Katie Pruitt w/ Jess Nolan at The Iron Horse on Friday, October 24 2025

Katie Pruitt is living proof of music’s power to transform the way we experience the world. Soon after the arrival of her acclaimed debut Expectations—a 2020 LP on which she documented her journey in growing up queer in the Christian South—the Georgia-bred singer/songwriter/guitarist heard from countless listeners that her songs had impacted their lives on an elemental level. “A lot of people told me how the record helped them navigate their relationships with family—I even had some parents tell me that it helped them understand their children better,” she recalls. With her sophomore album Mantras, the Nashville-based musician now looks inward to explore such matters as gender identity, self-compassion or the lack thereof, and the struggle for peace in times of chaos and uncertainty—ultimately arriving at a body of work that speaks to the strength in undoing harmful self-beliefs and fully living your truth.

When Jess Nolan began writing her third album at home in Nashville, she'd been on the move for years, balancing an acclaimed solo career with her work as a harmony-singing keyboardist for Jenny Lewis, Katie Pruitt, and Joy Oladokun. Living alone for the first time ever and looking to prioritize her downtime, she began writing new songs that bridged the gap between intimacy and expansiveness. She'd already explored the softer, meditative side of her music with her previous record, '93. This new material was something different: darker, autumnal, nocturnal, and playful. It felt right to record the songs in the same place she'd written them, so Nolan turned her house into a makeshift studio and got to work. Joined by co-producer Megan McCormick and a small cast of bandmates and friends — nearly all of them female — she tracked the album in a matter of days, avoiding overdubs altogether and letting childlike curiosity lead the way. The result is an unfiltered view into Nolan's past and present, with songs that turn personal details into something communal and cathartic.