In honor of President’s Day Pokey is inaugurating her first Mama to Mama interview, featuring musician Katryna Nields.
Katryna and her husband Dave, also an amazing musician, moved to our little road in 2000. I remember meeting her at one of our neighborhood parties: she was this beautiful, willowy column of a woman wearing a slim black dress and I was an unwashed, frumpy, not-writing, slightly depressed mother of a two year-old. I’d heard she was an actual, honest-to-goddess recording and touring artist and I was too paralyzed by this info to do much conversing with her. (As some of you know, this is typical behavior for Pokey Mama and I’m working on it.)
Turns out that yes, she’s an accomplished musician with a long career and many fans, but gosh, she’s also a regular person with a real life and a messy house like me. She’s also one of the most thoughtful and generous people I know, and has rescued me from countless emotional 911’s.
Now that I’m not afraid of her anymore, when we’re able to extricate ourselves from the daily stuff of our lives we take my dog for a walk in our beautiful neck of the woods and just talk, talk, talk. It’s the kind of free-ranging, intense, analytical, funny kind of talk I love, and I guess she does, too—for which I’m grateful.
So when I FINALLY got around to this new Pokey feature I thought: who best to start us off? I walked up to Katryna’s house on a snow day, and after we forced the kids outside we had ourselves a convo while the kids played.
I asked Katryna to talk about how becoming a Mother AND…has impacted her career and artistic choices and direction. As you’ll hear, having children did change her direction, but for the most part, in a good way.
What struck me most was that Katryna (along with her sister and band mate, Nerissa) was not only able to shift her focus, but that the new path feels more in sync with why she chose to become a musician. It’s as if having children—literally and figuratively— brought her home, not to a domestic desert island, but to warm and open place that reminds her of the household and community where she grew up loving to sing.
Don’t you just love a Mama success story?
If you want to know more about the Nields and what they’re up to, click here.
If you want to listen to Pokey’s interview with Katryna, press the play button!
Amy Dryansky 
So glad you all found your way here–thanks for the feedback!
I used to follow The Nields when they were two sisters and 3 guys named Dave 🙂 They opened for Jump, Little Children and Guster sometimes. Still love their music 🙂
Awesome interview! Thanks!!
Terrific interview! And how cool is it that you posted a podcast?! So cool.
Yeah – I love this new feature! Really interesting and illuminating – Katrina’s thoughts on creative process and community are especially uplifting. I admire her honesty and humility and devotion to the whole shebang. Yours too, Pokey.
Thanks. Me, too. It’s such an interesting antidote to the whole “become a mother and destroy your career” model that we’ve been fed for so long.