In her song, “Hometown Tables” Katie Dahl sings, “some things are sacred.”
And no matter where she’s been on her singing and songwriting journey, one thing that remains sacred to her is sharing her sense of place through her music.
Dahl performs Feb. 16 at the Grayslake Heritage Center, with her husband Rich Higdon, accompanying her on bass.
She’ll sing works from her album, “Wildwood,” which was released in 2019. The songs reflect her Midwestern roots and the joy she finds living in rural Door County with Higdon and their 3-year-old son.
Growing up in Minnesota and now living in Door County, Wisconsin, Dahl said she’s always been “a folk kid” at heart. She sang in church and studied oboe, but she didn’t start singing in earnest until she hurt her wrist and couldn’t play the oboe for a while as a college freshman. She could play the guitar, though, and soon realized she could sing while accompanying herself.
While Dahl studied English in college, she daydreamed about being a folk singer.
“I didn’t think that was a serious career option, but I did know I loved it and wanted to spend a lot of time doing it,” she said.
After getting some professional gigs, she wrote songs and released an album in 2009.
“I decided then that I was going to give this whole thing five years, that I would try for five years to make a living as a musician. Now I’m 10 years in,” she said.
Dahl credits living in Door County, the Wisconsin region known for its fish boils, cherry pie and views of the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan, as one key to her success. “It’s a great place to be an artist and be a musician. It’s a supportive community,” Dahl said.
She also has family roots going back to the 1850s in Door County where her grandparents lived.
“What I’ve noticed is a thread about my music,” she said. “It really has a strong sense of place. I am influenced by where I am, the places that mean a lot to me.”
Her words also reveal her love of language.
“Words are my first love,” Dahl said. “I’ve always been a big reader and I’m the kind of person who knows the words to many songs by heart. I remember lyrics easily and am so interested in examining them.” In 2015, her original song, “Crowns,” made No. 1 on the folk radio charts in July.
The song is about summer in Door County, she said. “It’s about heroes, about the dangers of putting people on pedestals and the way it feels when they fall off of them.”
A recent song, “Wildwood Girl,” is about her grandmother.
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“My grandma died when I was 14. I miss her and I love going around Door County and seeing all the echoes of her everywhere,” Dahl said.
Her great-great grandfather was one of the first farmers in Door County to experiment with cherry tree planting, she said.
“Door County is an important place to people. People feel a sense of ownership and citizenship over this place no matter how much time they spend here. That helps bring people to my music.”
Her music also reflects her struggle with anxiety, and how nature can soothe it. She was inspired to write “Worry My Friend” when on a run at Peninsula State Park near her home, and worrying as she often does, she said.
“I’ve struggled with anxiety a lot of my life. It’s not necessarily what you’re worried about, if you’re an anxiety sufferer, it’s the fact your brain can’t quite let go,” she said. Her song “Anna Lee” shows how nature soothes her soul.
Dahl peppers her shows with humor, even sometimes at the expense of her husband, she said.
“My mom’s a professor. I grew up going to her classes and watching her speak. She’s always really funny and I learned to talk in front of a crowd from her,” Dahl said.
Dahl is going on her first international tour in March to Germany and the Netherlands. No doubt she will bring a piece of Door County with her.
Katie Dahl
Time: 7 p.m. Feb. 16
Location: The Grayslake Heritage Center, 164 Hawley St, Grayslake
Tickets: $13-$18
Information: 847-602-8882; thelakecountyfolkclub.org
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.