Catie Jo Pidel named folksinger finalist

Vincent Zurkinden, Catie Jo Pidel, Stefan BehlerCaludo

When the band Caludo first submitted the song Arrival to the Great River Folk Fest Songwriting contests, the judges immediately said, “Love their sound” and “Very well polished stringband.” Only to find that this trio was from Zurich Switzerland, calling their music "Swissicana." Ok one of the prizes would be a booking to the fest, not airline costs so they bounced a quick note back and they said, don’t worry our fiddle player is from Minnesota so we’ll figure out a US tour. Just this week, Caludo was named as part of the 12 finalists. Interesting, that fiddle player turned out to be Catie Jo Pidle a Mounds View native who has a rich history in bluegrass music in the MN/WI region. From a young age of 13 when she played a grandstand show at the Minnesota State Fair, she was talented scouted to play on Prairie Home Companion. FIVE times she had an opportunity to play on the show culminating in her playing her own composition “Sweet” and sit in with as a member of the Shoe Band.

So how does one journey to Zurich, can you blame Google? Ha, maybe not blame but give her credit for landing an internship with the giant digital company and asking for it to be in Europe. If you cannot tell by now, Catie Jo is both talented musician and a software engineer. Does that mean she has a great left and right brain? We cannot answer that, but a short conversation with her brought out that Minnesota nice that is still in her. She just recently graduated from Zurich University in Applied Sciences, so her future is a long-term employment in Europe. Definitely their gain, and our loss, so now we’ll need to wait for Caludo’s CD release and their official first tour of the U.S. The tour would be the end of August 2022 if they win the contest Great River Folk Fest LaCrosse WI. If they don’t win either way she’s coming and is super excited to show off the sound with Stefan Behler and Vincent Zurkinden.

Catch up with Catie Jo three ways, first up a recording with PHC’s Shoe Band:

Second an intense video of her song “False Idols” with Caludo where she’s found running through a forest near Zurich:

Finally, the fest chair Dave Schipper of Holmen WI has been interviewing all the Songwriter Finalists, and Catie Jo and Stefan were so much fun to talk to:

Follow along with all the news about the Great River Folk Fest at their blog:

https://greatriverfolkfestival.blogspot.com/

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