an artist, like I want this to sound like this, and they're like you're like you don't know yeah and now. I'm like all right, let's pan that to the left. Let's do that like eq. What plugins are we using? And then they're like okay.
Speaker 3:That's great, and I'll get behind the computer and start messing with my DAW, or even better. I'll send my own files from my house. And we're working remotely all around the world. That's awesome. The next stop is tour. That's my next thing is I want to take it global. That's what I'm going to do.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, I love it. Well, let me go take care of this. And while I'm doing that, maybe the last thing we could do is get you to play a song for us.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll tune it while you're doing that. I'll tune it, I'll tune it. I told my mama I think I could fly. She told me that I could touch the sky.
Speaker 1:I told my daddy I think that I should try. He said you gotta live before you die. Running like a rebel, I'm out here on the road Fighting off the devil With some Sally Rock and Roll, Took a stop in Tennessee, Picked up blue sweet shoes for me. Then I walked that line Feeling like a BB Queen In the new world. And I walked that line feeling like a BB queen and I had to run home.
Speaker 3:Pulled in for some gasoline and I met a man called Dash Pitt.
Speaker 1:He said your bumper's bent and your tire's flat. You should probably fix that shit. Hey you, I said what?
Speaker 1:else you gotta say Worry about your own three feet of space and keep your boots laced. Runnin' like a rebel. I'm out here on the road Fightin' off the devil With some solid rock and roll. Took a stop in Tennessee, picked up blueede shoes for me. Then I walked that line feeling like a BB queen. I told my mama I think I could fly. She told me that I could touch the sky. I told my daddy I think that I should try. He said you gotta live before you die. Running like a rebel. I'm out here on the road fighting off the devil With some solid rock and roll. Took a stop in Tennessee, picked up those sweet shoes for me and I walked that line Feeling like a baby queen. And oh, oh, oh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was awesome I love it, thank you. That is amazing. That would be my favorite too.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I haven't heard none of this stuff but I love that.
Speaker 3:That's great, that's a. You know that's a good one, and and walk the line too. I don't know if you heard that, but uh, that was a that was a tribute to that song or that movie. Okay, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing that with I don't know. I don't want to say I'm the first one to record it, but I yeah, you might be.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have it on the podcast.
Speaker 2:That's how you listen to it, you want to hear something that no one's ever heard before. We got it.
Speaker 3:We got it right that is the first official recording there that's great.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a bootleg it's a live copy there you go limited edition katherine, thank you so much for being on the podcast thanks for having me huge treat for me. I uh, I love it. I've been trying to track you down for a while and that's not been, you know, your fault or anybody's. It's just life's business.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:But it's a privilege having you on the podcast.
Speaker 3:So thank you for joining me. I'm honored to be here, you know, and absolutely thank you so much for, and I look forward to more Awesome. That sounds great. There we go.