Cat Terrones

Cat Terrones newest EP, Bright and Far Away, released February 2024, is a gathering of original songs embodying emotional honesty and poetic alchemy through the voice of an indie-folk singer-songwriter, weaving her love nature and depth of storytelling through each song.  

She pursues creativity in contemporary music, study of nature, and creative writing, and her own songwriting in various formats. Cat's music and vocal style is a subtle blend of American Folk, Blues, and Celtic influence. Identifying as an indie-folk artist honors these nourishing influences and the desire to carry storytelling traditions forward. 

Cat has been recognized in songwriting contests including the Rocky Mountian Folks Festival Singer-Songwriter Competition, LEAF New Song contest, and the iconic Kerville New Folk competition, sharing her original music with the folk community, performing at folk festivals and showcase venues. 

Songs from her upcoming collaboration album 'Sun & Dark' with collaborator Ben Shannon (guitars/vocals), and producer/engineer, Dave Hidek (percussion) can be heard here on Soundcloud .The songs rose from the nurturing community and material generated Cat's first few years attending Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, sharing in great upheaval and tragedy (100 year flood of 2013) meeting her collaborator (Shannon 2012) at that same festival. One particular song 'Give Back Rain' they co-wrote in August of 2013 a month before the flood, sitting in a coffee shop and talking about waters, sea level rise, climate and upheaval, and personal and collective sacrifice. A release date for the album 'Sun & Dark' is on the horizon.  

You can find Cat's current release, Bright and Far Away (2024, EP) on all major music streaming services as well as for download supporting the artist on Bandcamp. Forget Me Not (2014, EP) is also available on Bandcamp, along with older low-fi singles and releases. 

Influences: 

“It's a life-long weaving, my influences. My teachers when I was in kindergarten were telling my mom that I sang all the time, I guess.  And what a pretty voice I had…I think they meant I could carry a tune! But my mom already knew that. I think both my parents loved music in their own ways very much, and I came in singing and picking up tunes. I remember loving church at the little school I went to because we'd sing every morning. Not for any other reason. Just the knowing we'd be singing every day. I'm not sure other kids felt that way, I wish I'd had thought to ask. 

Singer-songwriters, and Celtic music influences me naturally, and very heavily. I remember being 12 or 13 and Sinead O' Connor's album, Nothing Compares to You, released. I sat under my CD player on the bookcase, and listened to that album and sang with it. Contantly. I'd fall asleep, singing to it. Very early on I remeber thinking ”I want to do that…what she's doing." I didn't even understand what “that” was - I think now I meant, being an artist, someone who writes, and sings. And what I later learned…that there's a whole profession thanks mostly to Joni Mitchell and some others: to be a singer-songwriter, singing your view of life and your emotions, in some sort of raw poetic way. 

I grew up as a young kid and into my early twenties, around a very active Welsh music community. Music, and particularly vocal music, harmony singing, is a very consistent part of life and connection to culture, a connection to 'home'... for these Welsh folks transplanted in  Los Angeles.  But before that I'd always loved music. I had no idea at the time, however, that I was getting an education in vocal harmony singing, in exquisite melodic shapes, how to pronounce words in Welsh (could come in handy if cast in a Lord of the Rings movie!) and in Celtic culture. From 8-18 years of age I was basically soaking it all in. I just really liked that 'church' consisted of  A LOT of singing. I loved tea and welsh cakes afterward. 

It took me getting into my 20's to realize what a unique, influential, and serendipitous experience that was for me. And then my mothers influence of American folk music, literature, and art. Without my mom I probably wouldn't be a musician because she insisted I learn an instrument, and that taught me a great deal. I was a very shy singer when I was young, I'd never agreed to sing a real solo until I was 17, in high school, encouraged by my friends in jazz band and drama to audition for singing parts. My whole school life, I felt I was always surrounded by lots of good artistic nourishment. After college I sang the blues for a few years, wrote my own tunes. It was fun, but I wanted to write more original music, so I followed my own path for many years, experimented.

I graduated from Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB, with an emphasis in Voice. Honestly, I thought I was going to do a double bass major, but I got into the vocal program and was so happy. It was what I dreamed of, even thought I didn't have formal, classical operatic vocal training. I studied voice on scholarship in the classical performance program. Classical music, although a wonderful influence, was not my first love. Once I had a diploma in hand I went back to using my formal music training to sing and write in popular styles.  
 
One thing that has stuck with me, comes through very strongly in my writing, that I attribute to Celtic folk music, is the natural assumption that land or nature is a character of influence in a story.  There is always the connection to nature and land. That tends to come through, in my songs. There is that quality of the land in my consciousness of 'home', in my sense of story, and certainly from my characters perspectives. I always feel like I can learn something from the land, from the spirit or metaphorical sense, or the practical lessons it may offer.  

I'm not always writing from my character as a girl born and raised in a beach town in Los Angeles. Sometimes I have to dig through the layers and come at it from a different angle, or just become someone else all together. But I always want to connect to the land, and nature and hear what it has to say about the song. I come from a long line of women artists; actresses, musicians, painters, writers (some professional, some not), and I feel that I get strength from just knowing that lineage is a part of me. I love writing, and songwriting. There's a shapeshifting quality that I love about telling stories from different perspectives. As a singer-songwriter I get to write all these mini-monologues, or mini-plays and perform them. It feel very intrinsic to who I am as a creative person."