J-14 is scouting out the hottest bands around… and this week's pick is Kate Voegele.

Here are five things you need to know about Kate Voegele whose currently on tour with Parachute!

  1. Kate Voegele has always loved music and credits her father for inspiring her to become a musician and follow her dreams. "I always loved music and lived and breathed it as a kid, but when my dad taught me to play guitar, I really fell in love with it," Kate tells J-14. "I wanted to be able to say everything that I was feeling about the things going on in my life, and songwriting was a perfect outlet."

  2. Her latest album Gravity Happens is all about dealing with unexpected challenges as we grow up. "Gravity Happens is about how life throws us all curveballs as we get older, and sometimes we don't see them coming," Kate explains to J-14. "But the album is really about how you learn to pick yourself up and rise above the challenges."

  3. This One Tree Hill actress and singer loves having fun with fashion and expressing herself. "Fashion is such a fun way to express who you are. I really like to mix it up. I mix vintage with new stuff, designer with cheaper stuff, and just have fun," Kate says. "I like to be colorful and have a little bit of rock n roll in every outfit — something that toughens it up. But I also love to be girly. I've been wearing my leopard print ankle boots with everything lately!"

  4. Not only does she express herself musically, but also artistically! She even designed a line of sunglasses for Oakley this fall. "I've always loved fine arts and art was always my favorite subject in school. I majored in art in college, and I paint on my tour bus when I have writers block and can't finish a song," Kate says. "So I thought it would be really fun to take those designs and put them on something that I wear every day, like sunglasses."

  5. The most personal song for Kate off the album is a track called "Sandcastles". "I wrote it when I had to make a lot of big decisions in my life, and part of me just wanted to be a kid again and 'make sandcastles' instead of making decisions," Kate tells J-14. "But the song is about how music got me through the tough choices I had to make and it's about how a song can heal you when you need it most."

Check out her music video for her latest single "Heart in Chains" and let us know what you think!

Photo: Courtesy of Rachel Sheehan/J-14

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