Katie Knipp

Credits: Written by Katie Knipp, produced by Katie Knipp and Pancho Tomaselli, Recorded by Dustin Ryan at WestRoc Studios, Mixed and Mastered by Bob Daspit, Mastered for Apple by Brian J. Poole, Drums by Neil Campisano, Bass by Pancho Tomaselli, Lead Guitar by Chris Martinez, Hammond B3 by Steve Utstein, Vocals, Piano and Wurlitzer by Katie Knipp, Tenor and Baritone Sax by Danny Sandoval, Trumpet and horn arrangements by Justin Au, Trombone and Tuba by Brandon Au. Cover photo by Kevin Gomez About Mud: the opening line is actually a tribute to Elliott Smith, where he used to write songs in a basement, sitting on a stool, and there was so much garbage in the basement that it was really stinky and nobody else wanted to go down there, so he knew nobody would bother him and he got a lot of writing done that way. I think about influential writers like that often, gone to soon, and what their processes were like.
Then the whole story unfolds about an alcoholic stalker woman that is looking outside her subject’s window, standing on a cinder block, and she can feel the block under her feet lowering into the mud. It sinks the way her heart sinks when she has 3 or more drinks. It implies she’s considering hurting him, but it’s really up to the listener to decide what happens at the end. One of the things I had a lot of fun with, was I wrote an Italian aria and decided to stick it in the back of a mix during a bridge- almost as if it’s the voice of the ghost stalker. It’s the first time I have ever put opera on an album. All of these years I’ve been a bit of closeted opera singer- my degree is in classical voice, so I always sang French, Italian and German opera and on the way to gigs I’m always doing those same warm-ups to keep my voice in shape, but this will be the first time people are truly publicly hearing that side of me. It was a lot of fun to work it in the song.