Ramona Clay

RAMONA CLAY TELLS MOODY, MELODIC, AND SOULFUL STORIES WITH A ROCK FAÇADE AND CLASSICAL INTENTIONS.

Songstress Katerina Jae (vox and piano) formed indie rock collective Ramona Clay after crafting two albums worth of songs in the corner of her bedroom equipped with Logic Pro, a microphone, and her piano. She then assembled her dream team including Tim Jenkins (guitar), Cody Calhoun (guitar), Kevin Stiles (trombone and guitar), Joseph Leppert (bass), and Matthew Heinrich (drums). Ramona Clay’s mission is to use music to decrease mental health stigma and increase access to evidence-based mental health care for all people. They combine powerful singing and vulnerable lyrics with tasty guitar licks, a tight rhythm section, and trombone accents.

Since playing their first show in November of 2022, Ramona Clay has been invited to perform notable shows such as playing before the Vampire Weekend, Goo Goo Dolls, OAR, Ra Ra Riot, and Talk. Some of their favorite venues they’ve played so far includes Starlight Theatre, Harrah’s VooDoo Lounge, The Bottleneck, and Sunshine Studios Live. Ramona Clay are also the recipients of the Inaugural Kansas City Women's Music Network Grant, UCM Alumni Foundation’s Opportunity Grant, and 4imprint’s One-by-One Grant. Sponsors of their 2024-2025 The Things We Don’t Talk About mental health campaign and album release include Catamount Recording Studio, UCM Alumni Foundations, 90.9 The Bridge, Midwest Music Foundation, Warwick Theatre, and 4imprint.

“Oh, by the way, which one's pink?” (“Have a Cigar” by Pink Floyd).

Commonly misunderstood, no one in Ramona Clay is actually named Ramona. As Too Much Rock described in their review in 2023, “Ramona Clay isn't a person, but rather one of the many musical outlets for Katerina "Kat" Jae. Jae is a tireless promoter of both her music and her causes, and Ramona Clay combines those passions, layering moody rock on top of direct calls to destigmatize conversations around mental health. It's curious for a band to have such an outward mission statement, but Jae is fearless.” The indie rock band gets its name from the genre of books called roman à clef (pronounced rō män ä ˈklā) which disguises real events or people as fictional. Using the collective’s name as a play on words, the band name disguised the roman à clef genre as a woman’s name, Ramona Clay.