If you grew up in a Filipino American household, you know the drill: If it’s a holiday, there’s karaoke. For Cat Rian, that meant singing Tracy Byrd’s “The Keeper of the Stars” with her mom at every family party. It was her parents’ wedding song. Little did she know, that was the beginning of her love story with country music.
Raised in Las Vegas by a family with roots in Pampanga, Cat grew up singing everywhere she could – from church, to those classic Filipino family get-togethers, to eventually landing multiple residencies at casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.
Just as her family always took care of her, they taught her to take care of her community. Cat became the first Student Ambassador of Las Vegas local foundation “Positively Arts,” where she mentored children and taught them singing and performance lessons.
Her family always encouraged her to pursue any and all of her passions, and that pursuit led her to study Human-Computer Interaction and, of course, music, at Stanford University, where she earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. With her family’s support, she earned a second master’s degree in Songwriting and Production from Berklee College of Music at their New York City campus.
Upon graduating from Berklee, Cat decided to move to Nashville to continue pursuing a career in country music, and her family relocated to Tennessee to help support her dreams.
So, it’s only fitting that her new single is all about her family. The perfect background music for a long drive home for the holidays, “Family Tree” will be released on Friday, November 13th.
Twangy, stompy, and full of handclaps and humor, Cat co-wrote “Family Tree” with Jenna Johnson, one of the writers behind BigXthaPlug and Bailey Zimmerman’s number 1 hit “All the Way.” It’s a front-porch jam about every Filipina eldest daughter’s most dreaded rite of passage: bringing someone home to meet the parents.
These days, Cat is a singer, songwriter, and producer based in Nashville, TN, who writes country songs by night and works as a software engineer by day. When she’s not writing songs in Nashville, you can find her (or perhaps, can’t find her) with a book in hand and two German Shepherds at her feet at her family’s home in The Middle of Nowhere, TN.
Cat is endlessly inspired by her family, and, as a Filipina in a genre where voices like hers are still rare, she brings a fresh perspective and sound to country music.