Catherine Feeny

Genre: Folk / Pop / Rock

Location: Portland, Oregon, USA

Catherine Feeny grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, part of a tight-knit family for whom music was a uniting force. Absorbing Springsteen through her older brother, Simon and Garfunkel through her parents and The Smiths through her elder sister, she early on developed a keen ear for songwriting.
Feeny received classical training in voice at the Settlement School of Music and began learning to play the guitar as a young teen. Idolizing the likes of Sinead O'Connor and the Indigo Girls, she joined several bands and began writing her own songs.
Graduating from college with a degree in Liberal Arts and a vague dissatisfaction with the notion of an office job, Feeny moved to Los Angeles. An acting class at the Beverly Hills Playhouse rekindled her ambition to write and sing songs, and she started playing open mics, making connections with talented up-and-coming songwriters Joe Purdy, Brian Wright and Alexi Murdoch, among others. Feeny made regular appearances at the Hotel Café, a club known for nurturing artists such as Gary Jules and Greg Laswell.
Joe Purdy recorded her first album, a self-titled affair that garnered acclaim for its compelling songwriting and sparse, melancholic mood. The album won Feeny an audience in Belgium where it was championed by French language radio station Classic 21.
Feeny's second album, "Hurricane Glass" was produced by Sebastian Rogers, an English producer/artist she met at the Hotel Café. The song "Mr. Blue," an earlier version of which had been included on her first album, was picked up by KCRW in LA, and later featured in "Running with Scissors," "The O.C.," and "Miss Conception." It also ended up on the A-list at Britain's most popular radio station, Radio 2.
Released initially on an independent called Tallgrass, "Hurricane Glass" was upstreamed to EMI on the eve of the company's takeover by private equity firm Terra Firma, and Feeny was dropped before completing her second album for the label.
Feeny and Rogers, whose working relationship had blossomed into love, moved to Portland, Oregon in 2008 and were married soon after. They toured together extensively, both in support of Feeny's third album ("People in the Hole"), and as a band called Come Gather Round Us. The couple's 2008 12,000 mile Living Room Tour is the subject of the documentary "Remember Where You Are" which will premiere at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles in January 2013.
Inspired by her experience at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City, Feeny crafted a subtle, moving work titled, "America" that was released in 2012. The album's first single "United" – a pulsing, revolutionary anthem – caught the attention of writer/activist Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues), who commissioned Feeny to compose a song for her organization One Billion Rising.
Feeny has toured extensively as a headline act and in support of: Wilco, Suzanne Vega, John Prine, The Indigo Girls, Kelly Jones and Martha Wainwright. She is currently booking dates for Spring 2013.
"I was born, third of three, to the Feeny's of Mt. Airy, Pennsylvania. Both of my parents grew up in big Irish Catholic families in Philadelphia boroughs. .... "My mother was an English teacher; she inspired in me an unnatural affinity for melancholy and fiction. My father worked with his hands, painting, carpentering, fixing, and teaching me to ride my bike in the morning before school. They married a few years after my dad came back from Vietnam. .... "We had a big yard. I climbed trees and drew pictures and went to school. I hung around with kids in the neighborhood. At some point, I borrowed an Ibanez electric from my uncle Michael. .... "I took guitar lessons at the local music store. I learned songs by Led Zeppelin and The Cure. When I saw Sinead O'Connor's on TV, I returned the electric guitar to its rightful owner and started to play my dad's acoustic." .... "I don't know why I spend my time Writing songs I can't believe With words that tear and strain to rhyme" -P. Simon, "Kathy's Song," 1965 !!! Start Code To Apply Top Banner!!!! Custom top banner code by Eileen!!! End Code To Apply Top Banner !!!

Influences:
The Smiths, Ani Difranco, Pj Harvey, The Cure, Sinead O'conner, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Sonic Youth, Crosby Stills Nash And Young, Edie Brickell, Pat Benatar, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, Emmy Lou Harris and a million others I can't remember right now..

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