By Kirstin Meyerhoeffer and Rachel Kirby
For The Salisbury Post
Meet Katie Bragg. A typical student at Catawba College, she attends classes for her music business major, runs cross country, and spends time with friends.
She also happens to have recently self-released an album.
The self-tited CD, her compilation of original and cover “attitude driven pop rock with a message” was produced at Hit Music, in Spencer, and funded solely by Bragg.
This talented junior from Snowhill, Md., has literally grown up in the music industry.
“When I was a baby, they would put me in the guitar case because it had soft material in it,” she says. “I was always around music as a child and music is in the background in all of my home movies.”
At 9, Katie began learning to write, sing, and play guitar. With the help of her father, guitarist for Almost Country, she became an artist in the making.
“We had a special room and I would bring my toys or my homework to get as close to the music as I physically could be.”
Always a saver, she began setting aside money in high school with the hope of later investing it in her music career. By performing in local restaurants and becoming a resident advisor in college, Bragg was able to afford and produce her own CD.
Four of the songs on Bragg’s newly released album are self-written originals. Top singles include “In My Head” and “Unbreakable.”
Bragg says that her inspiration can come from anything. “I’ll really need to write a song and have a random urge to play music. Sometimes you just need to get things out.”
Bragg writes lyrics and music simultaneously. She feels that the music she writes and her “notebooks of scribbled down verses” portray who she is.
Solitude and a comfortable atmosphere are all it takes for her to write. Her room is her favorite place to compose.
“I’m sure that it is a product of my past experiences, but it’s also a part of growing up and growing into yourself,” she says.
As she has grown and matured her music has done the same.
“I’ve more defined who I want to be as a person and as a musician,” she says.
Her singing career is on the rise. Bragg is the lead singer for Catawba’s Vernaculars and she occasionally performs at local coffee shops. She has a Web site, www.myspace.com/katiebragg, where fans can keep up with her new singles, and she hopes to be on iTunes soon.
As for her future in the industry, Bragg enjoys the thought of a career as a singer. She knows, however, that she will not be performing her whole life.
“You don’t know the longevity of your career so I’m also interested in possibly working in the industry on the business side after I perform, if I am lucky enough to have a performing career,” she says.
As a music business major and an upcoming graduate, she is pursuing an internship to keep this a possibility.
Post interns Meyerhoeffer and Kirby are seniors at Salisbury High School.