And the Hi there and welcome to Soi Jaker on songwriting. This is Brian, flanked as ever by my wingman Simon and

joining us for episode 177 is a Georgian-born singer-songwriter and one of the most successful

UK recording artists of the 21st century thus far.

Just a few weeks ago she released her 8th album, titled,

Appropriately Enough Album Number 8, a warm, intimate typically well-crafted set which demonstrates

her continuing maturity as both

a vocalist and a songwriter. We are very happy to welcome the excellent Katie Melower to the show.

We spoke to Katie via you guessed it Zoom in early September, and it was a really interesting

chat, wasn't it so I?

Yeah, she's great, yeah, very engaging person, takes her songwriting very seriously, I thought.

She does, and she articulates a thought about it so well which of course is our meet and drink.

Indeed. Our guest was born in 1984 in Cautasey, Georgia in the former USSR in the aftermath of the country's civil war.

She moved with her family to the UK at the age of 8,

first to Belfast and then to London five years later.

She initially wanted to be a historian or a politician but soon discovered she'd inherited their

parents' love of music and believed she developed their musical ear from listening to her mom play the piano.

I think that was actually one of the few forms of entertainment available during that time,

because they had a lot of blackouts and stuff in Georgia.

Wow.

The first recorded music to make a significant impression

on the young Katie was a pirate copy of Queen's Greatest Hits that she purchased from a market stall in Tablisey.

She was very much into pop music as a teenager, Lazy discovering the likes of Dylan, The Beatles,

...