Katie Henry, at Skylands Stadium in Augusta.
Before performing Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” outside Skylands Stadium in Augusta on Aug. 17 — in a solo set that was part of a fundraiser for the Frankford Township Fire Department, organized by The Crawfish Fest — Katie Henry mentioned that she had also played it at The Crawfish Fest in 2018.
That was a significant year for Henry, who grew up in Vernon and got valuable exposure and experience performing at events like The Crawfish Fest (the annual music-and-food festival that is now on hiatus but will return next summer to The Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta) and the now-defunct Black Potatoe Music Festival in Clinton. She self-released her first album, High Road, later in 2018, before moving to Ruf Records for On My Way (which reached the Top 10 of Billboard’s Blues Albums chart) in 2022, and Get Goin’, this year.
Now based in Philadelphia, she tours frequently, all over the United States and abroad. She currently has three upcoming New Jersey shows: Aug. 23, with her band, at the free Sparta Arts series at Dykstra Concert Park (with The Atlanta Cafe Band opening); Sept. 21 with Bernard Allison and others at the free Festival in the Borough in Washington (Warren County); and Sept. 29 at The Lizzie Rose Music Room in Tuckerton.
At Skylands Stadium, she accompanied herself on piano and guitar. She opened with “Someday,” which is about searching for love, but also includes a line that could serve as a statement of purpose for any young artist. “I got to believe in/If you do what you love, then the rest is like breathin’.” She also seemed to be giving herself advice in “Blessings” (“Don’t compare yourself to what you think is best/This is no contest/No one else to impress/Count your blessings, leave the rest”). And “Takes a Lot” was, basically, a meditation on life’s uphill battles. She sang:
It takes a lot to keep on moving
It takes a lot to move it slow
It takes a lot to come up empty
And then dive down below
It takes a lot to keep on climbing
To keep giving all you’ got
To hold on and not let go
You should know, it takes a lot.
The cover of Katie Henry’s most recent album, “Get Goin.’ “
Henry is often classified as a blues singer-songwriter. And, sure, she sometimes sings in an urgent, commanding blues growl — which sometimes seems a bit surprising, in light of her modest stage manner and casual between-song chatting — and there is undeniably a lot of blues flavor in much of her music. But her original songs showed a variety of influences, ranging from soul and gospel to Americana and classic-rock, and her covers were all over the map, from standards (“Nobody’s Fault but Mine,” “Hit the Road Jack,” “Rock Me Baby”) to classic-rock (The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues”) and songs penned by contemporary writers such as Scott Sharrard (“Love Like Kerosene”) and Grace Potter (“Somebody Fix Me”).
She sometimes mixed songs together in unexpected medleys, pairing “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” with Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35,” for instance, and John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” with The Grateful Dead’s “Sugaree.” She opened her second set with a trio of sun-related songs: Warren Haynes’ “Soulshine,” Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and the classic “You Are My Sunshine.”
It was a daytime concert, with most audience members sitting on picnic benches, or lawn chairs they had brought. The admission price was the purchase of one serving of Crawfish Fest chicken-and-sausage jambalaya. The show was hosted by Crawfish Fest founder Michael Arnone, who lives in Louisiana but came to New Jersey just for the occasion, and also to serve jambalaya at the nighttime minor league baseball game at the stadium between the Sussex County Miners and the New England Knockouts (from Brockton, Massachusetts).
The next Crawfish Fest will take place on May 30-31 and June 1 at Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta. The lineup will be announced Sept. 12, with tickets going on sale Oct. 1. Visit crawfishfest.com.
For more on Katie Henry, visit katiehenrymusic.com.
Here is the title track of her most recent album:
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