The last time The Katies released an album, Bill Clinton was president, The Blair Witch Project and American Pie were neck-and-neck at the box office and Nissan Stadium (Adelphia Coliseum, then) was gearing up for its grand opening. The world wasn’t ready for the Tennessee trio’s heavy pop sound back in ’99. Singer-guitarist Jason Moore, drummer Joshua Moore and bassist-vocalist Gary Welch, hard partiers all, weren’t quite ready for the world either. After an ill-advised move to L.A., the Moore brothers and Welch parted ways, leaving behind The Katies as their only document. Then, in 2018, The Katies buried the hatchet, returning to old stomping grounds like The Boro and Springwater to regain their sea legs and woodshed material for a second album that their small but strong regional fan base never thought would happen. The result, Die Ultra, explodes the notion that things like sobriety, fatherhood and life in the straight world make for music that is boring, or soft. Thunderous, starry-eyed material like “Ten Holy Words,” “Blush in Our System” and “Sideways” goes for the emotional jugular. The riffs are potent, the harmonies beautiful, the lyrics clear-eyed and powerful. It stands tall among all the rock records released by Nashville bands in 2022.
