For the Hartwood Acres concert in Allegheny County’s new Acoustics in the Park series, the featured musician is a singer who grew up nearby.

Aspinwall native Katie Simone will perform at 7 p.m. June 21 in Hartwood’s Sculpture Garden, accompanied by guitarist Mark Lucas.

“This gig for the county at Hartwood is something I’m really excited about,” Simone said. “It’s something different. It’s a beautiful setting.”

She plans to regale listeners with jazzy renditions of American standards and selections from songwriters such as Jimmy Webb (“Wichita Lineman,” “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress”) and Kris Kristofferson (“Me and Bobby McGee”).

“I like to sing anything, and that’s why I love working with Mark,” she said about her guitar player, with whom she’s been working for about five years. “I love his style of playing. He’s very singer-friendly, and he puts this really nice, sophisticated stamp on any song.”

Lucas brings a substantial pedigree, having begun studying guitar in 1967 in Peters Township with Bill Loughman Jr. and continuing with another talented Washington Countian, Tony Janflone Sr. While living in Boston, Lucas led two groups, Oneira and Crosscurrents, and he has worked in the studio with notable musicians including drummer Lewis Nash, trumpeter Tiger Okoshi and Ron Carter, history’s most-recorded jazz bassist.

As for Simone, the Fox Chapel Area High School alumna has been singing professionally since she was a relative youngster, and in 2020, she completed her first album of primarily original material.

“It was scheduled to come out officially in April,” she said, which turned out to be a month after the start of the covid-19 pandemic. “With everything going on, I decided to shelve it.”

She still hopes to have an official release at some point, and in the meantime, the songs are available katiesimone.bandcamp.com. So is “A Hopeful Christmas,” a six-song collection recorded in ’20 and featuring favorites such as “Winter Wonderland” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” plus a cover of Greg Lake’s “I Believe in Father Christmas.”

“That’s something I had wanted to do for several years, and we had just the right amount of time to head into the studio and make something happen,” she said.

The selection of Lake’s 1975 single — a solo project apart from his membership in Emerson, Lake & Palmer — came as a result of her performing it during a residency of about three dozen shows for Lumaze, a holiday-themed event in the Strip District.

“I had to get really creative about repertoire to keep things interesting,” Simone said. “And the Greg Lake tune was one of those songs that I really thought was an interesting, not-as-expected choice. It came across really well, and I said, ‘That has to go on the record.’”

Her other record, simply titled “Katie Simone,” features songs co-written with guitarist Shawn Mazzei and vocals drawing influence from singers such as Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin and Lydia Loveless.

“It’s a fun little record that I really enjoyed putting together,” Simone said. “It’s just so different from what I’ve been doing in recent years, because I’ve been shifting a little more into jazzier territory.”

She often performs at the two locations of Con Alma Restaurant and Jazz Bar, with a show scheduled for 6 p.m. June 15. Backing Simone is an instrumental quartet of Lucas, Keyboard player Justin Bechak, bassist Brian Stahurski and drummer Andrew Kirk.

For more information about Acoustics in the Park, visit www.alleghenycounty.us/special-events/events/acoustics.aspx.

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