Biography
Katarina Pejak, born in Serbia, works as a vocalist, composer, and pianist whose original material fuses assorted American roots idioms with her own Balkan background and extensive classical piano instruction. A transparent alto, her delivery evokes the first half of the twentieth century while moving fluidly among barrelhouse boogie, swinging jazz, deep blues, roots rock, and cabaret material. Early Tom Waits and Bessie Smith register as clear touchstones across her recorded work, yet echoes of Otis Spann, Victoria Spivey, and even Norah Jones also surface. While still enrolled in secondary school she issued her debut album, Perfume & Luck, in 2010. Two years later she tracked First Hand Stories during her time at the Berklee College of Music, an effort that earned the department’s Songwriting Achievement Award. Those initial releases generated enough attention in Serbia and across Europe to support further recordings and appearances on festival stages throughout Europe and Asia. After completing her studies she relocated to Nashville and entered a 2017 agreement with Ruf Records, which released her first worldwide-distributed album, the Mike Zito-produced Roads That Cross, at the start of 2019.
Pejak’s classical foundation began in childhood piano lessons, though her father’s record collection soon drew her toward unfamiliar sounds emanating from the household stereo. As a teenager she started composing and performing her own material while continuing piano studies at Belgrade’s Mokranjac Music School. Following the release of Perfume & Luck she received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in 2011, where her instructors included Dave Limina, longtime keyboardist for Ronnie Earl, lyricist Pat Pattison, and Scarlet Keys, known for songs and jingles. During her Berklee enrollment she issued the self-released First Hand Stories in 2012 and performed occasional shows in New England and New York. The album attracted favorable press and radio response inside Serbia. Upon receiving her degree in 2014 she again claimed the yearly Songwriting Achievement Award. Subsequent touring led her to maintain bases in both Nashville, to facilitate American road work, and Belgrade. In 2015 she recorded the live mini-album Old New Borrowed & Blues, issued internationally the next year on Blues Time Records while she worked festival circuits in Europe and the United States. She joined Ruf Records in 2017 with her own trio and tracked her label debut late the following year. The resulting Mike Zito-produced, Texas-recorded Roads That Cross, featuring a quartet that included Laura Chavez on lead guitar, appeared in February 2019 amid an international tour.
Pejak’s classical foundation began in childhood piano lessons, though her father’s record collection soon drew her toward unfamiliar sounds emanating from the household stereo. As a teenager she started composing and performing her own material while continuing piano studies at Belgrade’s Mokranjac Music School. Following the release of Perfume & Luck she received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in 2011, where her instructors included Dave Limina, longtime keyboardist for Ronnie Earl, lyricist Pat Pattison, and Scarlet Keys, known for songs and jingles. During her Berklee enrollment she issued the self-released First Hand Stories in 2012 and performed occasional shows in New England and New York. The album attracted favorable press and radio response inside Serbia. Upon receiving her degree in 2014 she again claimed the yearly Songwriting Achievement Award. Subsequent touring led her to maintain bases in both Nashville, to facilitate American road work, and Belgrade. In 2015 she recorded the live mini-album Old New Borrowed & Blues, issued internationally the next year on Blues Time Records while she worked festival circuits in Europe and the United States. She joined Ruf Records in 2017 with her own trio and tracked her label debut late the following year. The resulting Mike Zito-produced, Texas-recorded Roads That Cross, featuring a quartet that included Laura Chavez on lead guitar, appeared in February 2019 amid an international tour.
Albums
Singles
Live
