Kate Meehan & Skip Landy

Kate Meehan & Skip Landy
Pocketful of Blues
(Independent – www.katemeehan.com)

Following up their 2004 CD success Can I Play Too, multi-award winning duo, raunchy vocalist Kate Meehan and barrelhouse piano player Skip Landy, carve a niche for themselves among the top echelon of Aussie blues performers on the release of this new album. Presenting six original songs by Meehan and five by her friend Texas blueswoman Kathy Murray, it climaxes a blistering 45-minute set with a dynamic reading of Koko Taylor’s I’m a Woman.

Meehan, from Tasmania, and Landy, from the ACT, are regular performers at major national jazz and blues festivals from Noosa to Wangaratta, the former being acknowledged Queen of the Blues in both 2002 and 2003 at the Australian Blues Music “Chain Awards”. Playing in the Dr John/James Booker New Orleans style, Landy is the ideal vehicle to transport Meehan’s gutsy voice through a repertoire of swinging uptempo and slow blues, funky R&B and soulful ballads.

A seasoned performer with over two decades experience in the business, Meehan displays adroit songwriting skills on themes ranging from old boyfriends to greedy musicians. The jaunty stop-time feel of her self-penned title track and the rolling boogie of It Aint Like It Is demonstrate an evenly matched pairing of blues talents oozing energy steeped in tradition.
- Rhythms Magazine Pty Ltd

Two of my favourite things are blues piano and blues singing, so this duo is right up my alley. Singers so often have to compete with their musicians to get heard and are perhaps forced to sing tunes that don’t suit their voice, just because it has a good guitar solo in it! It also takes a lot of confidence to strip everything back and let your voice be the main instrument. Kate obviously has that confidence, not only in her voice but also Skip’s playing as he too has no one to hide behind. There are so many things I like about this album. I haven’t seen or heard a lot of Kate or Skip (sorry guys!) so it is refreshing to hear someone new. There is a great mix of blues and ballads on this album, with the tempo being pretty laid back, allowing us to hear the lyrics and Kate’s voice clearly. Kate sings within herself and this controlled power and subtlety really adds depth to the songs. Even though the lyrics cover the usual blues themes they explore more emotional dynamics than just, “my man left me.” The original “Leave the past behind” delves into the deep emotional material of how separation and scorn can impact on children. Kate also delves heavily into Texan songwriter Kathy Murray’s catalogue with five tracks including 2003 Chain Award winning song of the Year “Call me Mrs Blues.”
Don’t get me wrong there is still plenty of Kate getting back at men who done her wrong, just imagine getting a song like “Money Hungry Man,” or “Second hand man,” written about you, exposing your every sordid detail! Often female blues singers are categorised as either the sassy, sexy mama or the big blues shouter, but the likes of Fiona Boyes and Kerri Simpson show you can be all that but a lot, lot more. I think I was expecting Kate to just be a blues shouter, but there is virtually none of this on the album and instead she shows that her voice is strong and dynamic and her songs are rich in content. Kate also doesn’t shy from the often more difficult slower blues. With the Murray penned ballad, “Out of Love,” her voice is bared for all to hear and it comes up a treat.
You may be saying, yeah but what about Skip Landy? Well you don’t notice him, but you do! It isn’t a matter of “here comes the piano solo,” as the two blend seamlessly, you are able to take in the full song rather than being hindered by what one person is doing. I love the fact that Skip has kept to the piano sound throughout rather than trying out the million sounds keyboards have to offer these days. It takes away any distractions from his playing or Kate’s singing. Piano blues offers so much variety in itself and Skip handles all of them and control and subtlety win again. His boogie on “Aint like it is” isn’t 100 miles an hour, it’s respectful of the song and Kate and spot on.
The other highlight is the album finishing, rather than starting with, “I’m a woman.” To hear Kate belt out “oh yeah, everything’s gonna be alright this mornin’” at the end of an album of well structured and well performed songs is exhilarating. It has greater impact due to what has gone before it and it oozes confidence. Think of the greats like Etta James and Koko Taylor, it is as if Kate is saying “I can belt it out with the best of them…………AND DON”T YOU FORGET IT!!!”
It looks like Kate and Skip will be doing a few winery gigs in June, but hopefully they can arrange a few small, smoky (but not for too much longer), laid back, pub gigs as well for all us real people!!!
Rooster
- Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society - Australia

Dubbed “Australia’s Queen of Blues” Kate – originally
of Hobart – has been on the Australian blues scene
for around twenty-four years. Skip was born and
raised in Canberra, and is easily the best blues
pianist I’ve ever seen live! Separately, they are
accomplished individuals – Kate winning a “Chain
Award” for Female Vocalist of The Year in 2002/03
at The Australian Blues Festival among others; and
Skip, first pounding the ivories at Byron Bay’s Blues
and Roots festival in 1984 and recording/touring
with various bands and artists since. Together,
they’re a staple at most major blues festivals around
the country, and the perfect compliment to each
other.
On the last day of their Tassie tour, supported by a
small but stoic crowd in “The Boatshed” at The Oak,
the duo performed some classic old-school blues
(both originals and covers), pulled some sweet little
jokes (Kate even sang an orgasm, blues-mamma
style, just like in the classics), and both delivered
it all in the ease one might expect from two such
professionals. Skip is an absolute stand-out on
the keys and had me transfixed on his seemingly
effortless style and speed, and Kate has one of
those gutsy voices that transcends generations, and
is instantly recognisable to any fan of the blues;
a real comfort after the hangover I most richly
deserved.
If you love classic blues/piano, make an effort to see
them next time you get the chance.
-Adam Ferguson
- Sauce Editions Online

Kate Meehan confirms her standing amid Australia's premier vocalists. With Skip Landy on piano simpatico, she presents a blues-based program of 12 songs that display her range of moods. Some of these she has recorded before in a band setting, but none suffers for lack of augmentation.

Meehan's is a full voice, rich with life's knowledge. Call Me Mrs Blues deservedly won Australian Blues Music awards in 2003, including song of the year. From the pen of Texas songwriter Kathy Murray, who provides three other songs here, it is blessed with an imaginative telling of an eternal tale.

Meehan's performance has a nice humour. Landy's piano has a rolling gait that has its genesis in an ancient time, an era when keyboard maestros were termed Professor and some wore diamonds in their teeth. Mick Jagger did that with an emerald, so the story goes, but abandoned the display dent after people kept mistaking it for stray spinach.

For a rousing finish, Meehan stands and declares on I'm a Woman, a you-looking-for-trouble? reading of a song she has honed over 20 years of singing the blues.
- The AGE Newspaper