Truckstop Honeymoon’s story begins in New Orleans, where Katie played wash-tub bass and blues piano in the streets of the French Quarter. There she met Mike, who slung a banjo and sold his CDs to tourists as a curative for hangovers and small mindedness.

 

After a court house wedding, they hit the road together. They spent their wedding night in a truck stop somewhere between Lafayette and the Atchafalaya Swamp. There, Truckstop Honeymoon was born.

 

​In 2005 Mike and Katie’s home and recording studio were washed away by hurricane Katrina. After a few months of living out of their van, they took their young family to the midwest music mecca of Lawrence, Kansas. Here their performing and recording careers flourished.

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Truckstop Honeymoon continue to tour in the US and overseas, playing festivals in Australia,the UK and Ireland. They also have recorded and produced over two hundred albums for other Americana, Old Time, and Folk artists out of their studio, the 9th Ward Pickin’ Parlor.

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Katie and Mike West are recipients of the Phoenix award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, Big Easy Entertainment Awards (New Orleans) and Off Beat Magazine Best of the Beat Awards. Their 2017 album "Big Things and Little things" was chosen for  Best Albums of the Year by The Music.co.au writers poll (Australia). They are the founders of the first and only Mardi Gras parade in Kansas.

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