Salty's Live Music: Indie Artist Cat Ridgeway On Songwriting, Live Performances & Collaboration

On this episode of Salty’s Live Music we had indie artist Cat Ridgeway and guest-host Gina Boykin (Live Music Junkiez) on for an in-depth conversation about independent music and Cat’s journey as an indie artist. Cat shares her path from a young musician to touring artist, discussing her energetic live shows, songwriting process, and the importance of collaboration.

Cat reflects on her experiences at music festivals, her family’s influence on her career, and the connections she has made in the industry. Cat emphasizes the significance of melody in music, the challenges of navigating audience expectations, and the necessity of adapting to the challenges of being an independent artist, particularly in the realm of social media. She offers valuable advice for aspiring musicians, encouraging them to stay true to their artistic vision while being open to learning and growth.

About Cat Ridgeway:

A skilled lyricist and melodist, Ridgeway is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who can play guitar, harmonica, trumpet, trombone, drums, piano, mandolin, and bass - sometimes playing three instruments at once!  

Ridgeway, along with the revolving members of her touring band, The Tourists, create a sweaty, energetic, exciting party with each live show. With Sprinter, Ridgeway’s 2025 album release, she draws the listener in as she strives to understand life’s trials and emerge with a better sense of perspective and self. Ridgeway, along with Mike Savino (Kishi Bashi, Tall Tall Trees), played multiple instruments on the album. Mastered by Joe LaPorta (David Bowie, Foo Fighters) and mixed by Dan Molad of Lucius and Coco (JD McPherson, Here We Go Magic), Sprinter features all-star players including Claude Coleman, Jr. (Ween) and Josiah Wolf (WHY?) on drums, and Adam Schatz (Sylvan Esso, Japanese Breakfast) on sax, among others.  

Her first single “Epilogue,” is a stomp and holler-esque punk rock explosion hinging off a recklessly played, overdriven banjo.  Named Orlando’s “Best Singer-Songwriter” three years running and “Best Rock Act” twice by Orlando Weekly, Ridgeway has played many notable stages and festivals (30A Songwriters Festival, Okeechobee Music and Arts Fest, and House of Blues Orlando), supporting and sharing bills with acts like Lucy Dacus, Sylvan Esso, Houndmouth, and Arcade Fire, among others. 

With her new album Sprinter, Ridgeway is poised to catapult herself onto the national stage.

Check out her music and show her some love at the links below!

Tour Dates: https://www.catridgeway.com/tour

Cat Ridgeway on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cat-ridgeway/1024238348

Cat Ridgeway on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1QiJcTuLMPB2rSF7cO2aVx

Cat Ridgeway on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catridgewaymusic/

Gina Boykin & Live Music Junkies: https://livemusicjunkiez.com/

Connect with us online and become a part of the SALTYmf family!

Website: https://saltymf.com/

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SALTYmfGOAT

Transcript

Brad Banyas (00:05)
We're in studio here in Alpharetta, Georgia. And today we're really excited to have Cat Ridgeway with us today. And also I've asked my lovely host Gina Boykin of Live Music Junkiez, the Atlanta Music Queen, to join us and hear Cat's story. And she's coming through the area in the next couple of weeks. We're really excited to see her live because she's a ball of energy and just amazing. Cat, welcome to the show.

Cat Ridgeway (00:34)
Hello, thank you for having me.

Brad Banyas (00:36)
You're so welcome. You're so welcome. I heard you had a lot of energy and when you came on, I was like, yes, yes, yes. So I'm gonna let, I'll let Gina start. Cause I know Gina's she's got, she's got that list of questions and all the goodies. So Gina take it away.

Gina Boykin (00:53)
my God. Okay, I actually want to start with an older song of my favorite and I

Cat Ridgeway (01:00)
Okay.

Gina Boykin (01:01)
Little bit heard the story behind it, but I figure it's a really good story somebody else here giving you up How it was a lyric and the all of that

Cat Ridgeway (01:06)
Giving you up, yes, okay. So, yeah.

Yeah. So, Giving You Up was a song that I kind of just started messing around with in a rehearsal one day and the band actually really liked it. And I was like, this is cool. I really should finish this. And when it got up to the bridge, the part, I wasn't a hundred percent sure where to take the bridge, but that was where my instincts were leading me. And around the time I was trying to finish writing that bridge.

we had actually just gotten the news that we won a contest to play Okeechobee Music Festival down here in Florida. And it was a huge deal. Like we were opening a stage for Arcade Fire and ⁓ Leon Bridges and like crazy, crazy acts. And so we were like, we have to play this song at this big ass festival. know, like it's gonna be awesome. Like what a way to debut it. And so the band's like, yeah, but like it's not done. And I'm like, don't worry guys.

Brad Banyas (02:03)
Hahaha

Cat Ridgeway (02:12)
I'm a songwriter or whatever, like I'll get this, I'll get it together. And I just kind of kept singing these placeholder lyrics in rehearsal because I knew what I wanted it to sound like, but I hadn't really gotten the lyric to a certain place. And I kept telling myself I was going to rewrite it before the festival. And the day the festival shows up, I have not rewritten these lyrics at all. And I get on stage and I'm thinking to myself like right before we hit this bridge, like,

dang, really hope whatever happens right now makes sense to the people listening. And I kind of just word vomited on stage. I had no idea of what it was gonna sound like, but it was just kind of like that the cadence of these words sound good even if they don't logically make sense, you know? And a friend of ours at the show got a video and I was like, you know, I kind of liked that.

Brad Banyas (02:49)
hahahaha ⁓

Gina Boykin (02:51)
you

Cat Ridgeway (03:07)
take of what we did, like, can I get that video? And so I went back and heard the words that I sang and kind of memorized that. And so it's hilarious because the song has a little bit of like a dramatic flair to it where people think it's this super deep, like heartbreak song or something. And like the joke I always make is I still don't know what the song is about, but I really hope it means something to you. Like, I don't know. Yeah.

Brad Banyas (03:34)
That's the best kind. That's

the best kind.

Cat Ridgeway (03:36)
And then

we think of, ⁓ you know, Earth, Wind and Fire with the body. Yeah. Like with the studio, their engineer was like, dude, what does this lyric mean? You got to come up with something better. And he's like, no, it vibes. And giving you up was the song where as a songwriter, I truly did learn that lesson because when we got in the studio, I tried to rewrite that lyric twice, like the whole song twice. And we even got in the booth and recorded different lyrics and it did not vibe the same way.

Brad Banyas (03:42)
yeah.

You

Cat Ridgeway (04:05)
And I had to get out of my own way and just seeing the words that didn't like make a logical story in my head. And I have to trust that whoever hears it is making sense of it from their own experiences.

Brad Banyas (04:17)
That's all. think the energy sometimes just like your energy, doesn't like, it's so funny because sometimes I'll think I know the lyrics to a song I've listened to my whole life and then I'll go, you know what the lyrics say on that? And I was like, no, they don't. They don't say that, you know? And then, and then you read the lyrics like, my God, that really does say that I've been singing it wrong the whole time. So it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. As long as the fans love it, doesn't matter.

Cat Ridgeway (04:37)
Yeah.

Yeah, and I mean, I was just having this conversation the other day, actually. I think, at least for me, melody drives everything. So you can say whatever you want, whether it's nonsense or not, as long as it sounds good. But if it doesn't sound good, that's when you're in trouble. If the lyrics and the melody are kind of like, you know, then you're a little bit of hot water. I think if you have a good vessel for those words to sit in,

Brad Banyas (04:56)
Right. Absolutely.

Yeah.

apps.

Cat Ridgeway (05:14)
you're pretty much there. Not even halfway, you're pretty much there.

Brad Banyas (05:18)
Absolutely.

That's why I like live because you get caught up in the energy and it's not perfect, right? And someone may change the lyrics or whatever it be. That's why the live shows to me are just, are so much better sometimes is because everyone's kind of caught in the moment. I, I, I, told me, my kid goes, Oh, do you know that song poker face? You know, by, and I go, yeah. And like, do you know the lyrics to that? And I was like, yeah, it's like a poker face. Right. And he's like, no, like here's the lyrics. And I was like, Oh shit.

Cat Ridgeway (05:33)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Brad Banyas (05:48)
Wow. It's been

out 17 years and I had no idea. That's what that said. You know what I mean? So, Hey, wow. Good, good on you. I was like, Oh shit. Wow. I love it. I love it. Well, I have, um, I have, I have just a question for you. mean, so you grew up in Orlando. Like I always want to know, how, why did you like

Cat Ridgeway (05:53)
Yeah, I mean I do think we had the radio edit convoluting that storyline, but like, yes. I know, I know. Yeah.

Gina Boykin (05:54)
you

Brad Banyas (06:15)
get into music, why do you love music? And you're such a good mix, right? Of indie and folk and punk. And so it's a cool mix of genres. Were you always a musical kid? Like you were playing the piano when you were like three and that kind of person or? Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (06:21)
Thank you.

Totally. ⁓

Yeah, like my mom always makes the joke that I came out singing, you know? So I think vocal stylings were kind of the first thing that came to me. But when I was, I think about eight, this is actually such a crazy story when you really think about it, because it's like a lot of the time folks ask like more, how'd you get started playing? And I'm talking about like coming up in the school band and stuff. But when you go a step,

Brad Banyas (06:38)
That's awesome.

Gina Boykin (06:39)
you

Brad Banyas (06:53)
Ha ha ha!

Cat Ridgeway (07:02)
before that, actually. My brother, Mitch, is three years older than me, and he hit a growth spurt like you wouldn't believe when he was like 11 or so. And he grew too fast for his bones to keep up. And he got this thing called Sievers disease, which caused him to get a stress fracture in his foot. You're like, Cat, why are you talking about this? Well, ⁓

He couldn't play sports for a whole year and all of his friends were in sports. And my dad was like, my God, you know, what do we do for Mitch? Like he's so bummed out. And he's like, I'm going to get this kid a guitar. So he gives my brother a guitar. starts taking lessons. I'm like eight at the time and I'm sitting on the floor, like stalking him during these, these,

Brad Banyas (07:42)
That's awesome.

Cat Ridgeway (07:53)
meetings and stuff and watching and trying to absorb as much as I can. And then I kind of get the fire and my dad sees it in me. So then I start taking drum lessons. And from there, it just kind of started spiraling and I jumped from one instrument to another. And by the time I got to the grade where you could join the band, even a year early, I was already kind of immersed in music and I was ready to jump in at first. And so that's kind of how it all got started. But yeah, it's because my brother's

Brad Banyas (08:15)
Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (08:22)
Dumb foot. Really?

Brad Banyas (08:23)
I know what that

is. So I've had friends that have had that. So it's terrible. It's very painful.

Cat Ridgeway (08:28)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. He was, he was having a hard time, but he's a phenomenal guitar player. And it's hilarious because I started off on drums and he started off on guitar and now he's the one that plays drums and I play guitar. And so we play duo shows together sometimes and we flip-flop back and forth on different.

Gina Boykin (08:35)
you you

Brad Banyas (08:42)
That's awesome.

Yeah, I

was going to ask you this. he play with you? Is he part of the tourists? Is he part of the band or?

Cat Ridgeway (08:53)
Yes, especially when we're down here in the Southeast, he's on shows all the time. it kind of, there was a shift actually just about a year ago because we started touring more extensively across the country where I've been gone for weeks and even like a couple of months at a time now. And that was kind of the breaking point where Mitch was like, I have a nine to five, like I can't do this. And so we ended up.

Brad Banyas (09:16)
Yeah, yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (09:19)
We kind of have almost like two groups of people that play in the band. There's like the home base crew and then there's the touring crew and ⁓ they do mix and match and ⁓ join in on different instruments even sometimes. Like our guitarist was just playing bass a couple of weeks ago and Mitch also plays bass and guitar. So it's just, it's like a collective down here when I'm home. And that makes it really fun because no show's ever the same, you know?

Brad Banyas (09:40)
Yeah.

Yeah,

you guys are real musicians, right? You're real musicians. So that's awesome. That's awesome. What do you think, Gina?

Cat Ridgeway (09:48)
Thank you.

Gina Boykin (09:53)
Yeah, I know you mentioned your mom who I actually met ⁓ Does she go with you to you know all of your tours and she is she the merch lady always?

Cat Ridgeway (09:57)
Yeah.

She is the merch lady very frequently, Both my parents actually, they love this stuff, man. Especially my dad, actually. Like, my dad came up in a really musical household and has always really, really loved going to shows. And so he's kind of obsessed with what we and Mitch are doing all the time. ⁓ My mom, yeah, he has such a great time doing it. ⁓

Brad Banyas (10:23)
That's awesome.

Cat Ridgeway (10:29)
and like coming to shows and being part of it and stuff. He's always joked about being our bus driver and stuff. And my mom though also is a huge music lover. She's like a little more low key than my dad. My dad loves to talk to everybody and wants to like tell everybody's stories and hear all the stories. And my mom's just like, I'm having a good time with my glass of wine. yeah. Yeah.

Brad Banyas (10:48)
Yeah, yeah, that's that. That sounds familiar, so that's that's awesome. So yeah,

Gina Boykin (10:53)
You

Brad Banyas (10:57)
we need to do us. We need to do a salty cat collab with our with our stuff. Maybe our goat full dead, our goat full dead brand. So. Yeah, that would be awesome.

Cat Ridgeway (11:03)
Let's go!

Yes. Well, do you know

the Grateful Dead history in our crew over here?

Brad Banyas (11:12)
No, I don't. I don't. But this, this is one of our love music more. So this is kind of weak. part of our kind of Goatful Dead collection. And the guy that that does this for us was a deadhead. So we travel around and sold, you know, gear at the Grateful Dead concerts. And we we've been friends for a long time. So we literally have this thing called the Goatful Dead. And so he does all of our, our crazy kind of stuff like that. But tell me about I'd like to hear it. So someone has a connection to the dead on your team.

Cat Ridgeway (11:30)
awesome.

Gina Boykin (11:38)
I want to introduce you to the

Cat Ridgeway (11:41)
Yeah,

yes. Actually, the very first person to join my team was Dennis McNally, who was the publicist for The Grateful Dead in their peak. And he is so awesome. We actually, it's so crazy. Okay, here are the bullet points, because this could be a soap opera, but I won't bore you with all the details. So I grew up around the corner from this recording studio, and they started hosting this open mic when I was in like fifth grade or so. And that was kind when I stumbled into songwriting.

Brad Banyas (11:49)
That's cool.

Bring it on!

Cat Ridgeway (12:10)
So I'd try to go every week and have a new song written. So after going for a long period of time, the studio owner, Greg Reich, was like, is this what you want to do? And I said, yes. And he said, OK, I'm going to help you build your resume and have you open all of these shows that we have as part of a series here. So next thing I know, I'm like in high school opening for Marty Ballin from Jefferson Airplane and ⁓ Bill Payne of Little Feet and all these crazy musicians.

Greg was like, I just want you to have like this list of names. So by the time you get to college or beyond, you're like, hey, I've done all these shows and I can play, you know? And I was like, dang. especially now I look back and I'm like, what a gift that was. ⁓ Yeah. And the ⁓ Little Feet Show though, with Bill Payne, Bill Payne was on tour with Dennis McNally and Dennis was touring his book about being on the road with the Grateful Dead.

Brad Banyas (12:53)
absolutely, absolutely.

Cat Ridgeway (13:08)
So I play the show, I'm like chilling somewhere. I don't even know. My dad ends up backstage with Dennis. They start, you know, shooting the breeze and fast forward to when I have the masters in hand for Nice to Meet You just like five years ago. This is 10 years or so after that show with Bill Payne. My dad goes, you know, I've been hanging onto this guy's card for a long time.

Brad Banyas (13:30)
Right.

Cat Ridgeway (13:38)
like, what? He's like, Yeah, do you remember Dennis? I'm like, Yeah, actually, I kind of do. And he's like, Well, he told me when the time was right to reach out to him, I think the time is right. And I was like, and you didn't tell me you had this card. What? And he's like, No, I just been hanging on to it just waiting for the right moment. But I think it's now. So we call Dennis not expecting him to remember us at all. He immediately knows who we are. And he's like,

Brad Banyas (13:50)
That's awesome.

Cat Ridgeway (14:03)
you know, I'm not really in the business anymore. I'm not really doing this kind of stuff. And then we send him the record and he's like, I'm going to help with this record. so literally everything in my career comes back to him. And he was the master connector for everything that got the ball rolling in my world. And I hadn't gotten to see him in person for almost 15 years until last month.

Brad Banyas (14:32)
That's crazy.

Cat Ridgeway (14:32)
⁓

it was unreal and we stayed at his house in San Francisco when we were on tour through the West coast for the first time. And it was just magic. I just love that guy. We got to his place and he's telling us all these crazy, grateful dead stories that he's like, no one's ever written about this one. Check this out. ⁓ my God. Tell me more. Like, ⁓ yeah, he's so cool. But yeah, the, grateful dead lore and.

Brad Banyas (14:45)
That's awesome.

Yeah. That's amazing.

Cat Ridgeway (15:01)
the history and just the vibe of it is incredible and just to have like even the tiniest little tangential connection from our band to that whole thing is crazy.

Brad Banyas (15:13)
That's an

awesome story. It's funny too how things come around and the universe works, you know? That's amazing. Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (15:20)
Honestly, that has been my entire career.

It's serendipity at its finest and just paying attention. Because I swear, it's like, you tell people stories and they're like, man, it's so crazy that this kind of stuff happens to you all the time. It's like, it happens to you too. You just have to be tuned in. Yeah, but I think I am more tuned in than most people just because of what I'm doing all the time and the people that I'm meeting all the time. And then you figure out, oh, these people know each other. It's crazy, yeah.

Brad Banyas (15:33)
Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true.

Gina Boykin (15:35)
Thank

Brad Banyas (15:45)
Yeah.

Well, that's an awesome story. You'll have to write a book one day. How old is he now?

Cat Ridgeway (15:53)
He is...

Brad Banyas (15:57)
Probably 70s, probably 70. I think that's killer. Your dad's like, yeah, now's the time. I've been holding on to, that's awesome.

Cat Ridgeway (15:57)
Hold on, we're gonna Google it. I'm just gonna Google it.

Gina Boykin (16:01)
⁓

Cat Ridgeway (16:08)
I know, like I'm

like, what the heck? This is like some Harry Potter kind of vibes or something over here. But ⁓ yeah, Dennis is 76.

Brad Banyas (16:11)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's amazing. That's amazing. Well, go ahead, Gina

Cat Ridgeway (16:17)
Yeah.

Gina Boykin (16:19)
opportunity did I mean that someone put you in front of all of those people to open for them as That's a great opportunity a lot of people wouldn't have really taken Olivia

Cat Ridgeway (16:26)
Yeah.

No kidding. mean, Greg was amazing. And Greg was actually the very first person I ever recorded with too, because this open mic series was being held in his studio. And so when I was like 13 or 14, I think was when I showed my parents like a full song that I had written.

I guess my dad and Greg ended up talking off to the side and Greg was like, you know, should she have the experience of recording this soon? And my dad was like, yeah, let's go. So I ended up recording with Greg at like 13, 14. And when you hear, I don't think it matters what age you are, but I think it did hit me particularly hard because I was that young. But when you hear a song that you wrote on your bed with an acoustic guitar,

Gina Boykin (17:06)
Wow.

Brad Banyas (17:06)
Right.

Cat Ridgeway (17:22)
become this fully realized thing with all these different people playing on it and bringing something to this to the table, this final sound and you hear it in studio monitors after working with people on it for a few weeks and stuff like, mean, that was, that was the moment I was like, ⁓ yeah, like I'm totally doing this forever. I don't care what I have to do, but this is it for me.

Brad Banyas (17:46)
That's awesome. That is so awesome. So like when you pull your lyrics and your songwriting, ⁓ is it more from just experiences

Gina Boykin (17:57)
So,

you

Brad Banyas (17:58)
or do you pull a lot from things that are happening around you? how do you get to, know, I gotta write this song. Like I have to put this on paper. And I know that probably varies, but is there some cadence that you kind of go back to? Is it personal? Is it?

Cat Ridgeway (18:07)
Mm.

Brad Banyas (18:15)
You don't have, I mean...

Cat Ridgeway (18:16)
That's a

great question. ⁓ I think, like starting to write from an early age, kind of all you know is your own experience. So I do think ⁓ there's been a through line of just me processing things that have happened in my life. The last record definitely was a lot of ⁓ kind of exploring grief and loss and anxiety and trying to kind of...

be an alchemist with that and make it happy or find hope out of that. ⁓ So yeah, think a lot of my more recent lyricism has been rooted in personal experience, but there's definitely been a bit of a shift, especially as I've kind of been writing beyond Sprinter already, where I've been thinking a lot about more like just big picture ideas, like the world and...

politics and how different things are affecting different people and literature. I've been starting to read much more than I had been in the past because I've had a lot of time in the van. ⁓ And that has also I'm a lot more intrigued by the idea of writing about like fictional situations or characters or kind of fictionalizing things that having the seeds of truth from my own experiences, but then like kind of letting them

Gina Boykin (19:36)
So,

Cat Ridgeway (19:40)
flourish into more ⁓ fictionalized versions of those ideas, you know? Yeah.

Brad Banyas (19:48)
Yeah. No,

that's great. Yeah. I mean, there's no right or wrong answer. I'm just always curious. you know, it's, it strikes me a lot. A lot of people were like, I'll just, you I don't know, something will come to me and the words will come to me. I'll sing it. And I really didn't have any really emotional tie to it. And then some people are like, Oh, I only write about emotional things that, you know, that means something to me. I'm just always curious how people find it. Cause you've got your songs are amazing.

Cat Ridgeway (20:12)
Thank you so much. I mean, a thing I noticed too a lot is I'll hear like phrases, whether it's someone else around me talking and it'll just kind of like stick out to me. And I'm like, ⁓ I got to write that one down. Or like, I have that happened in conversation quite a bit, or just be like walking around and see like graffiti that says something, really poetic. And you're like, huh? Yeah. Even like a YouTube comment or something like I've had, I've had that happen before, you know,

Brad Banyas (20:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

You could get a lot of from that. could get lot in DMs and stuff like that. Take a picture of all... Absolutely. mean, all the anger baiting and stuff now that goes on, you never know what's real or not. But I've seen just some insane things and I'm always thinking that would be like a funny...

Cat Ridgeway (20:48)
No, man, more than I care to have.

Yeah.

Brad Banyas (21:02)
comedy

type song off the craziness going on.

Cat Ridgeway (21:07)
Do you have like a comment that's stuck in your head? What's the song you would write based off of something you've read?

Brad Banyas (21:15)
I don't want to say. It's probably not appropriate. would just be off the wall. I don't want to say it. I'll tell you offline. Not that we're PG-13. in McBastard Studio, but I don't know.

Gina Boykin (21:19)
Yeah. Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (21:19)
Yeah, that's fair.

Yeah. That's fair, that's fair.

Ha ha!

What

about you, Gina? Have you seen anything crazy that you're like, that would be a great song?

Gina Boykin (21:42)
Like not right this second I see things all the time

Cat Ridgeway (21:48)
Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Banyas (21:50)
It's unfortunate because

that's what it's at that level where it's to the point where you're like, should I sing this song or not? Like we, had Will Mosley on, don't know if you know Will Mosley, but he's a country singer. Um, and he was in LA and you know, he's a Georgia guy. He's from Hazlehurst, Georgia. And you know, he wrote a song about, you know, how LA sucked. And he, and he was asking, like, he was asking his fans, should I, like, he just sung it, you know,

Cat Ridgeway (22:12)
Hahaha

Brad Banyas (22:19)
just sitting there kind of raw sung it. And he's like, Hey, do you guys think like, what do you think? And I like immediately was like, dude, that song's awesome. Like that'll be a hit. You should do it. And he's like, ah, I don't think I'm to do it. might, I might make half the country mad at me. So he decided not to do it, but, but it was, it was a good, funny, humorous kind of, you know, slapstick. wasn't, it wasn't like mean. was just a funny, like 80 % of the people probably would have agreed with whatever he's saying about.

Cat Ridgeway (22:37)
Yeah.

Yeah.

yeah, for sure. Like I have a friend who has a similar song called Nashville, but it's Nash with a G, like the Nash in the teeth. And it's like, there's a whole part in there where he's like, and all the girls at the bachelorette party go, woo! And it's just awesome. Like being a musician in and how weirdly disconnected it feels now. And I was like, that song is hilarious. And he's like, yes, sometimes I worry about how people...

Brad Banyas (23:06)
Absolutely. Oh yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (23:19)
perceive it. But it's a weird place to be as an artist, honestly, to like worry about how people are going to perceive you. And like the whole point of being an artist is to say what you think and then people get mad when you say what you think. It's like, what are we doing, y'all?

Brad Banyas (23:31)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Why did you sing that? That's not your typical genre. Why did you? Well, it's because I felt like doing it, right? I mean, yeah, it's you kind of that's why I never like I liked how, you know, indie rock, you know, folk that you that you kind of go across that punk. It's hard because when we interview musicians, I know probably Gina feels the same thing like you naturally want to say you naturally want to put them in a genre. And I think that

Cat Ridgeway (23:40)
Yeah!

Yeah.

Brad Banyas (24:01)
can hurt a musician or a band that really has a breadth of, they may have been influenced by rock. They may have been influenced by whatever it was. And some of them are like, you're Southern rock. And it can kill their career because then they get placed in Southern rock and maybe they're not really truly Southern rock. that's.

Cat Ridgeway (24:23)
Yeah, yeah,

I've definitely had that happen before where I was like, is that how you describe what we're, hm, okay. you know, but ⁓ it's also an interesting and enlightening thing though to get perspective on what other people are hearing in your music. ⁓ I actually was just talking to my buddy, Josh Joplin, ⁓ a couple of days ago that I'm about to go on tour with later this year. And he was like, you know, the way I see myself is not how

Brad Banyas (24:32)
Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (24:53)
other people hear me. And I was like, how? And he was like, well, I mean, I've always been like, super influenced by, you know, like, indie alt folk kind of stuff, like silver juice, and that kind of like 80s kind of thing. And he was like, and that is not how people perceive me. And he's like, and that's okay. And I was like, man, that's, it's so interesting the way

Brad Banyas (25:06)
Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (25:17)
You can hear yourself and know where your influence is. Like you can pinpoint an influence. you can be like, that bass line reminds me of this song, this album by this artist. And then somebody else is like, oh no, I actually hear it way over here. That's, and that's cool as an artist to hear. Um, I've had people say they hear artists in my work that I haven't ever listened to before. And I'm like, that's neat. You know?

Brad Banyas (25:20)
Right. Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that

is amazing. It's in eighties now, like, I mean, I grew up in the eighties, so I'm old, but, you know, that kind of music to me, I'd love to see some of that come back. There was a there's kind of like a punk band out of LA and trying to remember their name or trying to get them here. But I heard them and I was like, Oh, my God, that just takes me back, right? Like Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys. And I don't even know if you guys know who they are. But but I was kind of like, Oh, wow, that's that's odd, because that's

Cat Ridgeway (26:05)
Yeah

Brad Banyas (26:12)
That's 30 something years ago, right?

Cat Ridgeway (26:15)
Yeah.

Gina Boykin (26:16)
Mm-hmm. .

Brad Banyas (26:17)
I don't know, maybe the sex pistols are still influencing people. I don't know.

Cat Ridgeway (26:17)
That's awesome.

Oh, for sure.

I I actually, I was just jumping into a lot of like Fred Armisen stuff on this last drive. Just last night, literally we got home at like one, two in the morning and Nat and I were driving and just listening to all of these bits that Fred Armisen was putting together. And he's like a musicologist. wasn't, I'm sorry, Fred Armisen. I was unfamiliar with your game, but yeah, he knows so much and

Brad Banyas (26:27)
⁓ yeah.

Yeah, sorry buddy.

Cat Ridgeway (26:50)
Yeah, he was going on this whole history of punk thing and he was spot on, like down to just strumming patterns in the songs. ⁓ I don't know, like that stuff, definitely, I'm hearing a lot of it, especially with punk acts that are kind of really hitting it right now, like Amel and the Sniffers and, ⁓ you know, there was a huge punk fest that just happened up in New York this, like two weeks ago to CBTV Fest with like Iggy Pop there and stuff like, yeah.

Gina Boykin (27:03)
.

Brad Banyas (27:17)
That's awesome.

Cat Ridgeway (27:19)
It is alive and well. Like, punk is alive and well.

Brad Banyas (27:21)
Yeah.

And it's interesting even regions like, cause I find like, we've had rider, which is a rock and roll band out of New York on they're really good guys, but they're, they're like what I would say, you know, they're like, they're old school rock. And it's cool. Like they're like, no, in New York where we're at, like, this is like, this is still a thing. Like rock's still big here, wherever you get to the South or different areas, it's, know, maybe it's more country, maybe it's more pop, whatever it may be. I think regionally that's maybe why you see some of that stuff.

Cat Ridgeway (27:35)
Yeah.

Yeah, the regional thing has really surprised me actually, because in the last year, we've gotten to tour pretty much the entire country. And I was kind like, you know, the states are going to feel like the states. I mean, I know like different areas of the country have different vibes, you know, like there is definitely a different vibe between like the Southeast and Pacific Northwest or something, right? So I was fully expecting that. But like, when you start running ads,

Gina Boykin (28:02)
So, thank

Cat Ridgeway (28:20)
and you start seeing where your music is actually performing better than others, there is a significant difference of different cities and what they prefer as a whole. And we definitely have had standout markets for ourselves in the last year. And I'm like, this is so much more than I bargained for. And it's really, really interesting.

Brad Banyas (28:43)
That's awesome. What surprised you? Where did you think, I'm going to go in and maybe they're excited, they want to hear us, but where were you really shocked? Like, wow.

Cat Ridgeway (28:54)
⁓ Chicago,

Chicago has been our number one city for like the entire year, like over my hometown in Orlando. And I'm like, what? Like, yeah. And I'm just like, I mean, thank God that's the place I'm going to. Like I've probably played Chicago the most this year too. Like it just happened with our routing, but that was already a trend we were seeing before the shows were booked. So it's just really interesting. ⁓

Brad Banyas (29:03)
Yeah, yeah, come on, throw me some love.

Cat Ridgeway (29:23)
We've done really well there and we've also done really well ⁓ in Seattle. Seattle was really great to us and DC. It's like so random. Like there's like these little hotspots, you know, and it's not even like, the Pacific Northwest loves us. It's no, this city, this city, this city. It's so random. ⁓

Brad Banyas (29:41)
Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (29:48)
But it's really cool to get that insight. But then it's also really interesting to go to these places and then you start to see like what the musical landscape looks like. And you kind of are like, OK, well, where do we fit into this? And sometimes it makes sense. And sometimes you're like, that's surprising. But yeah, it's it's been a ⁓ really cool thing like Seattle. was like, hell yeah, I love that Seattle's rocking with us because the history of the grunge and.

Gina Boykin (29:48)
it. .

Brad Banyas (30:03)
Right.

yeah,

absolutely.

Cat Ridgeway (30:15)
or

did it look up there? like, I feel like this is like a pilgrimage for me to play here. So it was really cool to see that response.

Brad Banyas (30:23)
That's awesome. Well, I mean, you're so energetic and just anyways, mean, even if you weren't, if I knew you're a musician, I would like want to hang out with you anyways. So, know, right? So Gina, you have a question?

Cat Ridgeway (30:32)
Thank you.

Gina Boykin (30:37)
I I can vouch that you're cool to hang out with.

Brad Banyas (30:40)
⁓ huh.

Cat Ridgeway (30:41)
Sorry, what was that?

Gina Boykin (30:45)
even off.

Cat Ridgeway (30:47)
Stop.

Brad Banyas (30:50)
If your fans love you, that's all that matters, right? Sometimes someone may not be good musician, but people love them and the way they deal with people and whatever, because I've heard some people, like, they're not really a good musician, but they're a good person and everyone, they're partying with them. do you ever, I'm curious, do fans ever reach out to you and say, hey, Cat, I think if you sang this or if...

if you guys did this or you put this in your repertoire, it would be amazing. Does anyone ever reach out to you and like tell you different, like their opinion of what they think? And if yes or no, if it's yes, did you ever implement it and did it work?

Cat Ridgeway (31:35)
Yes, we have definitely had that happen. I've had, especially when I'm doing like cover gigs and stuff, people will hear how I sing and be like, you need to cover this. And that's actually kind of how I started. Actually. ⁓ When I started playing down here in Florida, I, the very first spot that reached out to me, they're called the chef's table. They're down here in winter garden, Florida, beautiful space. And

I was in high school at the time and they were like, yeah, like usually we have our music from like six to nine. And I was like, three hours? Like you need three hours of material? That's insane to me. And so I'm in high school, I get home from class and I'm learning like five songs a day for like a month. And I started playing at this place. And once I started getting in front of, you know, people who were old enough to go out.

Brad Banyas (32:10)
Hahaha!

Cat Ridgeway (32:32)
on a weekday to have a nice dinner. People were like, you should sing Janis Joplin. You should sing Katie Tunstall. You should sing Grace Slick. You should sing ⁓ Bonnie Raitt. You should sing, you know, all these awesome powerhouse vocalists and stuff. But it was like music that I didn't necessarily have in my Rolodex. And so I was like, okay. Once I had, I kind of had a rule for myself.

that if a song or an artist got requested more than three times that I should learn it. And so that happened and that's now why I know all of the Janis Joplin that I know and that I know like all the heart that I know, ⁓ you know, all that kind of stuff. And so, yeah, and it totally changed how I performed and it informed a lot of my songwriting too. Cause in that time period, I was just getting started with figuring out how songs

fit together how different arrangements worked. when you learn so many different people's songs and you see so many different people's approaches to the craft of songwriting, you can't help but kind of have that leech yourself. And so, yeah, it's been that that was a huge part of how I got started. Do I do that as much now? Debatable, ⁓ you know, but

Brad Banyas (33:44)
Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (33:59)
I definitely have had people give me their opinions on things and ⁓ it's kind of funny because part of being an artist, think, is learning to kind of disassociate from what people are telling you they want from you. And ⁓ yeah, and I mean, okay, that sounded like the way that came out was different than what I meant it to sound like because people wanting something from you in a performance space, give them that.

Brad Banyas (34:10)
Yeah.

Yeah, you have to,

Cat Ridgeway (34:27)
That is the craft of performance. People wanting something from you as a songwriter and as a creator do not cater to that. That is antithesis of being an artist and sticking to your guns. you know, the audience is just as much part of the performance as the artist is. So in terms of that exchange, yeah, you have to be aware of how people are responding and engaging with what you're giving.

Brad Banyas (34:39)
Right, absolutely.

Cat Ridgeway (34:56)
So that was a double edged sort of a comment there.

Brad Banyas (34:58)
No, I I agree, screw them. You are who you are. But I was

curious as like, if someone had ever given feedback, you haven't thought of something and then it kind of took you to a direction like, know, I never really thought about singing about that or doing it that way. mean, not that they directed where you're going. So I thought it was a great answer. just, I was just curious. I'm just curious.

Cat Ridgeway (35:14)
Mm-hmm.

Thanks. Yeah. ⁓

Gina Boykin (35:24)
Is there one song that you that you consistently get the best feedback one of your own personal? it Mm-hmm

Cat Ridgeway (35:32)
Ooh, one of my own, probably

Epilogue. We end shows with this crazy punk banjo thing and this song has grown so many freaking arms and legs since we released it because it's actually been a really cool experience though because when I was writing it, I didn't think it was gonna make the record and we were still very much in the process of editing and writing the song while we were recording. So it was like we were.

Brad Banyas (35:43)
Heh.

Cat Ridgeway (35:59)
recording stuff, but then chopping it up and being like, well, what if we made the verse half as long and blah, blah, blah, know? And so by the time it ended up on the record, we were like, yeah, like that worked. And then when it got to playing it live, then it was like, okay, well, here's the framework of the song. But now that it's on the live setting, like, what if we like had this drum solo thing and what if we, and I actually wanted more of this on the recorded version, but

Gina Boykin (36:18)
Mm.

Cat Ridgeway (36:25)
just by way of working remotely and stuff, ended up being shorter, but I always knew going into this song that there would be a tandem drum and banjo drum solo, because the banjo literally is a drum with strings. So hitting the banjo, super fun. And so we knew that was going to happen. And then that snowballed into, OK, well, what if we start playing the banjo with a bow? OK, well, what if we smack it with a bow? OK, well, what if we...

Brad Banyas (36:38)
Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (36:52)
Actually, like in the most recent iteration with our trio, we had a 30 minute set and we were trying to fit as much cool stuff into it as we could. And it seems like a sin to have multi-instrumentalists all on stage only play one instrument. So was like, okay, what if in the middle of this song we have like a loop play and then... ⁓

Nat, our drummer, you jump to bass, John, our bassist, you jump to guitar, I'll jump back to drums, and then we do that. And then that has gone crazy. We've gotten great feedback on it live. It's so much fun to play that live. But because we've done so much chaos in the arrangement of that song, ⁓ yeah, that's definitely the one I think we get the most feedback on.

Gina Boykin (37:19)
Mm-hmm.

Brad Banyas (37:32)
Right.

That's awesome. That's awesome. Like I said, talented

musicians, not many people can switch instruments and move around. So you know you're around a good group that knows what they're doing. ⁓

Gina Boykin (37:45)
Okay.

Cat Ridgeway (37:52)
Heck yeah. Yeah,

no, it's there. My bandmates are absolutely insane. John is a Berkeley grad on guitar. He just plays bass with us because we needed a bass player. ⁓ So having him jump to guitar, was like, ⁓ now everyone's on home base, know, and Nat, excuse me, studied under John Blackwell, Prince's drummer. And so, yeah, she's insane. And so she's incredible on the drums, but...

Brad Banyas (38:12)
wow.

Gina Boykin (38:13)
you you

Cat Ridgeway (38:18)
being a drummer was always interested in just rhythm section as a whole. So naturally she started learning bass and actually does play bass in a couple of other projects as well. So, and then I started off on drums. That was the very first instrument I ever took lessons on. So it was just like this weird Kismet thing of like, well, we all just take one step to the right and we're at a different home.

Brad Banyas (38:34)
Yeah.

Well, at

least if you're critiquing each other, y'all have some validity to it. You can't say, we've never played the drums. No, actually have. So that's awesome.

Gina Boykin (38:46)
Okay.

Cat Ridgeway (38:47)
It

does, it gives you a better way to communicate to each other though, because it's like, if you know the terminology and you know the things that you're trying to ⁓ achieve, you get there quicker. ⁓ And yeah, that's been nice. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of things.

Brad Banyas (39:07)
That's great. Who's your favorite? I'm just curious, like, who's your favorite band you've ever played with or on tour? I you might not have been on tour. You could have just played with them at an event. there one? You're not favorite. Let's say top three, you know, or top two. I'm just curious, like, you know, who you guys kind of gel with and some. It doesn't matter. It could be vibes or songs. It doesn't matter. Just curious. Like, you're like, oh, I'd like to go.

Cat Ridgeway (39:27)
like vibes wise, like off the scene or something.

Brad Banyas (39:35)
play with these guys or gals again, or I would love to go on tour with them. Like, is there any of, I don't want to put you in a spot. Hey, she's not gonna, hey, she doesn't mention your name, folks. Don't get all pissed off about it. It's all right.

Cat Ridgeway (39:38)
Yeah.

Gina Boykin (39:42)
Or.

Cat Ridgeway (39:48)
Yeah, no, no, no. I'm just

thinking like, man, touring with different people is so different. Like everyone comes at it so differently, but I have to say there's a band out of Chicago that we got to be really great friends with. They're called Friend of a Friend. And we had a blast with those guys. Like they're so funny. They thought we were hilarious. And like anyone who thinks we're funny, I can rock with. like.

Gina Boykin (39:52)
Or.

Cat Ridgeway (40:16)
But we were hanging out like that was, I do think though, like in large part, that was also the reason I'm saying them is because the way the routing landed, we had the most amount of off time in between shows where we actually hang out with each other. In other runs, like the one we just got off of, we were wheeling and dealing. We got in, we set up, we play the show.

everyone's out, everyone's on their way out to the next show to get part of the way there, if not all the way into the next town, because it's like, very quick. We had four shows in a row in cities that were hours apart from each other. our one off day, we had to get all the way from Philadelphia to Chicago, which is like a 14 hour drive. So it's like on runs like that.

Brad Banyas (40:48)
Right.

Cat Ridgeway (41:06)
It's kind of unfortunate because you don't get that much time to like hang out with the other acts. But ⁓ yeah, Friend of a Friend, had that time in between some of the shows and yeah, there's a bunch of goofballs. We had such a great time. ⁓ And sonically, ⁓ I mean, I'm thinking back to who...

Brad Banyas (41:11)
Right.

That's so awesome.

Cat Ridgeway (41:34)
Houndmouth. I loved opening for Houndmouth. Yeah, that was a great night. We had such a fun time. and Eliza and the Delusional's too. They're an Aussie band. We got to open for them down here in Orlando at the Social, and they were big chillers. Like, they were super chill. ⁓ And we gave them a bunch of food and coffee wrecks, and they were super jazzed about it.

Brad Banyas (41:36)
Townmouth, what a good name, how about?

Cat Ridgeway (42:03)
They were so excited to be touring in the States and we were telling them all of our favorite spots up the East coast that we had gotten to see on tour ourselves and they were really, really sweet. yeah, those are probably the people like, I mean, you meet so many people though. Like I love every day we've met.

Brad Banyas (42:18)
yeah, it's it's okay. Hey folks if you if you weren't listed don't take it personal It's just an odd

question by some guy bearded guy. It's always an odd. It's all us. It's all us Gina you gotta yeah, you have anything your question

Cat Ridgeway (42:27)
No!

Gina Boykin (42:29)
Okay.

I do I have one question

get out before we're done because it's a question I ask everybody which is a word of advice for other musicians based on your

Cat Ridgeway (42:47)
Yes. Okay. I think in this day and age, it's not enough to just be a musician anymore. have to, you have to be willing to take on the social media mammoth. And a lot of people are very disheartened about that. And I get it. I hate it too. It's a lot of work and it's a lot to think about. But you can either get really

salty about it or you can lean into it. But the best way to lean into it, I think, is by learning as much about all the different aspects that go into it. So by the time you get to a point where you can work with other people, you can keep tabs on how good of a job they're doing for you. And you can also communicate with them effectively. ⁓ Kind of like I was talking about when you play the same instrument as someone, you know how to talk to them about getting the desired result.

Brad Banyas (43:17)
Hahaha

Cat Ridgeway (43:45)
If you know how to run an ad campaign and what your conversion rate looks like that you're looking for, you can hold somebody else to those standards. When you get to the point, you can pass that task off to somebody else. ⁓ But I think a lot of artists get taken advantage of when they don't have at least a baseline skill set to keep tabs on what they're paying for from other people.

Brad Banyas (44:08)
That's awesome. That's why we create a band groupies. Plug, a shameless plug. It was a shameless plug.

Gina Boykin (44:09)
That's something I've heard a lot.

Cat Ridgeway (44:12)
Yeah.

⁓

Gina Boykin (44:18)
Okay.

Cat Ridgeway (44:19)
Yeah, aside from that though, I would just say like creatively stick to your guns. If you think it's cool, it's cool. Like I wish someone had told me that because like I always thought things were cool. And then I allowed myself in the spirit of collaboration to get swayed away from things that I think would have been ultimately more creatively fulfilling. So yeah, just make, make something you think is cool.

Gina Boykin (44:42)
.

Brad Banyas (44:43)
Well, I mean, that's really kind

of art and creativity. know, I mean, it's in the end, it's what you find. I'm not a musician, but we've been entrepreneurs for a long time. And it's kind of the, kind of take to the musicians and the young independent musicians because it's really a young entrepreneur or trying to build a business around an art and their art and their vocals or their music is their product. And, and it's, it's

very frustrating if you have a vision of something or you see what that's going to be. Most people won't. You're looking three years down the road or four years down the road and you see the end result and getting to that end result is very difficult sometimes, but other people may not see it. I saw some guy make some kind of weird pants on it. He's tie dyeing it or whatever. And he's, he's exploded. Like he's tearing it up now. And he's like, look,

Cat Ridgeway (45:31)
Yeah.

Brad Banyas (45:36)
All you people then support me early on, I'm still gonna appreciate you, but these are the same pants and stuff I've been making for five years. There's not any difference. I've been doing this for five years and now I've gone big and now everyone's jumping on board. Like I needed you early. I needed you early, so.

Gina Boykin (45:37)
you

Cat Ridgeway (45:44)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. No, I mean, there's so much truth to that. I've seen that happen with some of my friends who've popped off too. And it's like, you know, the songs are the same. We've been doing the same thing. I actually was just talking about this with a friend of mine ⁓ who was saying like, she grew up with the drummer from Big Thief and they were kind of like, ⁓ you know, he's always in these little bands, you know, and now they're in like,

Brad Banyas (46:08)
Yeah. Yeah.

Cat Ridgeway (46:25)
one of the most successful folk indie bands, maybe ever. And everyone's like, like, yeah, he's in this band. He's in this band. come on.

Brad Banyas (46:33)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I remember, I

Gina Boykin (46:35)
So,

Brad Banyas (46:37)
remember when he was begging us to come see him, right? And, ⁓ well, you know what? I think it's a good message for everybody. You've got to trust in yourself, whatever your art is or whatever your ideas and you know, some, sometimes it's not, you're not good or you're not, you're not qualified. It's, it's awareness, like you said, and that would, to me, like as sitting in a studio like this with Gina and other bands and what we're doing, I couldn't believe.

Cat Ridgeway (46:40)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Brad Banyas (47:04)
like how good these people were. Like no one, I never heard of them. No one I knew had ever heard of them. And I'm sitting in there listening to them like, guys, you're like a star or some women in here that are kind of blues, jazzy. I was like, my God, like, you're amazing. That was like an angel. Like what's wrong? Like what's going on? But it's a lot of factors, I guess, go into it.

Cat Ridgeway (47:06)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Gina Boykin (47:31)
Mm hmm.

Brad Banyas (47:32)
Well,

you've been awesome. Before we break, want to kind of, you're going to be coming back to Georgia. So, you know, you'll be at Matilda's under the pines. You'll be, I think you're going to be in Dahlonega. Is that correct?

Cat Ridgeway (47:45)
I'm going to be up in not Helen. What's right by Helen Cleveland, Cleveland, Yes. ⁓ actually the, day after tomorrow I'm playing there, at Serenity cellars, which is an awesome winery and very music focused kind of spot. It's really cool. I've been playing there actually off and on for the last few years and love that spot. Try to get up there as much as I can whenever I'm down here in the East, Southeast and

Gina Boykin (47:48)
No.

Brad Banyas (47:50)
Cleveland. Yeah.

That's awesome.

Gina Boykin (48:10)
Okay.

Cat Ridgeway (48:14)
yeah, so I'm going to be up there for the weekend, this coming Saturday, Sunday playing the wildflower festival too, which will be really cool. Yeah. And then the band and I are closing out Matilda's concert,

Brad Banyas (48:22)
that's awesome. That's awesome.

Gina Boykin (48:27)
You

Cat Ridgeway (48:29)
their whole series this, this season. ⁓ that'll be October 25th and that is always a party. This is our like fourth year or something closing out their season. And every time it's just crazy. It's awesome. It's such a great time.

Brad Banyas (48:42)
Yeah.

Well, you're you're we're not far. We're in Alpharetta, which we call Milton. Milton kind of broke out. But we certainly at some point when you guys get here, we would love to have you in studio and ⁓ and give you the full experience. know, remotes are kind of tough and whatever. But give you the full experience and, you know, we'll we'll be with you as well from here on out. But like I like I said,

Cat Ridgeway (48:56)
Yeah!

Yeah.

Brad Banyas (49:09)
We missed you last year. was glad Gina and Julie got us together again and we want to highlight you because you are amazing and whatever we can do to help, we're glad to do it. And Gina is the Atlanta Music Queen. So, I mean, I'm just riding on her coattails.

Gina Boykin (49:10)
You You

Cat Ridgeway (49:17)
Thank you so much.

Gina Boykin (49:26)
Okay.

Cat Ridgeway (49:27)
Well, man, I seriously can't thank you both enough for keeping up with indie

Gina Boykin (49:31)
.

Cat Ridgeway (49:33)
music in the way that you do and helping artists like me reach more people. Like the passion y'all have is so palpable and so sincere and very, very, very appreciated from our end.

Brad Banyas (49:50)
Well, thank you very much. And Gina and I met at, was down at Masquerade in Atlanta. And I was sitting there by myself looking like a dork in some kind of like suit coat. And she walks up and starts talking to me. like, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't know. I'm down here. Like we're doing this music thing and I'm trying to get into it. And I don't know any of this stuff. And she's like, ⁓ I happened to do that. I'm like, well she happens to actually be in this thing. So Gina was very good to us early on. Cause we, I don't know what I'm doing. I still don't.

Gina Boykin (50:00)
Okay. Okay.

Cat Ridgeway (50:15)
I

You know, neither do I. The longer I'm in the business, the longer, the more I realize no one knows what's going

Brad Banyas (50:20)
there.

Cat Ridgeway (50:25)
on.

Brad Banyas (50:27)
So kudos to Gina. She's been a very good influence for us and I appreciate her greatly. we're definitely going to get you out and we'll send you guys, and your team this stuff. then, you know, if you want to say anything to your fans, ⁓ feel free to do it and I'll close out unless Gina, you want to say anything else or?

Cat Ridgeway (50:34)
That's awesome.

Gina Boykin (50:51)
I know except that you need to go see her because I've seen her at least four times

Brad Banyas (50:55)
I know I'm going to go to Matilda's. I'm going to go. I'm going

to go to Matilda.

Gina Boykin (51:02)
Ha ha ha!

Cat Ridgeway (51:02)
Thank you.

Brad Banyas (51:02)
Hey, look,

if I get an invite to Chicago, I'm going. mean, I haven't got an invite for God's sake.

Cat Ridgeway (51:08)
Hey, open invite to literally any show ever. I'm so excited

though. That show, I'm so pumped for the Chicago show that's coming up. I have a run of four dates that I'm doing with Josh Joplin of Josh Joplin group. He had a huge hit back in the early 2000s. And so I'm opening the show solo, but then I'm also playing lead guitar in his band. So I'm in the middle of learning all of his songs right now. And I'm really excited about that. Hopefully that'll.

Gina Boykin (51:28)
⁓

Brad Banyas (51:29)
that's awesome.

Cat Ridgeway (51:36)
there will be more shows like that in the future. But I just got to meet him up in Chicago. He is a ball. If you think I'm a ball of energy, you need to meet Josh. Like he is like the most buoyant, giddy dude. And I love him. I'm so looking forward to those shows.

Brad Banyas (51:53)
I mean, energy is,

Gina's a ball of energy. energy, like you can feel it, right? And when someone comes in and they've got energy and it helps everyone else get lifted up and start going. So Gina's an energizer bunny. she...

Cat Ridgeway (52:09)
Yeah.

Hahaha.

Gina Boykin (52:13)
And

Brad Banyas (52:16)
Gina is as many

Gina Boykin (52:17)
that's

Brad Banyas (52:18)
as many things if you've ever gone to I would like want to take a nap like it You know, I'll be like I'm gonna take a nap. She's still going so Well, we've we are grateful to have you on ⁓ We're you know proud to highlight you. You've done a great job. You obviously have a distinguished career You're obviously a great musician and you know grateful and you being on helps us inspire other artists and people that maybe are not

Cat Ridgeway (52:38)
Thank you.

Brad Banyas (52:44)
quite as far along as you or done as long as you and you know, musicians support musicians and just old tech guys building, you know, music platforms. That's all we're about. That's all we're about Gina. Well, if you could, no worries. I'm glad to have you. So I'm going to close out. So you're listening to Salty's live music. We had Cat Ridgeway on, check her out. She'll be in the Atlanta area this weekend and then back.

Cat Ridgeway (52:55)
So rad. That's awesome. Seriously, thank for letting me be part of it.

Brad Banyas (53:14)
but you can now follow her on Band Groupies, because we put her in there. So wherever she goes all over the world, Chicago, LA, London, you know, I don't know where else, Morocco, wherever you want to go in the world, you can find Cat, and you're gonna love to see her. But thank you for being for the show. So Salty's Live Music, that's all for today. Thanks folks.