About Kat Farley

General

Raised in rural Texas, singer-songwriter Kat Farley credits the time she lived in Tokyo for inspiring her musical journey. In the tumultuous metropolis’s music venues, she looked up at the stages and thought “I want to be there.”

Taking that inspiration back to her new home in North Carolina, she soon joined Samadhi Kirtan Band, using her voice to help audiences in meditation (and mastering her own performance nerves!). From there, she began pursuing mainstream music (covers of country, folk, and jazz songs) as the lead singer in the band Forget the Outro.

The pandemic was a turning point for Kat. During that time, she dug deeply into writing her own original music, and in 2022, launched what she fondly calls “the album project.” Collaborators on the album included Ryan Masecar from ¡Tumbao!, Kevin Teachey from Purple Chartreuse, Courtney Long from Samadhi Kirtan Band, and Matt Kirk from Maj Deeka.

Kat released that first album, Answer Me, in 2023, and two years later, she's now celebrating the release of a second album, Shadow & Shine. Be sure to listen to both!

In addition to all this, Kat has been hard at work on obtaining her Master's of Music (M.M.) in Jazz Studies (Composition) at North Carolina Central University. She graduated with honors in December 2024.

And finally, as of Spring 2025, she's now happily at work on a doctoral degree (D.M.A., Composition) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro!