Katmandu - Kat Hood, Chuck Gilbert, Paul Edmonson, Marty Lefler, Billy Hoover, Davis Hendricks
Kat Hood is a Little Rock native who started performing locally as a solo act right out of high school. Encouraged by her father and brother who played guitar and mandolin, she taught herself to play guitar @ age 11 and started writing songs. Listening to the Beatles, Carol King, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris and James Taylor she realized her passion for writing and performing. Kat played mainly as a solo act over the years. In 2000 Kat recorded her first CD of original music ( THE COMFORT ZONE) with the help of the extremely talented, Buddy Case, Tim Crouch and Darien Stribling at Blue Chair Studio.
Back in 2001 Kat met the very talented guitarist, Chuck Gilbert, a North Little Rock native. Chuck also grew up listening to The Beatles, but he also brought this Eric Clapton, Steely Dan, Robben Ford influence to my songs. We've both been musicians around Central Arkansas since high school, but never met for some reason until 2001. We formed the Kat Hood Trio in 2002 with bass player, Eric Nolen and were the winners of the 2002 Arkansas Acoustic Festival by entering with 2 original songs," Back When" and "Comfort Zone". They opened for Nickel Creek the following night and the went on to be the first group to perform on a PBS affilitate AETN PRESENTS in 2004 that still gets aired on a regular basis. In 2005 ,the Trio completed Kat's second CD of original songs,KAT TUNES, co-orduced and recorded by Chuck Gilbert( lead guitar and vocals) with Eric Nolen( bass and vocals), Paul Edmonson on drums and Jonathan Joyner on keyboard. One of the songs from KAT TUNES " BACK HOME AGAIN" is featured on an AETN promotional spot. In 2009, Kat and Chuck formed a classic rock band, " KATMANDU" by adding the talents of good friends who loved the same music and wanted to take it step further. Kat and Chuck rejoined with drummer and vocalist, Paul Edmonson and added the talents of Marty Lefler on bass guitar, Billy Hoover on piano and vocals and and Davis Hendricks on vocals and percussion. This is a fun band who plays the kinds of songs they've always loved but never had to a chance to play for one reason or another. KATMANDU'S songlist includes songs from The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Steely Dan,Santana,The Pretenders and more, along with original songs. Both Kat and Chuck still perform as a duo, along with occasions where they add Marty Lefler and Davis Hendricks for a more acoustic version of Katmandu. Both Kat and Chuck as a duo, the acoustic version of Katmandu and the dance band, Katmandu,are available for club dates(provding it's smoke free) and private events. Contact information is
Kat Hood
katunes54@yahoo.com
http;//www.kathood.com
501-786-1604