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Kathryn’s jazz career began in her native Texas when she began performing as the featured vocalist for her university's 17 piece dance band. Subsequently signing with the Johnny Garcia and Steve Wayne Trios, Kathryn’s soft, easy style lent itself well to the resort hotel and dinner club venues reminiscent of 40’s and early 50’s. Also performing periodically with several swing-era dance bands, Kathryn eventually moved to the greater New York area to pursue other interests, occasionally performing in Manhattan and Connecticut jazz clubs.
Relocating to Southwest Florida in 2004, Kathryn was encouraged by Naples, Florida's own "Mr. Music", the late Claude Rhea, to resume her jazz career. Having worked regularly with some of Florida's finest jazz musicians, including Rhea, the "Big City" exodus of recording artists and studio musicians to warmer climes, along with a resurgent interest in the timeless jazz, blues, and swing-era standards brought her out of retirement to again perform the songs that "say it all."
Her 2007 CD, "Where Can I Go Without You" was nominated for an international jazz award and garnered a recording contract with D&M Records. Her 2008 CD, "Somewhere In Time," features three songs for which Kathryn wrote original lyrics, including a haunting version of the magnificent classic, Clair de Lune by Claude deBussy. Grammy-nominated composer and conductor David Benoit called her original lyrics to his song, "Some Other Sunset, "just beautiful."
Kathryn's early influences included June Christie, Rosie Clooney, Julie London, Keely Smith, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, and “memorizing just about everything Ella and Sarah ever did,” Kathryn counts Mel Torme and Antonio Carlos Jobim among her favorite arrangers/composers.
Presently retired from performing, Kathryn published a weekly online blog, "LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE," for the "Naples Daily News" in Naples, Florida, and was a weekly guest on The Bob Harden (talk) Show. She is the author of two popular books, "YEVU (WHITE WOMAN): MY FIVE WEEKS WITH THE EWE TRIBE IN GHANA, WEST AFRICA), released in October, 2012, and "BETTER TO HAVE LOVED, A TRUE STORY OF LOVE, LOSS, AND RENEWAL" published in November, 2013..