Kate Gaffney, singer-songwriter-guitarist, honed her skills in her native Philadelphia, jumped from coast to coast and toured everywhere in between. After laying musical roots in Northern California, building a strong base in Sacramento, she found her niche within the fertile San Francisco Bay Area music community. With Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, High Sierra Music Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, and Hangtown Music Festival performances under her belt, she is thrilled to be playing with some of the bay area’s best local, touring musicians.

Kate Gaffney Band includes guitarist Jeff Miller and keyboardist Phil Ferlino, both members of local and nationally touring band, New Monsoon. Both musicians also perform with The Contribution (feat. members of Railroad Earth, String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic) and Sunshine Garcia Band, in addition to their duo project, PA Furnace. They are longtime Marin locals, also with roots in Pennsylvania. Bass player David Russ, a Marin local, has toured nationally with reggae band, The Shakers. Drummer Dale Fanning toured extensively throughout North America and Europe with Living Daylights, an avant-garde jazz trio that has twice cracked the CMJ top ten and received four-star reviews in Downbeat and Billboard magazines.

Kate Gaffney Band delivers a refreshing style of folk/groove/roots/rock to the stage, mostly performing Gaffney’s original songs, many of which can be heard on her critically acclaimed album, The Coachman. KGB is creating a buzz in the Bay Area and beyond, performing at Terrapin Crossroads, Slim’s, HopMonk Sebastopol, Sweetwater Music Hall and packing the house at Kate’s old stomping ground, the Torch Club in Sacramento. The West Marin community comes out in droves when they play their local haunt, the Papermill Creek Saloon, each month. In addition to the full rocking band, Kate and company can perform in a variety of formats, including solo, duo, trio shows, depending on the needs of the venue.

Leaving her career as a social worker in 2002, Gaffney began to perform and write alongside local artists, while soaking in the Americana music scene that was flourishing in Sacramento at the time. She hit the road and returned to her native East Coast, where she independently released two albums, Highways and The New Then. Her regular touring led Kate to Austin, TX where she met even more of “the good people” in music. Most notably, Gaffney was befriended by the late Clifford Antone, Austin’s music mogul, who gave her the validation to keep on with her musical calling. Gaffney spent her mid-20’s immersed in the Philadelphia music scene, quickly becoming a standout favorite in the city’s top venues. Upon returning to California, and after recording on both coasts with some of her greatest musical inspirations and closest friends, Kate Gaffney released The Coachman, her “dream record” that garnered national raves. Produced by Barrie Maguire (The Wallflowers, Natalie Merchant, Amos Lee), The Coachman includes contributions from several esteemed musicians, including Steve Kimock, Greg Leisz, Jackie Greene, Andrew Lipke and The Innocent Criminals.

After years of solo performances on the road and playing with various backing bands in Philadelphia and upon returning to Sacramento, in San Francisco Kate grew her musicianship with various collaborations during “the Kitchen Sink Sessions” (2009/2010), a long-standing Thursday night residency at S.F.’s Connecticut Yankee that included some of her current bandmates, in addition to other Bay Area favorites like Dave Brogan (ALO), Chris Haugen (JamBay), Joe Kyle Jr. (Waybacks) & Ben Jacobs (Grateful Bluegrass Boys). Kate can be seen playing with some of these musicians and other music friends in pickup projects and collaborative gigs. Gaffney has released three albums: Highways, The New Then, The Coachman. She has opened for a variety of touring acts, including Todd Snider, Xavier Rudd, Chris Smither, Carolyn Wonderland, Jackie Greene, Karl Denson, Kaki King, Richie Havens, Elephant Revival and Dead Winter Carpenters. 15 years after first stepping on stage, Kate continues to captivate audiences with her voice, songs, and stage presence.