Award-winning singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Kate Schutt shares “Drumfire of the Hurricane,” a moving new single inspired by the extraordinary true story of Austrian painter and writer Christiane Ritter’s 1934 memoir A Woman in the Polar Night. Blending folk-rooted storytelling with sweeping adult contemporary arrangements, the song captures a moment of profound uncertainty: a woman alone in an Arctic hut, facing a violent winter storm and the terrifying realization that her survival depends entirely on herself.

The song’s title comes directly from Ritter’s description of the storm as “the furious drumfire of the hurricane,” a phrase that immediately stayed with Kate after first reading the memoir. “Ritter’s phrase is pitch perfect,” Kate explains. “Her writing is so visceral, capturing the overwhelm and terror of being inside a major winter storm. It’s my hope that my song adds another dimension to Ritter’s incredible, indelible story.”

“Drumfire of the Hurricane” explores a moment suspended between fear and action. Ritter knows the danger she is facing, but she has not yet found the courage to act. The song exists in that liminal space between the person she was before the storm and the person she becomes after surviving it.

What can you share with readers about your new project?

This song, “Drumfire of the Hurricane,” is about a winter storm. The title comes directly from the 1934 memoir “A Woman in the Polar Night,” by Austrian painter and writer Christiane Ritter. I read that book a dozen years ago, and it changed my life. In the song, I’m attempting to understand what it felt like to be her, as she faces a terrifying event. She’s completely unprepared, having only arrived in Svalbard, the Arctic archipelago above Norway, a month or two before the bad weather comes. And then it comes, and she is alone and has to figure out how to survive.

How does this release compare with the other projects you had in the past?

This song and the larger project it is a part of are so different from past albums. First, this song is based on a specific scene in a specific book. I was trying to feel my way into Ritter’s experience. As I was writing, I kept wondering what she would say to herself as she spent hours and hours alone listening to the storm rage around her hut. Another way this project is different is the amount of research I did before I started writing this and other songs for the project. My friends and family joke that I’ve got a second career as an Arctic scholar. I’ve read hundreds of books about the Arctic. I’ve read practically all the Polar expedition accounts that have been translated into English. And I’ve traveled to the Arctic twice as part of The Arctic Circle residency program. My other albums have deeply researched songs as well, since that is something I like to do, but this is on a whole other level.

What about this single makes you most proud?

I’m proud of the production and the work that my co-producer, engineer, and mix engineer, Jay Newland, did on the song. He is such an incredible soul, such a legend. He has so much heart. He read Ritter’s book as I was sending him demos of the songs, so he really understood how important this moment is to the arc of the story. It was his idea to treat the drums in such an elemental way. I’m also really proud of the band. These are my dream players: Glenn Patscha on keyboards, Adam Levy on guitars, Gail Ann Dorsey on bass, and Dan Rieser on drums. They really gave the song-storm their all. What an adventure to record this song with them!

Was there a specific goal you were trying to accomplish with this release?

The goal is to make you feel how precarious the situation is. You might not survive this winter storm. It is so beyond anything you’ve ever experienced. It really is life or death. And you’re not sure which it will be. This is the in-between moment.

What inspires you to create music? What motivates you to keep going?

For me, music always goes back to the song, to the lyric. Of course, I love all kinds of music, but when an incredible lyric is married to the perfect melody? That is everything to me. I am interested in doing just that, arranging the right words with the right melody to create something timeless, something inevitable, something that endures.

Why do I keep going? I keep going because of the people who went before me: the writers, poets, thinkers, and artists whose work I admire. No matter how low I get, I look to them. I can keep going because they did.

If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why? If it’s an indie/DIY artist, please include a link so readers can check them out.

This is a crazy-making question, but here are some pie-in-the-sky answers: I’d love to collaborate with a visual artist like Ann Hamilton, or with the Danish National Girls’ Choir, or with the poet Forrest Gander. I could go on and on.

What was the last song you listened to? Favorite all-time bands/artists?

Two touchstones for me are Tina Turner and Cole Porter. Four artists you should not miss while you have the chance to see them live are Lori Cullen, Camille O’Sullivan, Derek Gripper, and Yamandu Costa.

Where is the best place to find you and stay connected?

I’m just where you’d imagine I’d be: the socials, my website. My newsletter is another place to find me. It’s called The Short and The Sweet. I send it out once a month-ish. It is a compendium of interestingness: poetry, books, songs, art, walks, recipes, just general all-around goodness. Sign up here.