Tucson Local Spotlight - Cat Mountain
- leslie051
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
Originally the solo project of Tucson, Arizona songwriter Jon Frailey, Cat Mountain has evolved into a talented ensemble of veteran players.
With three full-length albums completed, the group has been featured on radio stations around the country and has performed live from coast to coast.
Their music and lyrics are a direct reflection of the beauty and mysteries of the Sonoran Desert they call home.
We asked Cat Mountain 5 questions about their experiences as musicians in Tucson. Here's what they said:
What's your favorite venue to play in Tucson?
The Jackrabbit Lounge is one of our favorites for sure. They have amazing staff, comfortable seating, good food, relaxed atmosphere, and they pay well. I can’t overstate how cool the people are at that venue; some of the nicest and most supportive people we’ve met.
What's the funniest thing that's happened during a performance?
I can’t think of a specific incident, but we often perform on the street, on Fourth Avenue, and we have all kinds of interesting and entertaining interactions with the general public. People honk their horns and shout things from the windows of their cars, and they say funny things to us and crack us up, and they give us water and food sometimes, and drop offerings in the guitar case, and they stop and dance and take pictures. We’ve made fans and friends from random strangers on the sidewalk and it’s just as entertaining for us as it is for them.
What's your first memory as a musician?
I got my first guitar at age fourteen. It was a $100 Korean made acoustic guitar, nothing special, and my parents rented it at first because they had some skepticism about my level of commitment. I can still vividly remember everything about that guitar; the way it felt it my hands, the brightness of the strings, but especially the way it smelled. It was a magical feeling, finally having my own guitar.
What's your favorite song to perform:
“I Am Going to Sleep in a Bed Tonight” because it’s a banger, it gets people dancing and it’s typically our closer and it means the show is over and we can go back home and go to sleep.
What's the best advice you've ever received?
“It’s better to finish bad songs than to not finish good songs.” I heard that years ago and it really struck me. So nowadays when I write songs I’m not really concerned with whether or not they are good or bad. The important part is that they are completed, and I know that if I write enough songs that some of them will be good, and the bad ones fall away, and I don’t get hung up trying to force a song to be something that it isn’t.
For more information about their music, upcoming shows, or booking inquiries, you can visit their website at https://remembertheradio.bandcamp.com/
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