Katarina Pejak, Ina Forsman, Ally Venable
Biography Katarina Pejak, Ina Forsman, Ally Venable
Katarina Pejak
is a singer/songwriter and piano player who combines genres of the American roots music, filtering them through her Balkan descent and a classical musical training.
Inspired by Tom Waits, Bessie Smith, Norah Jones, Otis Spann and many other artists whose music she had access to through her father's collection in her home in Belgrade, she decided to stray away from her classical upbringing and started writing songs.
Katarina started performing in her late teens, playing blues clubs in her hometown (Belgrade) and other cities in Serbia. She put out three albums in her home country, "Perfume&Luck", 2010, and "First Hand Stories", 2012 and “Old, New Borrowed and Blues”, 2016, a live mini album recorded in 2015. Katarina’s albums are critically acclaimed in Serbia.
In January 2011, she started her songwriting studies at Berklee College of Music, where she was admitted on a scholarship. She graduated in May 2014 and in her last semester was awarded the Songwriting Achievement Award for her overall success within the department. At her studies at Berklee, she was mentored by the likes of Dave Limina (a long-time keyboardist for blues legend Ronnie Earl), Pat Pattison (an internationally acclaimed lyric writing guru), Scarlet Keys (accomplished song and jingle writer).
Currently living between Nashville, TN and Belgrade, Serbia, Katarina has performed all over the globe, including Vienna Blues Festiva, Reigen Blues Club, Sangit Kala Mandir (Calcutta, India), and many performance venues in Tennesse and the USA.
Katarina's fourth album is underway, having been recorded in Nashville, TN (Southern Ground studio and The Smoakstack studio), and it will feature young Nashville Americana musicians including: Evan Galante, John Mailander, Royal Massat, Joe Dickey, Slaven Ljujic, Zach Torres and Bre Kennedy.
