Cats and guitars may not seem to go together, but in Kate Benjamin’s art world, they do. Kate Benjamin, a Phoenix author and cat lover combined forces with her husband, Mark Allred, who plays the guitar in a local band. That gave Benjamin an idea.

“Cat culture is just absolutely booming right now. The whole cat-internet-video sensation has absolutely exploded in the last couple of years,” Benjamin says. “There is a mysterious and undeniable connection between cats and guitars.”

When Allred was attending the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, the connection between cats and guitars — and the men who make them — jumped out a Benjamin.

“We kept meeting these luthiers, these other guys in the program — because it’s almost entirely men — and they were all cat guys. And I was like ‘What is this?'” she says. “I think there’s something about the kind of guy who’s a luthier. It’s a very specific craft, it’s very detail-oriented. It’s such an artistic thing but it’s also a science at the same time. They’re quieter, maybe? I don’t know, that’s a generalization, but they just seem to mostly be cat guys. And that’s the best thing ever: Men who make instruments and love cats.”

Now Benjamin has gathered together other artists who also appreciate the weird mix between cats and guitars. To read more about this strange pairing, click here.

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