After Spending time as a musician in both Nashville and New York, Kait Lawson returned to her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee to record her debut album, “Until We Drown.” The songs on the album, all written by Lawson, were backed by some of the city’s best musicians. With a core group consisting of George Sluppick on drums (Chris Robinson Band, JJ Grey and Mofro), Steve Selvidge on guitar (The Hold Steady, Big Ass Truck), Dave Cousar on guitar (Al Green, Amy Lavere), Al Gamble on keys (Mark Broussard, City Champs), and Sam Shoup on bass (Ringo Starr, John Legend), Lawson, indeed, had full access to the Bluff City’s historic and eclectic sound.

Kait’s uncompromising songwriting takes a wry, yet deeply personal look at broken homes and fractured relationships. She takes full responsibility when appropriate, but there is plenty of blame to go around. Lyrically, no one walks away unscathed, but the music both lifts and soothes, providing a thoroughly enjoyable and ironic landing place for the listener. The songs are haunted by Guthrie and Kerouac while remaining rooted in the Southern landscape. Muddy Waters of Mississippi, home in Tennessee, regretful cigarettes, midtown Memphis, squandered youth, temporal angels, perfume from the graveyard, goodbyes and the lies of Judas. It’s all here…the virginal and profane, the kiss-off and the yearning, the blues and the hope. Can a drowning both kill and redeem? In Kait Lawson’s world, it most assuredly can.