Careful of Your Keepers is the sixth full-length album by This Is the Kit, and Kate Stables is at the heart of the band. She’s a multi-instrumentalist, singer and sonwgwriter who loves the banjo most of all.
She grew up in Winchester, one of Old England’s oldest cities. She then moved on to the magical music city of Bristol, also the birthplace of groundbreaking acts like Portishead and Massive Attack. It’s been a couple of decades since she moved to the artists’ mecca of Paris, along with her husband (and fellow musician/bandleader) Jesse Vernon.
She and her musical collaborators have quietly built a body of work that’s seen This Is the Kit become one of the most revered and distinctive creative forces in folk music. Their much-acclaimed 2023 album builds on 20 years of creative evolution, and find them collaborating with a hero of Kate’s from back in her teenage years – Gruff Rhys, who came to fame as the frontperson for Welsh ’90s indie rock deities Super Furry Animals.
During the band’s 2024 tour through Alberta, Kate Stables stopped off at CKUA’s Calgary studios to share an illuminating conversation about her musical beginnings and creative evolution, drawing inspiration from a century-old banjo discovered in someone’s attic. She also talked about her surprisingly robust connections with Canada, working with one of her heroes, and… what’s in her handbag.
Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer
Recording provided by Duke Paetz and Brendan Cross.
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