Katie Overbey has released her debut single “Liars,” marking the first official statement from the 20-year-old singer-songwriter and her band, The Backlash.
A Los Angeles native now based in Denver, Overbey has been building toward this moment with the kind of background that makes easy genre labels feel a little too small. She is a Gibson Guitar sponsored artist, a classically trained violinist, and a songwriter whose sound pulls from punk, country, bluegrass, rock, and Americana without settling neatly into any one lane.
“Liars” premiered September 11 on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country, where it immediately went into regular rotation. Written and performed entirely by Overbey, except for drums, the track introduces her as an artist with a clear sense of identity already in motion. It is raw without feeling underbuilt, sharp without losing its melodic center, and confident in the way first singles rarely are.
For The Concert Chronicles, Overbey’s rise has been especially exciting to watch up close. TCC previously interviewed Overbey, and seeing an artist move from live rooms and conversations into a debut single with national radio support gives “Liars” a little more weight. This is not just a first release floating into the algorithm. It feels like the start of something already taking shape in real time.
Overbey’s music has been called “bluegrass punk,” and while there is truth in that phrase, it only gets part of the way there. The label catches the grit and movement in her sound, but it does not fully account for the sophistication in her writing or the years of musicianship underneath it. Overbey began classical violin at eight years old and performed at Carnegie Hall at 17, a background that gives her playing and songwriting a deeper technical foundation than the average debut single suggests.
That history matters because “Liars” does not sound like an artist trying on a borrowed identity. The song has bite, but it also has control. It carries the looseness of a band ready to play loud and the focus of someone who has clearly spent years learning how to shape a song from the inside out.
Overbey and The Backlash celebrated the release by heading to New Mexico for a September 19 interview with KRQE-TV 13’s morning show in Albuquerque before performing at the New Mexico State Fair in support of The Warning. The appearance followed another major early milestone for Overbey, who gained attention after playing the main stage at Las Vegas’ Punk Rock Bowling Festival in 2024 alongside artists including Devo, Descendents, and Billy Bragg.
Those stages help explain the confidence behind “Liars.” Overbey may be releasing her first single, but she does not come across like an artist arriving cold. There is already stage experience, range, and a working band behind the song. The Backlash gives the project a live pulse, turning Overbey’s songwriting into something with movement, attitude, and room to grow.
The debut also arrives at a strong moment for Denver’s independent music scene, where artists are increasingly pushing past simple genre categories and building identities rooted in live performance. Overbey fits that landscape well. Her sound carries enough roots influence to connect with Americana and country-adjacent listeners, enough punk edge to feel unruly, and enough musicianship to keep it from becoming novelty.
“Liars” works because it introduces all of that without overexplaining it. The song does not need to announce every influence or justify every turn. It simply gives listeners a first look at an artist whose instincts already feel unusually developed.
With more music expected later this year, “Liars” feels less like a one-off debut and more like the opening shot from an artist who already knows where she wants to go. Katie Overbey and The Backlash are still at the beginning of the story, but the first chapter has teeth.
“Liars” is available now on all streaming platforms.
Photos by Zack Hartman Photography.
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