TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Kate Voegele Wings It To Arrival

ADVERTISEMENT

By CURTIS ROSS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 28, 2008

Kate Voegele performed at South by Southwest and Farm Aid even before becoming the first artist to sign with MySpace's record label. She has a recurring role in the television drama "One Tree Hill" and is on tour supporting her debut album, "Don't Look Away."

But, Voegele says, her true claim to fame is that she knows Tom.

Tom is Tom Anderson, co-founder of the MySpace social networking site and the first "friend" on every new MySpace account.

It was, in fact, a message from Tom on the site that put in motion Voegele signing with the fledgling label.

"I thought it was fake," the 21-year-old singer-songwriter says of the message. "But Tom really exists. We hung out at my L.A. show and he invited me to his house to watch 'American Idol' with his friends."

At the suggestion of the label's A&R man, Voegele became My- Space Records' first signing.

Besides MySpace's obvious benefits in being able to expose Voegele to its millions of users, Voegele also was impressed with the label's verve.

"They're passionate about music and are excited about my artistic opinion," Voegele says. "I've showcased for a lot of major labels and you don't get that kind of enthusiasm from the 60-year-old guys in the suits who are looking at you like a product and wonder how they're going to make money off you."

Voegele didn't make a buzz exclusively through MySpace, though. In fact, she says she was late to the site, not signing on until 2004.

She began writing songs as soon as she picked up a guitar at age 15, and was playing in coffeehouses shortly after that. With her father's help and encouragement, she recorded "these crappy demos" in dad's home studio.

"Giving the demos to a lot of people landed me a lot of opening gigs," Voegele says.

Before long, Voegele had notched up gigs supporting Counting Crows and John Mayer, among others. All the while, she says, she learned while doing.

"I kind of learned how to perform as an artist while I was performing as an artist," Voegele says. "When I was 15 I was super shy and terrified to play in front of people. It's funny now how much I agonized about what to say between songs.

The high-profile gigs, "helped me learn fast," Voegele says. "You don't get a chance to practice being cool."

That experience proved beneficial when Voegele was tapped to play a teenage musician named Mia on "One Tree Hill."

"I'm totally confused how I got the part," Voegele says, adding that her previous acting experience was "a high school musical and taking an acting class in college for fun."

"I learned to act in front of the camera," Voegele says.

ON TOUR

Kate Voegele

WITH: Josh Hoge

WHEN: 8 p.m. today

WHERE: State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg; (727) 895-3045

COST: $15

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568 or cross@tampatrib.com.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT