Katie Mathews Band returns to hometown roots

Country crooner Katie Mathews grew up in Wellsville, but she didn’t start out singing country music.

Mathews’ performing experience started at the age of 11, when she sang for the Utah Festival Opera. Soon after, she decided she wanted to make a switch in styles, telling her mom, “I love to sing, but I want to sing country.” 

Mathews credited artists like Patsy Cline, Lorretta Lynn and LeAnn Rimes with her early love for the sound. 

Further in Mathews’ career, the songwriting aspect became a bigger piece to what she would accomplish. Although, as she puts it, she has been writing music since “before I could drive.”

Mathews’ inspiration for her writing comes from life experiences. 

She admits to loving “a good man-hating song,” but she credits her four sons and her family for inspiration.

“When I look at what I wrote early in life, midlife and now — it just makes everything rich when you have love like that,” Mathews said.

When Mathews was seventeen, she decided it was time to further her music career and hit the road. She was thrust into the country music scene in Nashville, Tennessee. There, she started a ten-year long stint of the center of the music industry, writing a couple “man-hating songs,” playing gigs and improving her craft.

Mathews credits Nashville for adding to her “new perspectives” and furthering her writing inspiration.

She eventually made her way back to Utah, and she and her band haven’t looked back.

The lead guitarist for the band is Jay Davis, who said he has played with Mathews for over fifteen years.

When Mathews first started performing, Davis was hired on to play for her. He has over thirty years of guitar experience, including playing with the Wasatch Back Band. He said Mathews has “put together a really strong group of musicians.” 

The other bandmates include Anderson Safre on guitar, Chris Mortensen on bass and John Bateson on the drums. Mathews said she is lucky to work with such “amazing musicians.” 

Shows canceled due to coronavirus slowed down the band, but this past summer has been “getting back on our feet,” Mathews said. 

This summer, they played in Idaho, Wyoming and Utah, including opening for The Bellamy Brothers and Mark Mackay and playing at the National Guard Association. They will continue to play shows into the coming season in local venues and throughout the state.

A soon-to-be-opened venue on Main Street will have the opportunity to provide music and events to residents of Cache Valley. The venue is projected to be ready by the end of the year and will feature the Katie Mathews Band.

Mathews said she plays “because I love it.”

“It makes me happy, and I hope everyone does that,” Mathews said. “Find what truly makes them happy and do it.”