Katie Trotta

With words that exude strength, beauty and emotion, this girl has an extremely bright future ahead of her. She reminds me a little of Fiona Apple, with an acoustic Rachael Yamagata tone to her music. I was genuinely touched by the truthfulness in her voice during each song. It was hard to pick a favorite from this classical piano-based recording in which Trotta's voice doesn't hit sparkling high soprano notes, yet fully soars. In the wonderfully compelling "Ordinary", she sings, "rescue me / show me what I'm too blind to see / 'cause I can't live my life / forever, forever as ordinary" "Same Old Thing" is yet another masterpiece on this 15-track goldmine, and in it, Trotta sings, "Trapped and I'm running in circles/Stuck and I don't know where to go to get out/Everyday is always the same/Tired and dying for a change/And I need it now." The music is so uplifting, so moving, so alive...that your soul awakens with one listen. Let's put it this way, if this site had a 6-star rating system, Trotta would be there. She is truly a talent to be reckoned with and more than worthy of my highest rating!

Favorite Tracks: Ordinary, Same Old Thing

Rating: 5 stars
- DiscoveringArtists.com

She seems so alone and vulnerable up there, just her and a piano in front of a crowd. Yet Katie Trotta sings with the voice of experience in her stripped-down and intensely personal tunes. Though she’s just 18, the music in her live appearances and on her first album, Release, has the low and quiet air of someone in their 30s looking back on something that happened long ago in a world that no longer quite exists.

Katie Trotta sings one of her compositions at the piano of her teacher, Joan Gerzon.She composed her first musical piece at the age of 8 and began writing lyrics at 14. Her lyrics reflect her emotions and frustrations as she went through Hamilton Southeastern High School.

“I started to get really frustrated with my friends and everyone around me. I’ve always been very strong willed with regards to my faith, my morals and myself, so I guess I just didn’t get into the typical high school lifestyle. I was constantly getting disappointed with people,” Trotta said. “People say the CD is like opening up my diary for the last four years. That’s why the album is called Release. It’s a release of the last four years of my life, letting people see a different side of me.”

For most of those years, Trotta kept her true feelings hidden and retreated from people. She spent more and more weekends on her own, indulging in her music and writing.

“I write my best music at 2 a.m., because that’s when I feel the most honest,” Trotta said. “And I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t write a song just because somebody would like it. I wanted my songs to be honest, something I could be proud of.”

It’s an honesty that has often caught people by surprise, even those that know her best.

“One woman I know from church listened to it, and she told me she knows a couple of good doctors if I ever need their numbers! I had a friend call me after she first heard the CD. She’d been crying and told me, ‘I just didn’t know you felt that way,’” Trotta said. “I get e-mails from strangers who’ve checked out the album and they say they can relate to these songs so much. That’s what I latch onto; I like anything that I can connect to personally.”

In the weeks since Release hit the streets, she’s found her own peace with her past.

“I feel like a great weight has been lifted, because I didn’t realize how much I needed other people to hear my music and realize that other half of my life that I had kept hidden,” Trotta said. “I was scared to death when I first put it out there. The scariest part is not knowing where a lot of the CDs have gone. It’s like little pieces of me out there with complete strangers.”

Most of Trotta’s background is in classical music. Her teachers have exposed her to music ranging from African and Russian to jazz. Among popular musicians, she admires the deeply personal lyrics of Sarah MacLachlan and the individuality of Ani DiFranco. When writing songs, she begins with the music and works back to the lyrics.

“Most of the time what happens is I sit down at the piano and just start playing and improvising,” Trotta said. “A hook will come or something will show up and I’ll just go from there. Sometimes I’ll just close my eyes and lay my hands on the piano keys, and if something happens I’ll go from there. The lyrics come later. Sometimes it’s very fast; I wrote ‘Piece of the Sky’ in five minutes. Other songs take shape over weeks. All of it’s very personal, but I’ll sometimes take what happened and amplify it. So not all of the songs are exactly what happened to me.”

For the future, she’s looking to do more live shows, preparing to enter Butler University as a music composition major and continues to write music and lyrics that reflect her outlook post-Release.

“The songs now are more geared towards relationships between two people instead of me being frustrated with a lot of people,” Trotta said. “They’re also happier. Some of them, at least.”
- Paul F.P. Pogue from NUVO

Singer/songwriter Katie Trotta has become a fixture in a variety of local outlets, but coffeehouses in particular. (“I just don’t like smoky bars,” she said.) Wherever the case, when she performs she commands attention with her raw and uncompromising style.

Katie Trotta: “Everything’s something new.”Every Trotta show is something a little different; she’s a prolific writer who draws on her life experiences for each new piece. More than half the songs at her most recent show, at the far-Northside Starbuck’s, were new work composed after her debut album, Release.

Her newest life experience has been her first semester at college, which has sent her songwriting in a whole new direction.

“It’s not like anything I expected,” she said. “Everything’s something new.”

Her voice is husky and haunting, a journey into an inner world that is not always a pleasant place but is constantly a revelation. “Just so you guys know, this one’s a little dark, so don’t expect a happy ending,” she warned the audience before performing “Enough,” and that was a bit of an understatement; it’s definitely a depress-a-thon.

But it’s not all melancholy and darkness; songs like “Lazy Sunday” open up the occasional ray of light. And with the expansion of her life experience since college and her debut album, she and her lyrics find ever more repositories of hope.

Trotta’s appeal is a combination of her precocious maturity — 19 going on 35 — and great vulnerability as she reveals her deepest self in her songs, pounding away at the keyboard as she pours out her heart. A searing vulnerability combined with a quiet confidence.

Trotta has also picked up a knack for finding solid performing partners; she’s tag-teamed with the likes of Rochelle Bucher and Jessica Weiser. This time around, she introduced Indianapolis to the guitar and singing of Cory Hill. Hill’s sound straddles the fence between protest folk and the Grand Ole Opry. “I picked up a lot from the jam bands, like the Grateful Dead and Phish,” he said.

Though only 21, he sings with a voice beyond his years, much like Trotta herself. His is the gravelly, weary voice of the old-old-school country singers, Hank Williams Sr. and Johnny Cash, with a little bit of Dylan. He did about half original and half covers, and he did justice to the classics in his performance.
Starting in the spring, Trotta will be keeping an accelerated schedule of live performances.
- Paul F.P. Pogue of NUVO

With the exception of Randy Newman, it’s hard for me to like pretty much any solo pianist. I don’t care who you are ... it’s hard to keep my attention if it’s just you, your voice, and your piano. Somehow Katie Trotta does keep my attention. I’m not sure exactly how old Trotta is, but she is no more than 18 or 19. According to her bio, she has shown promise from an early age, performing an original piece at her first piano recital.

Release fits together like an album, rather than simply a collection of songs. The stark arrangement of vocal and piano adds to this feeling. Most of the songs are on the slower side of things, and there’s almost the impression that she’s sitting alone, playing for herself. “Bad Day” fits perfectly into this idea. The possibilities of a video for this song jump into your head as you listen to the song ... a large, dark room with her piano, trying to make herself feel better. The few upbeat tunes sound like the more serious side of Ben Folds Five. “Last Night” reminds me of the kind of song you find toward the end of Whatever and Ever, Amen. Trotta is more than just another girl with a piano.

The songs included on Release were all written while Trotta was in high school. This is a mixed blessing. While she definitely has more talent than most high schoolers who think they can write songs, there are still the problems of an inexperienced songwriter. The music is virtually faultless, but there are times when the lyrics rely on rhymes such as “wall” and “fall,” “door” and “floor.” However, this is a very minor criticism when looking at the fact that she is just out of high school and already has a beautiful voice, with a nice range, and is a skilled pianist. If she keeps at it, the lyrics will improve. I would expect her next album to be spectacular.
- Jacob Lee

Katie Trotta is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter from Indianapolis, IN. With her debut album Release, Trotta shares with the world 15 songs she wrote while still in high school. Recording for the piano/vocal album finished up just two months after Katie turned 18.

1. Blurr - The album starts with a slow, melodic piano piece. One thing that works in favor of this track is because the piano is so slow and melodic, you can really focus on the lyrics and Trotta's voice, which is very distinctive. Blurr is the shortest track on the album (2:46), but is a good opener for what is to come.

2. Last Night - This is a more upbeat piece, and musically reminded me of a Delta Goodrem-ish piano/vocal, just to throw a comparison out there. Lyrically speaking the content is something a lot of people can sympathize with, and can compare their own life situations to.

3. If I Fall - One of the most outstanding songs on the album. The piano/vocal arrangement for the song works beautifully, and the lyrical content is heartfelt and is again easily applicable to the listener's own life situations.

4. Anymore - Anymore is a mixed bag musically, there is some slower piano with a bit more of a mid-tempo playing mixed in. Another strong song lyrically, brought across well with solid vocals.

5. Piece of the Sky - This is a slower, more classical sounding piano piece. The lyrics and vocals are solid, but it is definitely the piano which carries this piece. It is so strong that it could be something that was played without vocals and would sound just as awesome as it does with vocals over it.

6. Dance - Another stand-out track on the CD. Musically the song is in a slower mid-tempo which has more of a classical sound with a newer pop twinge to it. Lyrically it fits into and speaks about the timeframe in which Katie wrote these songs, high school years. The lyrics tend to display feelings that a lot of people felt and/or realized during their formative high school years (I’ve lived my whole life / pretending / to fit into the crowd / but that wasn’t me).

7. Enough - One very noticable thing about this song is that Trotta shows her vocal range a bit singing in different tones/pitches throughout the song. The piano is slow, but again melodic and flows with the vocals well. A strong song lyrically as well.

8. Ordinary - Lyrics are the main thing that carry this track. It has a hook that will grab your ear, and the song expands from there. The piano is nothing special overall, but sounds rather pretty at some points. Vocally the song is good.

9. Bad Day - A very sobering song lyrically, and Katie's vocal tone and piano work blend well with the lyrics to evoke emotion from the listener. Again, this is a song many listeners can relate to lyrically.

10. Sarah Jane - This is a slower song in the story-telling lyric mode. It is a nice change. The piano while slow, does well to keep up with the vocals when they speed up, and does a nice job setting the tone with some crisp solos.

11. Lazy Sunday - Lazy Sunday is just kind of a light, fun track which distinguishes itself away from some of the more serious tracks on the CD. The piano is light and hearty with fun, relatable lyrics brought forth by upbeat vocals.

12. Masquerade - The lyrics for Masquerade definitely carry this song. Trotta again shows off her range a bit, which brings the song along well. The piano is alright, but doesn't stand out as much as it does on a few of the other tracks.

13. Same Old Thing - While not the best song on the album by any means, this song is very solid. The best part is the bridge where Trotta shows more vocal range and there is a fantastic 15 second solo piano bridge.

14. Good Girl - The third track which stands out above the rest on the album. Everything flows together masterfully. Again, Katie's lyrics come from the heart and are written in a way that many listeners can relate to them easily.

15. P.S. - Essentially, this song equates to a tribute song to a close friend lyrically. Very powerful lyrical content which almost every listener could relate to. Emotionally driven vocals compliment a soothing piano melody to end out the CD on a good note.

Overall Impression

For not even being out of high school when these songs were written, I was extremely impressed with the lyric writing ability of Katie Trotta. Most of her lyrics are meaningful, throught provoking, and are very easy for the listener to pick up and apply to their own life. That is a very important quality in her corner if she is ever given the chance to achive mainstream success.

Trotta's piano playing also impressed me. She used a mixed bag of arrangements, and especially on a 15 track album that is all piano/vocal, it is a must to change musical tones so the listener will not get bored.

The vocals are very solid, especially considering how young Trotta was when the CD was recorded. She has a very distinctive voice that is all her own, and the exciting part is as she gets older and continues to sing her vocal range and consistency will only get better.

Currently, Katie Trotta is in the process of putting together a band to record a new EP. - AlbumBuzz.com

Whoever said that youth is wasted on the young doesn't know Katie Trotta. Not yet old enough to drink legally in the places she plays, she recently graduated from high school, put in a semester at Butler University, recorded her gorgeous and intensely personal piano/vocal debut, Release, and put together a band for a fuller presentation. What were you doing at 20? That's what I thought. - Brian Baker