Two Way Street Coffee House Presents Katie Oates

Two Way Street Coffee House is Chicagoland’s most beloved folk and acoustic music venue, presenting weekly concerts and community events for over 50 years!  The show starts at 8pm (CT) and the doors open at 7:30pm. (Suggested donation $10).  We will also host this concert virtually.  You may access the livestream on www.twowaystreet.org, on our Facebook page, or on our YouTube channel.

On Friday, May 17, 2024 Two Way Street Coffee House Friday Night Concert Series presents Katie Oates.

Katie Oates knows how to sing. She’s been singing for as long as she can remember. The daughter of a preacher, she belted hymns from her crib as a toddler to wake up her parents. Over the years she has trained with vocal coaches and sung a wide variety of music genres (classical, folk, music theatre, blues, jazz, country, spirituals/sacred) in many settings: church choirs, a choir formed for unhoused people, oratorios, theatres of all sizes, bars, festivals, conferences, house concerts and listening rooms. But finding her own voice—that’s another story.

After several years of learning guitar and studying the craft of songwriting in intensive camps, workshops and mentorships with industry professionals, Katie released her own, original music: a 5-song EP, Something True (2016), and a full cd, Play Me (2017). In 2019 she was asked by her friend and mentor, legendary folk singer Si Kahn, to choose, arrange, and record 14 songs of his—culminating in her 4th album (2021’s We Go On: Si Kahn’s Songs of Hope in Hard Times). Staying true to her varied musical past, her albums always contain a mix of genres. “I have a comfortable two octave vocal range and experience singing in diverse settings,” Katie says “so I make use of that in the songs I write and choose to perform. I can produce a pure, clear sound or rough up my voice for a more pop sound—I can even scat a little.”

For her 5th album in 2024 (Edge of a Hurricane) Katie recorded another cd of original songs with an even wider variety of song styles—but there were lots of bumps along the way. Katie confesses “It’s been 7 years since I’ve released an album of original songs. I wrote a few songs after I released Play Me, but then I just stopped writing. I kept asking myself: ‘Why does it matter?’ It felt like such a precarious time to be creating. Hate and outrage swarm all around us: on social media, at community meetings, during family meal times—even driving down the interstate. As an artist, it’s hard to know how to respond. Some days I feel angry and despairing; other days I look around and remember all the wonder and good in the world.”

If you can’t join us in person, you can still tune in virtually to catch the show!  Make your donation HERE to Katie.  Visit www.twowaystreet.org for more information.