Katie Ellen introduces themselves to a psyched PhilaMOCA audience for Cowgirl Blues record release show

Katie Ellen | photo by Tom Beck for WXPN

Meet Philadelphia’s most exciting new band: Katie Ellen. You’ve seen them around, opening for Cayetana and various other bands over the past year or so. You also might know frontwoman Anika Pyle from her previous, Brooklyn-based band called Chumped. But without a true, full-length LP, you likely never put a name to the face. But that changes today.

That’s because today is the day Katie Ellen released their first ever long player, Cowgirl Blues. Last night was the first of two record release shows for the album, the second being a sold out gig tonight at The Safari Room at El Cortez in Brooklyn. So yeah, they’re new. But not too new. In fact, Katie Ellen finished making Cowgirl Blues back in April 2016, according to frontwoman Anika Pyle’s opening address to the audience last night. Long story short, the release took over a year because of a lot of “self-doubt.” Well, it was worth the wait.

The band kicked things off with the same song they started the record with, called “Drawing Room.” Others played throughout the course of the night were the catchy “Lucy Stone,” the introspective “TV Dreams,” and the acoustic-ballad-but-this-time-played-on-an-electric “Proposal,” each providing a different flavor to the show and all of which you can find on Cowgirl Blues.

The crowd reaction was overwhelmingly positive from the packed PhilaMOCA audience, as the diversely-aged crowd of people displayed their approval for the new album via a collective synchronized head bop, which lasted for the duration of the show.

During Pyle’s opening dialogue she also talked a little bit about a conversation she had with her grandmother, who recently passed away this week. She was 97. Anika said that her grandmother told her that happiness starts with joy, two words Anika never considered weren’t synonymous. But if it’s true that happiness starts with joy, then clearly it’s true that joy starts with Katie Ellen.

Below, check out a gallery of images of the show, beginning with fellow Philly rockers Field Mouse, who played an opening set. We also suggest you dig in to Cowgirl Blues in its entirety; stream the record below, via Spotify.