Catherine Denise, Katy G & The Girls

Catherine Denise is a young guitarist / vocalist / songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. She began singing at age 3 and by age 6 she was learning to play the piano.

She wrote her first song at age 8, and by the age of 13 began to take up songwriting seriously. During this period, she spent much time learning about the recording studio and made several recordings of her own music on the piano.

By her mid teens she discovered the blues through the music of Stevie Ray Vaughan and began learning the guitar. She spent many hours listening to many blues greats such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Freddie King, Magic Sam, trying to pick up as many guitar licks as possible.

After a few years of sitting in with many bands, Catherine formed her first band, which was a trio. She eventually expanded her band by adding a keyboard player.

Her musical influences range from classical music which she was exposed to as a child learning the piano, to the pop/rock sounds she heard on the radio as a teen, to the blues and jazz she later fell in love with as a young adult.

Catherine has played in many venues across the United States. She has opened for Rick Derringer, Doyle Bramhall Sr., W. C. Clark, and Omar and the Howlers. She has shared the stage with Smokin' Joe Kubek, Deborah Coleman, Texas Johnny Brown, Bugs Henderson, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, and B.B. Chung King.

In 2005, Catherine was chosen 2nd place in the nationwide Blues icon Competition. She was also mentioned as one of the up and coming young Texas blues artists and included on the accompanying CD of the book "You Can't Stop a Comet," written by Stevie Ray Vaughan's road manager Cutter Brandenburg.

She recorded with Double Trouble's Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon on her debut CD entitled Treat Me Like a Lady which is currently being played on stations across the country and around the world.

Currently, Catherine has a four piece band and plays in venues across the United States.


Katy Guillen and The Girls may have deep roots in the blues, thanks to leader Guillen’s considerable skills and long history as a blues guitarist, but this trio—Katy Guillen (guitar, vocals), Claire Adams (bass, vocals), and Stephanie Williams (drums)—brings a wide range of talents and tastes to the band’s sound. Guillen’s searing and lively licks, William’s heavy, driving drums, and Adams’s rock-solid bass create a dense sonic background for Guillen’s honest and powerful lyrics, delivered with soul and verve and complemented by Adams’s intense harmonies.

Guillen began participating in blues jams in the Kansas City area at age 14, and within a few years she was playing as a featured guest with local blues legends and seasoned veterans like John Paul’s Flying Circus, but she and The Girls don’t stop there. Their combined experiences playing in bands with genres ranging from baroque pop to Appalachian acoustic folk to classic rock ’n roll, as well as Guillen’s education in traditional Flamenco guitar, have added depth to their musical vocabulary and allowed them to shape a sound all their own. Influences span from timeless guitar god Jimi Hendrix to sweet songstress Patty Griffin, with nods to contemporaries such as Heartless Bastards. KG&G are as known for packing blues-and-BBQ roadhouses as well as they fill up a multi-bill alternative venue.

Proving that necessity is the mother of invention, Katy Guillen and The Girls formed in September of 2012 when seasoned guitarist Guillen found herself without her previous collaborator, Go-Go Ray (with whom she released LP “When I Get Away” in early 2012). She was offered an opportunity she simply couldn’t pass up—an opening slot for the Royal Southern Brotherhood at Kansas City’s legendary venue Knuckleheads, so Guillen recruited bassist Claire Adams and drummer Stephanie Williams to create a trio. Their chemistry onstage proved irresistible, and the band has been crafting their unique brand of bluesy roots-rock ever since.

After two years as a band, 2014 has been a big one for KG&G, who kicked the year off as finalists in the 2014 International Blues Challenge. Since then, they have played festivals in their native Kansas City (Boulevardia, Middle of the Map Fest), as well as fanning out to locales such as Des Moines, IA; Austin, TX; and Daytona, FL. As backing band for singer/songwriter Jenny Wood, KG&G opened for rock legend Joan Jett. Not content to stay domestic, they accepted an invitation to play the prestigious 35th Annual Montreal International Jazz Festival, will tour Sweden in November, and will participate in Joe Bonamassa’s Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea cruise in February 2015.

In the midst of a non-stop performance schedule, they released their first full-length album in September 2014. 90.9 The Bridge celebrated the release by featuring KG&G and their single “Don’t Get Bitter” in their Local 909 Series. Kansas City’s preeminent alternative weekly, The Pitch, awarded them with Best Emerging Artist at their 2014 Music Awards.

Katy Guillen and the Girls plan to continue writing, performing, and touring into 2015 and beyond. Their already sizable fanbase grows with every stop they make, allowing them to spread their infectious and original mix of classic American genres from the heartland of Kansas City to music lovers around the world.