By Gill Holland • Photos By Georgia Mallett
One night at the Monarch, the non-profit music venue and arts community space on Bardstown Road in Louisville, KY, founder Mark Roberts pointed out a young woman sitting alone listening to a performer (although now I can’t remember who), and he said something like “You should meet Cait, since you are doing some stuff in Appalachia, and she’s from out there.” So, Mark waved her over, introduced us, and we had a nice short chat at the bar.
Cait Justice seemed like a confident, smart person - and sounded Appalachian, which I love. I went home that night, saying to myself, “Man, I hope she is a good singer and songwriter, because I would love to do a record with her.” Last year we released an album from Hazard, Kentucky’s great country singer Ben Fugate and the Burning Trash Band, and I felt like our record label sonaBLAST! needed a female folk/Americana Appalachian singer. Maybe Cait would be the one.
In a fit of insomnia, I scoured the web. While there was not much, there were some TikToks and a couple of video performances and interviews: notably she was featured on Community Music Alliance’s Terra Firma on WFMP-LP 106.5 FM (where host Michael Logsdon says her “beautiful voice and equally beautiful songs reflect the joys and the stories of life from where she is from” and calls her “a mountain bluebird singing in the middle of the hills.” She has also appeared on Louisville Forward Radio, and the Top Hill Recording Podcast show “One Shot, One Mic, One Song,” and at the River Roots Festival as part of House of Jane Songwriter Sessions.
I was impressed. Cait had that ephemeral quality that we call “star quality.” She had charm, a compelling presence, a good look and wow, what a voice. Having sat through thousands of auditions in my decades as a film producer, I have come to realize that star quality is an actual thing, and you know it immediately when you see it. At the end of the day (or sleepless night, as it was in this case), the voice and clever lyrics are what sold the deal, however.
My next move was to ensure she was a nice person that I could work with, because life is too short to work with jerks or divas. We had several meetings, at Fante’s and Heine Brothers, and then signed a recording contract. Remarkably, a mere three weeks later we were at LaLaLand and she recorded ten songs! This has got to be some all-time record for shortest time going from first meeting to a full-blown recording session! And then, in a bit of karmically good timing, Longshot Records brought a film crew to LaLaLand during the recording, and they filmed an episode starring Cait.
Project director Evan Mascagni recounts: “While I was at Heine Brothers, I ran into Gill, and we got to talking about my latest project—directing episodes for a documentary series spotlighting emerging musicians across Kentucky. He mentioned he was actually there to meet the newest artist he was signing with sonaBLAST! Records. I got to meet Cait Justice, and later, when Gill sent me Cait’s music, it was raw and captivating — I knew right away we had our next artist for the series. I sent it over to my producer, Travis, and the team at Paisley Mountain Productions, and they all felt the same energy. Within a week, we were rolling cameras, capturing Cait’s unique sound and spirit. I can’t wait for everyone to experience the magic that drew me in so instantly.”
I asked Cait about her musical background: “My dad played guitar, but not often – he did give me my first guitar though! The rest of my family didn’t play music at all. I was only surrounded by music in school with a choir and band - my church didn’t have a choir or anything, it was just the whole congregation singing hymnals with no instruments. My Papaw was a preacher, so I went with him and my grandma to church every Wednesday and Sunday. I did singing lessons for a short time in high school and college, but guitar/ukulele (the first instrument I learned) etc. is all self-taught! I just looked up chords and tried to learn songs I liked and watched a lot of YouTube videos. After my short stint of playing the flute 6th grade band (I was no virtuoso), I started choir in 7th grade, and I stayed with it all the way through college. One thing I love above Appalachia is that if you go anywhere out there and just… throw a rock, or something, you’re bound to hit someone who can play the guitar and sing better than the radio. Music is just a natural progression of the area’s oral folklore. It’s a beautiful thing.”
I asked her about why more of the songs seem downbeat and she laughingly replied,
“I guess if you get your heart broken, or you’ve been through a lot, at least get a song or two out of it… or an album if you can! Writing happy songs is not really my forte, I guess. Folks say write about what you know, and I know a lot about home, so I started with that. Songs like Mud Creek Morning are among those. I also use music as a way of dealing with hard times. There’s always a story I’m trying to tell in my songs, about one thing or another.”
Cait Justice was born and raised in Pikeville, in the hills of Eastern Kentucky, surrounded by the beauty of the mountains. Over the years, she’s honed her craft as a self-taught Folk and Americana singer-songwriter, using music as both a therapeutic outlet and as a way of doing what she loves most - storytelling. Cait’s lyrics describe both the harsh realities and the beauty of the human experience, and along with her landlocked siren voice, her music captures the spirit and heart of Appalachia – haunting and achingly beautiful.
Cait has performed at the Red Bicycle Hall in Madison, Indiana as a part of the 2024 RiverRoots Music Series, presented by House of Jane Songwriter Sessions and the Kindred Folk Society. She is a regular at the Monarch. Her first album, “Angel Teeth”, out in early 2025 on sonaBLAST! Records was recorded with producer Anne Gauthier at Louisville’s famed LaLaLand Studios. Featured musicians on the record include Johnny Berry on steel lap guitar, Chris Rodahaffer on guitar and mandolin, and banjo maestro Steve Cooley, and fiddler Blakeley Burger.
Interesting facts for Voice Tribune readers at cocktail parties when Cait is famous, and you can say you heard of her here first: Cait was born on 9/11. On her bucket list is to write a musical. Her first love is Shakespeare’s works. Her favorite color is pastel pink. Here she is singing and we are at Heine signing her record deal!
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