“The Robert Cray gigs had me shaking so badly that I thought I’d faint… It was one of the pools I had to dive into or drown”: A non-shredder among metal guitarists, Katie Knipp took years to go electric – then scored a hit blues album

Katie Knipp.

After four studio albums and two EPs, Katie Knipp reached No. 9 on the Billboard Blues Album chart in 2022 with Live at the Green Room Social Club. Her latest studio release, Me, did even better, reaching No. 5 on the same chart.

After 20-plus years, a couple of kids, and nearly giving up music for a 9-to-5, it’s been a long road . “I knew I was choosing a more challenging life path by doing this,” Knipp tells Guitar World. “But I had to follow my heart.”