Death is something we all have to face at some point, but not something we often want to think or talk about. Award-winning songwriter, singer and producer Kate Schutt outright confronts death in her latest single, “Death Come Slow.” The title itself is a command the artist gives, challenging “Death,” which she addresses throughout the song that she wrote after learning that her mother had stage 4 cancer.

Schutt (pronounced “shut”) who is known as a jazz/pop artist, treads assuredly in the American Roots genre on the new single. The song is one of 13 that comprise her latest album, ‘Bright Nowhere’, which she wrote during the final few years of her mother’s life.

PopWrapped caught up with Kate who shared her insights into the creation of both her new single and album, and she also revealed what she’s most thankful for this year.

You recently released your new single, “Death Come Slow,” which is a pretty powerful song about something most of us don’t like to think about. What was the song-writing process like for this particular track?

It was the very first song I wrote after my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I was her primary caregiver; I put down my guitar, stopped my music career, and moved home to see her through the end of her life. Her illness came as such a shock and we knew it would kill her–it was such a rare and aggressive form of cancer. I had a few things I needed to say to the figure of Death that was now hanging around, casting a shadow on every threshold of our lives.

“Death Come Slow” is a standout track on your Bright Nowhere album and also the most American Roots sounding song. You studied jazz guitar at Berklee College of Music and have released jazz/pop albums in the past – how did you end up crossing into the American Roots genre?

I always go where the song leads me. The song comes first; it has to come first. Genre is never a consideration while I am writing. I let the song tell me what it needs. That can sound very “woo,” I know, but it’s true. The more songs you write the more you are able to tune into this kind of thing. It’s hard to articulate, but keep writing and you’ll find out what I mean. That’s the beauty of writing a lot of songs: you start to trust that you can follow the sparks, abandoning yourself to the adventure of them. It’s burdensome to force the song to be something it’s not. It’s a struggle to corner it, pin it down, make it conform. Harness time. Use it to your advantage. Let the song sit for a while, play it live a lot. If you do these things, then what the song needs will be revealed to you.

The instrumentation is particularly fitting on this track. As described in the press release, the song “builds to a chilling, stirring chorus…it’s the sound of grief’s messy, chaotic howl, a keening.” How did you approach creating the instrumentation to this song?  Do you write everything down first or do you collaborate with the players and see what sounds good?

I had an idea of how I wanted it to sound when my producer/arranger Rob Mounsey and I started meeting to work on these songs. Since this was the first song I wrote for Bright Nowhere, I’d been living with it and playing it live for a long time. I knew what it was about the song that worked, and how to present the song in such a way that it’s punch landed squarely in your gut.

Rob and I talked about all of that. He did what a great producer does: he took what I said and what I had and respectfully ran with it. He had the chops and the network to take my vision and make it bigger, grander, more cinematic. I mean, listen to those background vocals! Listen to that wall of sound! That’s Rob being Rob. He’s the musician’s musician, the producer’s producer; he was the consummate spirit guide for the soul of that song and for the album as a whole.

You worked with some pretty heavy-hitters in the music industry including, as you mentioned, Rob Mounsey (six-time Grammy Award nominee, two-time Emmy Award-winning composer/arranger/producer/pianist) and Jay Newland (12-time Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer). What was it like working with these veterans on the ‘Bright Nowhere’ album?

And don’t forget about Kevin Killen (eight-time Grammy-winning producer, engineer and mixer). You can’t forget about Kevin! He engineered the album. What was it like working with these fellows? It was like getting three PhDs from Harvard. These are the brightest lights in their field. I had months and months of working side by side with them. That’s priceless. I learned so much as a musician and as a person. These are three of the most wonderful humans on the planet. But EVERYONE who worked on this album is an amazing human – each musician, each background vocalist, each assistant engineer, each copyist.

This didn’t just happen. It was on purpose. I set about to create this record with a team of people who were not only masters of their craft, but also authentic, open, willing human beings, emphasis on the being part. They were able to get vulnerable, go all in, share their own stories of loss and love and grief and death and life!

That’s the paradox – the trap-door – of this album. Yes, it’s about grief and loss, but it’s also about joy and life. When you’re talking about death, you’re really talking about life and how to live. What is life to you? What matters? How do you live in the light, or live the light, without living the dark, too?

You’ve won awards and critical acclaim for your own songwriting. Being that you’ve crossed through jazz, pop and now American Roots songs, where do you see your songwriting going from here?

It’ll go where it goes. I don’t want to start casting my thoughts into the future. I don’t have a crystal ball; I wouldn’t want one even if I could have one. I can tell you what I’ve been up to lately in my life and what I’m always working on. One thing I’ve been up to is a lot of co-writing. I’ve been working with one main co-writer throughout the pandemic. He’s penned #1 hits in country music, and we just finished our eighth song together. I can’t wait to write two or three more with him and then start recording!

What I am always up to is that I endeavor to show up to my life with humility, curiosity, and compassion. I aim to practice presence, not perfection and go all in on the things that really matter to me with pluck and zeal.

Finally then, on a different note, with the holiday season coming up, what are you most grateful for in 2021?

I’m most grateful for my meditation practice. Because of it, I now know the difference between pain and suffering. Because of it, I know that suffering is optional. Because of it, I’ve been able to end – some of – my own suffering. And when I do that, I’m available for and game for life to live through me.

Give “Death Come Slow” a listen below and for more information on Kate Schutt, visit her website, give her page a like on Facebook or follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Header photo credit: Todd Estrin.