Cait and the Girls

Poetic drive

By CHRISTY FANTZ Colorado Daily layout editor
Thursday, October 12, 2006 9:49 PM MDT

It's no wonder acoustic/pop/ folk singer Cait Shanahan has such a powerhouse voice. Her mother is a professionally trained opera singer and her aunts are trained classical vocalists.

She also has an incredible drive to keep going and going ... and going.

“You know you want it when you are getting really frustrated and tired but you still have that drive to do it,” Cait said.

That's when you know you rise above the rest. You keep going and going ... just like like Cait.


Hailing from Madison, Wisconsin and recently transplanted in the Boulder/Denver music scene, Cait can belt out poetically phenomenal tunes while her guitar melodies sing along.

Cait, 21, was raised attending a variety of non-denominational churches and has been in church choirs since 6 years of age. She does not call her music Christian, but she said that religion definitely plays a role.

“My first album has a worship song on it and religion is how I got most of my performing experience - leading worship in my high school.” she said.

Cait has been playing guitar since she was 14 and writing music since age 17. She grew up listening to a lot of old pop music like Michael Jackson and Madonna, but said she is influenced mainly by female acoustic artists such as Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Jewel, Lisa Loeb and Alanis Morrisette.

Cait said she is happy when people are touched by her music. The singer/songwriter scene is beautiful, she said, because it is a very intimate art and people can relate to it.

“When you listen to singer/songwriters, they are sitting down and telling you a story that's about them,” she said. “It's about something that's happened to them - incredibly intimate things - and people are easily affected by it.”

This art doesn't come easy. Songs don't always flow through her voice and guitar smoothly.

“Songs come to me. It usually happens when I'm in a moment and I'll get a line or a lyric in my head and when it won't go away, that's when I know that I need to sit down and work on it.”

Tackling a new project is a toss up. Cait said she is constantly trying to generate new songs but sometimes goes months without writing music.

“My writing usually comes to season - when seasons change I usually write a lot,” Cait said.

Sometimes, for example, she said, she'll write a few songs at the beginning of fall and then won't be able to write again until winter.

Writing a song, from conception to completion, first involves a solid lyric, she said.

“I have to have a lyric first, then I'll sit down with my guitar and mess around with chord progression until I get something I like,” she said. “Then I'll come up with a melody - hum a melody over it - and fill in the lyrics as I go.”

Cait moved to Louisville, Colo., from Madison in August 2005. She felt she was stuck in Wisconsin, with her music career at a standstill. Then she heard some good buzz about the Denver/Boulder music scene.

“I needed a change. I made the decision in July to move and I moved at the end of August. I was ready,” she said.

The local music scene has lived up to her expectations.

“Actually, I was kind of coming into it blind,” she said. “But the scene is really incredible. There is a lot of amazing players and people are really willing to help everyone out.”

Working solely by self-promotion, she relies on the Internet, word of mouth, poster art and meeting people.

“I go to open mics all the time. I think it's important that people hear you,” she said. “Any chance I get, basically, I let people know that I'm a musician and that it is a huge part of my life. Word of mouth is huge.”

Cait says that she feels like she has accomplished a lot in a year. So what's next?

“I'm kind of nomadic, but I'm at the point right now where I'm gonna stick it out for another year,” she said.

If things don't happen for her in Colorado, she might consider Austin, Texas, or Portland, Ore.

“I'm doing pretty good right now,” said Cait. “If I've gotten this far in a year, I think I can do a lot more in another year.”

Although only in her early twenties, Cait's music speaks of experience. Her near-flawless CD, “Fortress” shows hope that will drive her Cait's success right where she wants it.
Christy Fantz - Colorado Daily (Oct 13, 2006) - The Colorado Daily

Late at night, Peter Bayes and two friends sit huddled around a computer screen, searching for new music. "This girl's amazing. I can really see her going somewhere. ... Her voice will blow you away," Bayes said as he played a song from Cait, a Boulder-based artist. Her angelic voice softly flows into the air, drawing images of beautiful lovers dancing in the rain.
Cassie Hood - Met Online (Sep 29, 2005) - Met Online