Music Monthlies: Katie Spencer

Raised in the East Yorkshire flatlands on the fringes of Hull (UK), Katie Spencer’s landscape has always been that of open skies and widening rivers. It is this sense of space and movement that flows through her assured guitar style and songwriting. Now, as Katie steps into this new era with a third album, her focus turns to those deeper inner spaces, inviting the listener to engage with her heartfelt and intricately-crafted songs.

Her writing, and most notably her guitar playing stems from a time when the steel-stringed instrument was truly finding its voice. Artists like Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, Julie Byrne and perhaps most evidently Michael Chapman, weave into her sound. Katie absorbs these influences into her songwriting and with her distinctive deep vibrato and crystal-clear guitar style, she makes the music inimitably her own.

Katie released her third album What Love Is in October 2025; an intimate collection of ten brand-new songs produced by Matt Ingram (Laura Marling, The Staves). It reached #12 in the Official Folk Albums Chart upon release. Recorded in London’s Urchin Studios and featuring prominent players Giacomo Smith (clarinet), Max Clilverd (pedal steel), Tom Mason (double bass) and Matt Ingram (drums, synth). What Love Is evokes the spirit of Joni Mitchell’s finest later works, always honouring without emulating. Lyrically mature and at times pastoral; the album is melodically sophisticated and unflinchingly honest. She moves effortlessly from wideopen jazz-tinged soundscapes, influenced by Pharoah Sanders and John Abercrombie, through to the folkbaroque fingerpicking style that her fans admire her for. Her singing is powerful yet warm, true and pristine in delivery. The musicianship throughout the record feels liberated by Katie’s innovation and confidence, and the result is a master-class of inspired and beautiful-sounding craftmanship.

‘… a world-class folk guitarist’ – fRoots

‘Katie’s guitar playing has echoes of my dear friend the late great Bert Jansch. Like a musical weaver she threads her poetic lyrics through the guitar’s strings and produces tapestries of song.’ – Ralph McTell

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