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Blooming Reviews
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John Lindermuth - Rambles.net
“Blooming” Review - January, 2010
Kate MacLeod was named am...John Lindermuth - Rambles.net
“Blooming” Review - January, 2010
Kate MacLeod was named among the “Ten Acts to Watch,” by editors of the MusicHound Folk Essential Album Guide. This release, her fifth studio recording, is a solid endorsement of that recommendation.
Recorded in Nashville with Grammy Award-winning musician Tim O’Brien as producer, the album features 12 tracks, all written by Kate MacLeod, except “As Far as the Heart Can See,” co-written by Kate and Robert K. Wolf, and “The Inner Man,” a Jack Hardy composition.
In keeping with folk tradition, these are story-songs. But they are presented in a variety of musical styles, ranging from folk to pop and country. There’s more than a little bow to country in this collection with its emphasis on love, loss and hope. A distinctly western theme is apparent in such tracks as “Riding the White Horse Home (inspired by a novel of the same name by Teresa Jordan),” “My Teton Home” and “Return to Rawlins.”
Optimism is the theme in a number of the songs with the sense expressed nowhere more clearly than in the title track where she sings, “I have loved and lost before, but still believe in springtime. Everything is blooming, blooming, don’t go.”
She has a warm and poetic style in both her singing and playing. Though some of the songs are poignant, there’s understated humor in unexpected places such as the chorus of “Return to Rawlins” where she speaks of friends missing “My good looks, my wit, and my charm” or in verses of “A Smile Worth a Million.”
A performer, studio musician and teacher as well as composer, Kate MacLeod is an artist who deserves a wider audience. You may not know her by name but you’ve most likely heard some of her songs on NPR and performed by other artists such as folk singer Mollie O’Brien (Tim’s sister) and the bluegrass band Loose Ties. She performs regularly on stage and at festivals across the U.S. and abroad.
This is a strong collection with back up from some talented friends. Kate is featured on vocals and acoustic guitar. She’s backed by Tim O’Brien, harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo and fiddle; Darrell Scott, acoustic, electric and steel guitar, piano and pedal steel; Byron House, acoustic and electric bass, and Kenny Malone, percussion.
Utah Singer-Songwriter Kate MacLeod's New Record Produced by Nashville Pros
By David Burger
The Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 2009
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Thirty years ago, Kate MacLeod moved to Salt Lake City to study at the Violin-Making School of America.
So what was she doing playing guitar with Grammy-winning bluegrass and country musician Tim O'Brien in Nashville earlier this year?
MacLeod was recording her new contemporary folk album, "Blooming," a gorgeous, spellbinding album produced by the acclaimed O'Brien and played by a group of experienced Nashville session musicians that makes "Blooming" one of the best collections of songs made by a local musician in 2009.
The Salt Lake City-based MacLeod will celebrate the new Americana album with a record-release party this weekend at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.
"Wow" was what MacLeod recalled saying when O'Brien, an old but busy friend, agreed to produce her record using musicians he regularly works with. "They have a very wide experience with traditional as well as contemporary music," she said in an interview. "These guys are the specialists."
With MacLeod singing and on acoustic guitar, O'Brien not only produced but sang harmony vocals and played acoustic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo and fiddle on the album. He brought in Darrell Scott, Byron House and Kenny Malone, and they recorded the 12 songs in four days in a Nashville studio.
"I was quite impressed with her material," said O'Brien in an interview. "She's a real songwriter. It's part of her life. It's intrinsic to her being. It's a pure art form, what she does."
Classically trained in the violin, MacLeod grew up in Washington, D.C., before relocating to Utah to study at the Violin-Making School of America, where she ended up working for 10 years. She has since studied other musical genres, including traditional music of North America and the British Isles, lending her acoustic-driven music a taste of Celtic influence. With a multioctave voice reminiscent of Emmylou Harris, MacLeod has become an established solo musician woven
into the rich local tapestry in town; among other activities, she is an integral member of Red Rock Rondo, the sextet led by Phillip Bimstein that performed an award-winning Zion Canyon song cycle last year that was featured in a PBS documentary.
'Blooming' is such a great title for Kate's CD because there's a fresh, radiant quality to everything she does -- especially her music," said Bimstein. "Kate is a warm, wonderful songwriter. I love the way her melodies twine around her chord changes like graceful vines -- perfect vehicles for her searching lyrics full of memories and dreams. Kate has a generosity of spirit that shines right through."
"There is a certain grace that emanates from Kate when she performs," said Jeff Whiteley, producer of the local Excellence in the Community Series, which will present Red Rock Rondo on Nov. 14 at the Grand Theatre at Salt Lake Community College. "She might have been a dancer, maybe that's it; but on other levels, too, she seems physically and emotionally linked to the music she is playing. Through the Excellence concerts, I have seen her in different settings with different musicians and playing different styles of music, but always that note of authenticity and love for what she is doing comes through."
MacLeod got to know O'Brien when his sister Molly decided to perform some of MacLeod's songs. Impressed with her talent, he said, he told MacLeod that in the future he'd like to produce her.
That time came earlier this year. "I didn't have any trepidation because it can't hurt to ask," she said about calling O'Brien, who in 2005 won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album for "Fiddler's Green."
A bonus to enlisting O'Brien was getting to work with some of the best session musicians in Nashville. "I had never met them before," said MacLeod. "If Tim hadn't been in on it, they probably wouldn't have returned my calls." Scott has performed on songs by Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Randy Travis and Patty Loveless and has written songs performed by Suzy Bogguss, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Kathy Mattea and The Dixie Chicks, while House was nominated for Best Country Instrumental Performance at the 2005 Grammys. Malone has performed on albums by Béla Fleck and Alison Krauss.
Catch MacLeod at the record-release party because she will soon embark on a tour of the Midwest. But don't worry. She'll be back, because Washington, D.C., and Nashville are not her home.
Kate MacLeod Blossoms on 'Blooming'
By Linda East Brady (Standard-Examiner staff) November, 2009
Salt Lake City-based singer/songwriter Kate MacLeod has explored many styles over her many years in the music business -- acoustic folk, folk rock, pop, country, Americana and amalgamations of all of the above. On "Blooming," her 10th release, MacLeod delves into most of these categories, delivering a strong CD with help from some very talented friends.
MacLeod called on Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer Tim O'Brien to helm the album. O'Brien also put together a crack studio backup band, including himself on backing vocals, guitars, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo and fiddle, as well as Darrell Scott on guitars and piano, Byron House on bass and Kenny Malone on percussion. MacLeod sings lead and plays guitar, with O'Brien and company lending a clean yet warm and earthy sound to her music. MacLeod wrote or co-wrote 11 of the 12 songs on "Blooming."
The album is an engaging listen start to finish. A standout is the twang-touched optimistic tune called "A Smile Worth a Million," which talks of appreciating the path taken, rather than the regret of the one not ventured.
Another song, a tender waltz-timed tune called "Return to Rawlins," looks at someone forced to stay put. Anyone who has dared to travel Wyoming's stretch of Interstate 80 in the winter months, where passers-through and natives alike often have to wait for the roads to clear, will relate. The song's character wants to travel, but has roots in that cold country:
"I know that I'm better than the mud on my leather/ And I'd like to go traveling and to give my regards/ To a star-lit town where I could go far/ with my good looks, my wit, and my charm/ But who'd keep an eye on the dreams of my darling/ And who'd keep an eye on my friends in a storm ..."
Though it's hard to single out the best overall song, it might be "Something Left You Living," with a folk-rock swing and captivating, slightly cryptic lyrics as well as fine harmony vocals.
Even the album cover art is a thing of beauty suiting the mood, with a William Matthews painting of a purple prickly pear in bloom. But there is definitely nothing prickly about MacLeod's latest. For those who love well-crafted, comfortable music with folkie flair, "Blooming" is a sweet Western treat.
No Depression.com – Flyinshoes Reviews
January, 2010 - Maurice Hope, UK
Americana singer-songwriter Kate MacLeod makes interesting music, a finely spun mix of folk and country music tinged with hints of pop, and when she kicks off her shoes to rattle along at a quicker tempo she is of another class. That isn’t to say her more studious, inner looking songs aren’t good. They are. But it is on the songs possessing a greater feel of freedom and free abandon that Kate instantly appeals. With her voice bearing on one or two occasions to East coast singer-songwriter, Lucy Kaplansky (‘The Day Is Mine’) MacLeod’s songs tend to be mellow, low-key affairs. Songs that need to be heard a few times for the listener to become fully attuned to the mood and appreciate fully, her lyrics. She writes some beautiful ones too, you just need to take a listen to ‘Where the Magic Happens’, what a glories piece of work. My first introduction to MacLeod’s songwriting was when Mollie O’Brien, sister of Tim included Kate’s ‘Lark In The Morning’ and ‘Alaska’ on her Sugar Hill album in 1996, Tell It True —and, boy aren’t they wonderful songs!
As you would expect an excellent set of players are assembled by producer, Tim O’Brien, who himself plays acoustic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo, fiddle and also lends harmony vocal support. As for the other players you have Darrell Scott (acoustic, electric and pedal steel guitar and piano), Kenny Malone (percussion) and Byron House on acoustic and electric bass help guide the work of the Utah-based MacLeod home.
Running through the songs apart from a hint of Kaplansky there is also some of the plaintive and pureness of early Joni Mitchell in evidence on the excellent and sharp ‘Where The Magic Happens’. The beauty of her lyrics underpinned by fine work on acoustic guitar and piano, bouzouki and percussion, as for beautiful lyrics ‘Riding The White Horse Home’ that evokes the wide-open spaces of the prairie is terrific. Her style of writing and the beauty of the imagery isn’t too far removed from that of the late, Kate Wolf. Smooth, and of a reflective nature the fiddle, harmony vocals warmed ‘Road To Heaven’ is steeped in wisdom and astute philosophy gained by her deep trawling of the soul.
After a gentle, coercing opening, ‘Branded Heart’ builds in a graceful and quite forceful fashion as stellar accompaniment of piano, steel and acoustic guitar plus the crucial harmony vocals of O‘Brien help it create a rare and beautiful magic of its own. Then we have a couple of average sounding songs by her standard that tend to drift without gripping me as some do, before she digs a little deeper to reap the dividends of her efforts on ‘Return To Rawlins’. Another song where mellow piano and O’Brien’s fine harmony vocals are the main ingredient alongside her sweet, tender vocals.
Fellow singer-songwriter Jack Hardy’s ‘The Inner Man’ is given a timely cover. An inspired choice by MacLeod, it lends a welcome lilt to the tempo of the album that is carried forward to the pedal steel doused country tune ‘A Smile Worth A Million’.
A slightly more varied in tempo on a couple of songs would have given Blooming a better opportunity to reach the heart and mind of the listener quicker —but, who am I to criticize Kate’s genuine and often as not excellent efforts.
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Review Excerpts
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Kate MacLeod was named among the "Ten Acts to Watch" by editors of the Music Hound Folk Essential Al...Kate MacLeod was named among the "Ten Acts to Watch" by editors of the Music Hound Folk Essential Album Guide.
"Kate MacLeod is one of those musicians so skilled her performance seems effortless" Rambles.Net, John R. Lindermuth
"Kate's music is honest and she delivers her message true and clear. This is out of the ordinary folk music." Roots Music Report
"One of the leading lights of the contemporary folk music scene...easeily one of the top releases of the year." Eric Fidler, Associated Press
Of all the songer songwriters I've come across in the 1990s, Kate MacLeod is one of my favorites." M. Regenstreif, Sing Out Magazine
If you could combine Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris, you'd end up with Kate MacLeod." Matthew Lawton, Totally Adult
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Moab Folk Festival, Performance Review
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Utah folk musician Kate MacLeod opened her performance at the Moab Folk Festival over the weekend wi...Utah folk musician Kate MacLeod opened her performance at the Moab Folk Festival over the weekend with this promise: "We're going to make it a party." Transporting the audeience through a thoughtful set of haunting, sparse melodies flavored with her signature Celtic-inspired fiddling, MacLeod and band members Mark Hazel, Barry Carter, and Cliff Smith made good on that pledge.
Lisa Church, Salt Lake Tribune
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Roots Music Report
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This album is just awesome. Kate MacLeod presents her music as well as any has been presented. A lit...This album is just awesome. Kate MacLeod presents her music as well as any has been presented. A little bit of everything on this CD. Kate's music is honest and she delivers her message true and clear. This is out of the ordinary folk music. Unique and produced with expertise. This release will not be taken for granted by any folk music lover. An outstanding project by Kate MacLeod and the Pancakes.
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Breakfast Review
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Breakfast is seen as somewhat of a departure from Kate's previous (solo) recaord, Feel the Earth Spi...Breakfast is seen as somewhat of a departure from Kate's previous (solo) recaord, Feel the Earth Spin, in the obvious sense that it features a full-ish band rather than a pared-down setting (through when I say band, I mean just guitar, bass and drums, courtesy of Mark Hazel, Barry Carter and Cliff Smith respectively). But Breakfast isn't as radical a departure in the sense that it's still a showcase for Kate's beautiful and melodious singing, which is well to the fore and given ample room to breathe by the uncomplicated, played-as-live arrangements. It all sounds really good, satisfyingly balanced while remaining acutely listener-friendly; and there's a kind of earthy-Fairport feel about the proceedings, not least in the way that Kate doesn't hog all the limelight (Mark takes the lead vocal on Whole World Round and No More Cane, and duets with Kate on Jack Hardy's delicious Forget me Nots and Dylan's Time Passes Slowly). And Kate's well-regarded instrumental skills on fiddle, acoustic and electric guitar and harmonica are satisfyingly represented in the mix too. As far as repertoire goes, out of the thirteen tracks here, no less than six of the songs have thier sources in traditional (American and British ), and they're blessed with sensible acoustic folk-rock arrangements which don't threaten to overwelm ( I particulary liked what Kate does with the Greenwood Side), and some are mighty tasty to boot ( like the spring harmonica and fiddle work on Whole World Round). My only reservation among those six is No More Cane, which I feel is way too smooth for the worksong/holler vibe of the original. Five of Kate's songs complete the set-list; these are every bit poetic and literate as we've come to expect from Kate, with a relaxed and contentedly reflective quality, the finest of these new songs perhaps being Autumn and Love is Gone. The five originals also include a new arrangement of Potter's Wheel (previously heard on Feel the Earth Spin). Kate's vibrant and perennially attractive writing style, combined with her skill in making traditional material come up fresh in these new band arrangements, makes Breakfast a very winning release indeed, which I acually much prefer to some of the more-lauded folk-rock ventures of the recent years.
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Feel the Earth Spin Reviews
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Smart and Vibrant singer-songwriter Kate has shifted focus a little for this, her third album releas...Smart and Vibrant singer-songwriter Kate has shifted focus a little for this, her third album release( it follows on the two she made for her mentor Andrew Calhoun 's excellant Waterbus record label, Trying To Get it Right and Feel the Earth Spin), Kate's avowed intent was to make a recording in response to those who said they like to hear her sing all by herself, just like in the kitchen. I wouldn't take that as critism to her other albums were in any way over-produced, for they proved credible examples of sensitivity-accompanied singer-songwriter product. Feel the Earth Spin is thus a commendably honest record, atmospheric and uncomplicated, with Kate playing guitars (acoustic and occasional electric) and a little violin and harmonica backup; at the time of writing her own liner note, Kate was unsure of what to think of it, but it sems to capture the essence of Kate's writing on a well-planned sequence of songs that includes just one non-original (Mary McCaslin's Way Out West). Strong and inspired is it too, as evidenced by The Annual Menhaden, a latter-day paean to the east-coast fishing community harvasting the small fry, and the poignant poeticality of My Baby Leaving and Shadow Changes; then the curious melodic sweep and emotional ambivalence of Cliffhanger that might appear to carry resonances of Richard Thompson. Well, maybe at times there's also a slightly elusive quality of her lyrics, despite their basic immediacy and their attractive economy of expression. Perhaps, too, her songs are best viewed as snapshots rather than linear narritives- like these no-frills recordings in fact. Kate's delivery is really entrancing- her wispy phrasing and ethereal tone is pitched just right for the material. By any standards, Kate should count on this release a success.
Feel The Earth Spin-Review
Catalyst Magazine, Barry Scholl...
MacLeod is a justifiably celebrated singer/songwriter who here goes it entirely alone via the majic of the recording studio, contributing all vocals, guitars, violin and harmonica. Although true "solo" albums are often faulted for their lack of organic interplay, that isn't a probem here. MacLeod's songs are built on around a solid arpeggiated guitar and her plaintive voice. One has no problem imagining these highly personal songs in a solo guitar and voice setting, without the additional filigree.
Still reeling from wolrd events, I found myself sitting on my back patio in Torrey, watching the light flicker on the yellow leaves of distant cottonwoods as the autumn sun advances by degrees, and returning again and again to "Wild Birds", "Shadow Changes" and "Winter Love". These are unhurried, spacious and haunting - the perfect soundtrack for these uncertain times.
Citing familiar comparisons is an occupational hazard to critics - and often an irresistible temptaion, as well - but here is goes. In places, MacLeod sounds a bit bit like Nanci Griffith (without the cloying cuteness) and in others like Natalie Merchant ( minus the grandstanding). A first rate collection.
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Music Hound Folk
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Kate MacLeod is a living argument for the voice as a bluegrass instrument. Hers is reedy, a bit unev...Kate MacLeod is a living argument for the voice as a bluegrass instrument. Hers is reedy, a bit uneven, like Robin Holcolmb's mannerisms. She's a fine songwriter as well, and maybe one of the best additions to Andrew Calhoun's Waterbug label. A native of Maryland, MacLeod now makes Utah her home, and there's definitly a western feel to her music. Celtis music is a subtler but no less impotant influence on her music, and she still performs with a celtic band in Utah.
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Breakfast, Sing Out! Magazine
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On this album, recorded in 2002 but unreleased until 2005, Utah based folk singer and songwriter Mac...On this album, recorded in 2002 but unreleased until 2005, Utah based folk singer and songwriter MacLeod is fronting an emsemble whose approach might be best described as gentle folk-rock. They present a tasteful mixture of MacLeod's original songs, six traditional songs and a couple of songs borrowed from other contemporary writers. They open with MacLeod's "Thirst Quencher", an almost incidental song that compares life to a nice summer day. She follows with "Potter's Wheel", Previously heard on Feel the Earth Spin, her 2001 album, a metaphorical piece about determining what's truly important in life. The best of MacLeod's original songs is "Autumn", a poetic love song shrouded in images of the changing seasons.
Highlights among the traditional songs include a mid-tempo arrangement of "Handsome Molly" and an intense reading of " Prodigal Son". On these songs, MacLeod reminds us that in addition to being a compelling singer, she is also a very fine fiddler. She also sings a version of "The Greenwood Side", in which the pancakes show us that a folk-rock arrangement needn't overpower the story in a traditional ballad. A couple of the traditional songs, "No More Cane" and "Whole World Round", feature lead vocals from pancakes guitarist Mark Hazel. MacLeod's harmonies and fiddling on the latter song are haunting.
MacLeod also includes very nice versions of Jack Hardy's "Forget Me Nots" and Bob Dylan's "Time Passes Slowly" that fit nicely with the original and traditional songs. In addition to the fiddle, MacLeod plays guitar, both acoustic and electric and is complemented by Mark Hazel, Barry Carter on Bass and Cliff Smith on drums and percussion.
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Presenter Review
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In my experience, Kate is a rare talent. She is both a generous performer and a mature personality. ...In my experience, Kate is a rare talent. She is both a generous performer and a mature personality. As a founding board member of the Estrada Institute, I have worked with literally dozens of musicians, from bluegrass bands to string quartets, punk rock bands to classical guitarists. I can honestly say that Kate is among my very favorite professional entertainers. It has been my pleasure to work with Kate MacLeod for the past three years as she has become a valued repeat performer duing the Estrada Institute's summer season in Torrey, Utah. Each year, the board members of the Entrada Institute look forward to her return performance. She always delivers an engaing and heart-felt show. She is truly a genuine person, a thoroughly professional musician, and a class act all the way.
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Review: Sing Out! Magazine
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Don't awaken me if I am dreaming that Kate and Kat, together, recorded this heavenly CD of tradition...Don't awaken me if I am dreaming that Kate and Kat, together, recorded this heavenly CD of traditional and original songs. Two expressive but distinctly different voices twine around their favorite songs, songs that have influenced their own compasitions along with some of their original favorites. MacLeod's more ethereal voice weaves in and out of Eggelson's more earthy tones, while singing their way through seven songs. MacLeod plays guitar and violin, while Eggelson plays guitar and hammered dulcimer. They bow, hammer, pluck and pick their way through five instrumentals. The CD opens with their entwining, enticing harmonies singing "Good Ships in Order", a traditional amalgam of "I Will Put My Ship in Order" and "Silver Dagger". The title instrumental, composed by Eggelson, hauntingly follows. They sing MacLeod's original fishing song, "The Annual Menhaden", and the reflection on capitol punishment "Tom Egan" that tells of a man wrongly executed for a murder he did not commit back in 1882. THey sing Eggelson's dark "Measure for Measure", and the brighter "Go to the Water". This renditionof the latter song is better than the one on Eggelson's own CD. Their cappella version of the traditional "The Two Sisters" is a stunner. They choose a particular version of variant to wrap their voices around.
supersonic
Sometimes a Sound
