the band
Kathryn Sutherland formed Blue Dirt Girl in 2015 with long time collaborators and fellow East Vancouver musicians Albert Klassen and Jason Overy.
Blue Dirt Girl’s EP “Nothing is as it was” dropped March 19th, 2021. The four track EP is a sharp left turn in the bands already diverse sound.
“The songs channel reggae/dub, modern soul, a dash of 70’s guitar magic. Something about the feel reminds me of Traffic, Joan Armatrading, and an unnamed, distant memory of the 80’s…This is not music that references influences. It breathes a sophisticated rare air.”
Dennis Mills Vancouver based musician, songwriter & blogger. Read full review.
In August 2016 Blue Dirt Girl released their debut album Crazy Beautiful. From 2016-2020 the band released 4 singles: Little Conversations, The Bad News, The Bad News Remix and Fill the Barrel.
Blue Dirt Girl performs solo, as a trio or duo. With extensive experience, individually and as a band, Blue Dirt Girl plays all manner of venues and events, from living room house concerts, festival stages, and Via train cars to outdoor winery shows, art openings, bars and brewhouses.
duo or trio
duo
AMPLIFIED – Kathryn on lead vocals/fender strat and Albert on stand up/electric bass and vocals.
Summer Solstice | Burning Branches
ACOUSTIC – Kathryn on lead vocals and acoustic guitar and Albert on stand up bass/mandolin and vocals.
photo by Kiki Yee
trio
AMPLIFIED – Kathryn lead vocals/reverend electric/pedals, Albert on stand up/electric bass/vocals and Jason Overy on drums/percussion.
I Don’t Mind | Dreams | Crazy Beautiful & I Don’t Mind live
ACOUSTIC – Kathryn lead vocals/acoustic guitar, Albert on stand up bass and Jason on drums/percussion. Jason easily adjusts his sound level for venue.
HEY
photo by Kiki Yee
photo by Kiki Yee
duo
AMPLIFIED – Kathryn on lead vocals/fender strat and Albert on stand up/electric bass and vocals.
ACOUSTIC – Kathryn on lead vocals and acoustic guitar and Albert on stand up bass/mandolin and vocals.
photo by Kiki Yee
trio
AMPLIFIED – Kathryn lead vocals/fender strat, Albert on stand up/electric bass vocals and Jason Overy on drums/percussion.
Crazy Beautiful & I Don’t Mind | Stay | Dark Heart
ACOUSTIC – Kathryn lead vocals/acoustic guitar, Albert on stand up bass and Jason on drums/percussion. Jason easily adjusts his sound level for venue.
HEY
meet blue dirt girl
Kathryn Sutherland
writes, records and performs with Albert Klassen and Jason Overy
Albert Klassen is a Vancouver bass player, mandolin player and mandolin builder. He’s been playing electric bass with Kathryn in Push3 since 2003, but for blue dirt girl he dusted off the stand-up bass, which hadn’t seen action since he played with Natural Elements, Nyetz, and Balzac in the 1980s. He plays mandolin with Nohearums and Illiteratty, and he will be the first to tell you that carrying a mandolin is easier than carrying a stand-up bass. You won’t find him on Facebook, unless it’s a picture of him on someone else’s page.
photo by Kiki Yee
"Kathryn Sutherland’s lyrics are open to interpretation, not linear, they are not easy rhymes. They conjure a mood, inventing new colours, with a masterful brush stroke." part of Dennis Mills-Vancouver based musician and blogger- review of "Nothing is as it was" EP release.
Real. Honest. Sad. Funny.
Kathryn's lyrics are a reflection of moving through life's light and dark.
Through her music, Kathryn unearths, unbuttons and examines all of her conversations. Whether they're in-depth talks or brief exchanges, conversations are how we reach out to others and connect the disconnected.
A promise to herself and one other, "because i said i would" was the impetus for the creation of Blue Dirt Girl in 2015.
It's also the through line and philosophy for everything Kathryn does, from booking Trio/Duo band shows to producing and headlining multi-disciplinary shows to organizing and playing in fundraisers for local non profits.
When not fronting Blue Dirt Girl, Kathryn sings, plays and writes with Vancouver based indie band Hello(again). Prior to forming Blue Dirt Girl, she created and performed for 20 years with East Vancouver Art Pop band Push3.
"because i said i would"
photo by Debra Matwychuk
To sum up Jason Overy as a formally trained percussionist is to give him short shrift. He grew up in Victoria playing with the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra. He’s played with jazz, blues, rock, punk, and ska bands. He’s been the musical director for Uzume Taiko for 15 years. He’s a percussion section leader for the band of the Fifteenth Field Regiment RCA. He’s collaborated with contemporary dance and theatre groups. He’s even collaborated with DOA frontman, Joey Shithead. And on top of all of that, he found time to get a fourth-degree black belt in Shotokan Karate-do and a second-degree black belt in Kokodo Jujutsu. So don’t be giving him short shrift!