Biography
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Born In
Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama, United States
Voted “Best Subway Musician ” by New York Magazine, Kathleen Mock has been stopping passersby in their tracks with
the sound of her voice for over 20 years. An entirely self taught musician, Kathleen began to hone her skill at age eleven with a book and record set that accompanied her first guitar, a gift from her mother. The book taught three songs, and after exhausting “Camp Town Racetracks,” Kathleen started writing her own. She spent most of her high school and college years touring the South, playing coffee houses, clubs, and festivals.
At 26, she left Alabama for New York, and quickly learned how to make a living, playing the
streets, and soon after, the subway platforms. Kathleen’s underground rush-hour gigs are often complemented by club performances. She has performed at many of New York’s hottest spots, including the Mercury Lounge, the Bottom Line, the Bowery Ballroom, the Bitter End, CBGB’s, among others. Kathleen has opened for such acts as Greg Allman, Warren Zevon, Marshall Crenshaw, the
Psychedelic Furs, Jimmy Dale Gilmore to name a few, and participated in the ‘Nightbirds’ series at the Bottom Line hosted by WFUV’s Meg Griffin. Kathleen has starred in two George C. Wolf Productions
at the Public Theater, one entitled Street Songs, and the other Joe’s Pub.
After being asked one too many times why she didn’t have a record deal, Kathleen
independently released her self-titled CD in 1995. She has contributed to two CD compilations of
street performers, Street Dreams NY produced by Clay Dog Records and Subplay, produced by As Is Productions. Kathleen has performed live on the Rosie O’Donnell Show; Good Morning America,
The Jerry Springer Show (co-hosted by Casey Casem), CNN, 48 Hrs., FX, The Phil Donahue Show,
PBS’s “In the 90′s”, and several WBAI radio shows. She has been featured in a number of newspapers and magazines, including New York Magazine, Newsday, Paper Magazine, Billboard Magazine, and
Musician Magazine, which published a feature article about her life and career in the autobiograghical essay entitled,
“A Day in the life of a Street Musician” (March, 1998). In April 2000, she released her second CD,
Waiting on a Train, a must-have, must-listen, Kathleen Mock original at her finest.
In the summer of 2002 Kathleen took her first break from NYC since moving here back in 1986. During this break she
spent time in, Mexico, Pennsylvania, the deep south, and toured some of Europe (Amsterdam, France, Germany, and Austria) playing music at small intimate house concerts and cafes. After a year and a half absence Kathleen returned to NYC and is back underground doing what she loves to do – Singing her heart out for the many strap hangers of the NYC subways
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