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Feels So 3:380:00/3:38
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Space of Quiet 3:160:00/3:16
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0:00/3:29
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Blackbirds 3:140:00/3:14
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Death 3:540:00/3:54
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Higher Ground 4:260:00/4:26
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Molly Green 3:020:00/3:02
bio
Jeri Katherine Howell — award-winning singer-songwriter, cultural producer, and educator based in Frankfort, Kentucky — cultivates creative experiences that inspire care for ourselves, one another, and the planet. Her compelling performances connect and rejuvenate audiences, centering vulnerable lyrics, dynamic vocals and guitar, and a grounding Folk/Americana sound. Jeri Katherine works with organizations, small businesses and artists at the intersection of the arts, nature connection, and wellbeing to transform lives and build community.
Jeri Katherine has been writing and performing songs for nearly two decades. The title track of her first Bluegrass album, Branch to Branch (2007), won 2nd place in the Flat Rock Music Festival Songwriters Contest (NC). With a Kentucky Arts Council Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant (2011), Jeri Katherine apprenticed under Carla Gover, who nurtured her songwriting, dance, and performance skills in connection with regional old-time/Appalachian traditions and activism, which she passes on as a teaching artist in community and education settings like Cowan Creek Mountain Music School. Jeri Katherine began collaborating across genres with local hip-hop artists, Basement Upstairs (“Change,” 2011), and world music band, Stirfry Musette (No String Unturned, 2013). She fronted the band Better Together with Don Rogers, Jordon Ellis, Daphne Fields, and Jeff Ellis, and formed The Metafours with Nat Colten, Anna Hess and Nick Holmes. She opened shows for the likes of Sam Bush, Robinella, Sarah Watkins, Ben Sollee, and Darryl Scott. Her sophomore album, Collage (2013), features 14 original songs from acoustic heart strummers to full band foot stompers, most easily categorized in the misfit catch-all genre of Americana.
Jeri Katherine refined her passion for cultural exchange, social and environmental justice, community-based education, and music as a Centre College student, where she became the Kentucky Ensemble lead singer and guitarist (B.A. Spanish & Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies minor, Bonner Scholar, Foreign Language Scholar, Valedictorian, 2012-2015). As a Kentucky Ensemble student and alumna, Jeri Katherine toured in Mérida, Mexico (2013); the northeastern U.S. (2016); Yamaguchi, Japan (2016); and Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and France (2020). Inspired to bring lessons from Costa Rica’s environmental education and eco-tourism initiatives back to Kentucky’s just transition movement, Jeri Katherine learned, performed, and shared lessons on U.S. culture and civic engagement in San Carlos, Alajuela with a yearlong Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (2017).
Jeri Katherine returned to central Kentucky in 2018, and started planting seeds for change as a steward of the arts and culture, nature, and wellbeing. She began developing arts and environmental education programs for the Kings Center, Yes Arts and Josephine Sculpture Park, where she now serves as the Director of Programs and Partnerships. She became a Kentucky Community Scholar (2018), Kentucky Foundation for Women’s Firestarter Awardee (2018) and Art Meets Activism Grantee (2019), state-certified environmental educator (professional 2019, master 2025), and juried member of the Kentucky Arts Council Performing (2018) and Teaching Artist (2019) Directories and Partners for Rural Impact Teaching Artist Directory (2019). Jeri Katherine achieved her Master’s of Science in Community and Leadership Development from the University of Kentucky and published research on state youth climate change activism (2022). A soundtrack to it all, Jeri Katherine and her husband Nat Colten performed throughout the region and debuted a duo album, Holding On (2021), composed of 10 original songs inspired by stories from around the world with sounds rooted in their Kentucky home.
After a series of profound losses and focus on healing, Jeri Katherine recentered music’s medicine in her life. In 2023, she founded Come Sing, a folk music program that supports social, emotional and ecological wellbeing through accessible community singing circles and songwriting workshops. In 2024, Nicholas Jamerson chose her as the Winner of the Sleeping in the Woods Festival Songwriting Contest, and received honorable mention from the coveted Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriter Showcase. Already a Music to Life Juried Artist (2024), Jeri Katherine and a small cohort of socially conscious musicians in the U.S. were selected to participate in the Musician Changemaker Accelerator Academy, and received 6.5 months of training and coaching in social entrepreneurship (2025).
Over the course of a year, Jeri Katherine recorded her third solo album, Woman (2025). Anna Kline writes: “Woman features 9 lush Americana originals that document the pleasures and pains of a life in bloom…The emotional depth of this album is subtle because its approach to the subject matter is so lovingly held, authentic in its accessibility, and compelling in its final form. The songs celebrate the extraordinary ordinary moments, the consolations that comfort us in the in-between times of transition and accompany our steps as we emerge into altogether new territory. ‘In many ways, the album as a whole is a gift to myself that I choose to share with you,’ confides the songwriter. Howell bares her soul—and its movement through a world of healing, loss, love, and self-liberation. Woman illustrates a path to rediscovery, and Howell deftly provides a light to lead the way.”
“Howell recorded Woman uplifted by a crew of long-time collaborators and friends at Teal Turtle Studio in Frankfort, Kentucky. She shines forward on guitar and lead vocals with engineer and co-producer Marcus Brothwell steering an undercurrent of organ, bass, and harmony vocals. Ellie Ruth Miller (fiddle) and Don Rogers (electric guitar) craft key characters with their instruments throughout the album. Fiona Palensky (drums, harmony vocals) and Nathan Link (bass, harmony vocals) inject grounding energy that makes you sway. Nat Colten (banjo, harmony vocals) and Jasmine Fouts (harmony vocals) enhance the collective sound…Her clear and distinctive voice is a sweet taste that lingers long after the last track is done—an allure that tempts the listener to return, press play, and wade back into the deep.” (Read Kline's full piece here.)
Listen to Jeri Katherine’s songs on Bandcamp and where music streams.
Awards, Recognition, Education & Community Work
North Carolina Folk Festival, Not Your Average Folk Contest, Honorable Mention / 2026
Kentucky Arts Council, Kentucky Artists Celebrate: Exploring 250 Years Through the Arts Grantee / 2025
Azule Art Residency, Individual Artist-in-Residence / 2025
Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Career Development Mini-Grant, Recipient / 2025
Music to Life, Musician Changemaker Accelerator Academy / 2025
Kentucky Environmental Education Council, Master Environmental Educator Certification / 2025 (Professional, 2019)
Sleeping in the Woods Songwriter Festival Contest, Winner / 2024
Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriter Showcase, Honorable Mention / 2024
Music to Life, Juried Artist / 2024 - Present (learn more)
Bluegrass Pride, Mini-Grant Recipient / 2024
Alternate ROOTS, Member / 2023 - Present
Kentuckians for the Arts, Member / 2023 - Present
Josephine Sculpture Park, Director of Programs & Partnerships (formerly Assistant Director) / 2018 - Present
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust, Pine Mountain Collective / 2018 - Present
Kentucky Arts Council Teaching Artist Directory, Adjudicated Member / 2019 - Present
Berea College Partners for Rural Impact Teaching Artist Directory, Adjudicated Member / 2019 - Present
Yes Arts Teaching Artist / 2018 - Present
Kentucky Arts Council Performing Artists Directory, Adjudicated Member / 2018 - Present
Youth Mental Health First Aid Certification / 2023
University of Kentucky, Master of Science in Community & Leadership Development / 2020 - 2022
Kentucky Foundation for Women, Art Meets Activism Grantee / 2019-2020
National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, Creative Placemaking Scholar / 2019
Kentucky Foundation for Women Firestarter Award, Recipient / 2018
Kentucky Arts Council, Certified Community Scholar / 2018
U.S. Alumni TIES Grantee, HeartBEATS Youth Music Production Program / 2018
U.S. Department of State Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship / 2017
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate, International TEFL Academy / 2017
Centre College, B.A. Environmental Studies & Spanish, Latin American Studies Minor (Valedictorian) / 2012 - 2015