The Heart of the Matter- The Long Journey of Cathy Kreger by Richard Cuccaro
In listening to a lot of people who cross the stages of small clubs as 23-30 minute showcase wonders, open mikers, opening acts,
and even feature acts, it's amazing how many "artists" aren't really singers or great writers.They like to sing and they like putting
together those unpoetic confessional treatises that so often pass for songs, and god help us, music.
Then, there are those people who are gifted and have logged in hours and hours of practice and playing. As soon as one of them
touches a guitar string, and opens their mouth to form one sung note, we recognize them instantly for what they are: professionals.
Cathy Kreger is one of them.
A professional, for 14 years, since her college days, with 3 CDs to her credit, she most frequently plays the small clubs out on Long Island
where she lives. She looks forward to the time when she can play the larger stages. After watching her demonstrate her well-honed skills
a number of times in small venues, I keep wondering, along with her,"My god! What does it take?"
She sports quite a heritage. As she told me: "My parents were folk singers in the 60's and my sister and I would travel with them in the
summers to children's camps, where they would sing. I remember being very proud to be the daughter of the performers at these camps.
Other children had so much fun at the shows! I'm sure that was the first place I had the desire for that kind of attention. They did traditional
story songs like John Henry, and songs from Pete Seeger, the Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary to name a few. My favorite song was
The Watermelon Song. Don't know who wrote it, but it would involve the audience. Each time my father pointed his finger at a person in
the audience they would make a slurping sound, so as he dragged his finger across the room a wave of watermelon juice would wash over us!
That was fun!"
"My parents were also my first music teachers. Both of them directed their college choruses. So they were very accomplished singers, always
reminding me to use proper enunciation. . My first guitar chords were taught to me by them as well as helping me to refine my tuning ear.
Lucky for me they had good judgement."
Cathy is a child of the 60's & 70's. I (and most of Acoustic Live's readership, I'm betting) share a lot of her influences. She states: "I loved to
listen to Crosby Stills, Nash and Young(DEJA VU), Joni Mitchell, Crystal Gayle, Emmy Lou Harris, Janis Ian, and John Kay [lead singer for
Steppenwolf] These were all records in my mom's collection. I liked her taste. As I grew and entered high school I began to play the guitar in
11th grade. That's when I became interested in artists like Bonnie Raitt, The Doobie Bros., J. Geils, Bad Company. I thought that singer in
Bad Company had the most soulful rock voice. I also liked R & B and would spend lots of hours hooked up to the headphones listening to
Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Chaka Kahn etc..."
In college, she and some friends formed a bluegrass group. As she tells it: "I met up with a guy from Connecticut, James Allyn. We decided to
put a Bluegrass band together. It was 3 guys and me and we called it "The Mainline Express." Glen Saunders recently of The Scofflaws was our
bass player. At that time he had just taken up the String Bass and was studying at Julliard. We played a lot of local Bluegrass contests including
the 12th & 13th Annual Staten Island Bluegrass Festival. We won 1st place in every contest. As a result we opened for such greats as The Band,
Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, etc... We were a good band for about 2 years."
When I asked her what prompted her to become a songwriter, she responded: "It came about because I wanted to sing about my life's experiences.
I never studied songwriting or anything. I just wanted to tell my view of what was happening. I thought some people would be interested, that's all.
As a songwriter though, I do find it easier to come up with a beautiful or catchy melody than a lyric. Lyrics are a challenge at times, although the
best songs I have ever written actually took no time at all. I never set out to become a performing songwriter. I just found that I had the most fun playing
and singing for people who enjoyed it. I felt extremely good when they gave me applause and smiling faces. In college, when I learned that I could make
a living at it, I set out to do it. So it has been 14 years since then. Ups and downs, sometimes confident, sometimes not. Now I wonder when I'll be out
of the small clubs and onto the larger stages. What does it take? Am I special enough? Different enough? Talented enough? Who knows what's gonna
happen next?
"The Nature of the Business" ©1992 Cathy Kreger
Born a singer I set out to play
I went to New York City
I had somethin' to say
I had somethin' to say--yeah
Rejection is the hardest part
Well, Honey, I ain't got time
You're in the wrong place, baby
You're not the one I had in mind
You're not the one I had in mind
It's just the nature of the business
that's the way it's gonna be
You can take a chance
But don't forget this--
There are no guarantees
It's just the nature of the business
I bought a ticket and I took a train
Though I was lonely I knew
I could start over again
All over again
This is my life
Maybe I'll get a better break
They're out there waiting for me
Just waiting for me…
It's just the nature of the business
that's the way it's gonna be
You can take a chance
But don't forget this--
There are no guarantees
It's just the nature of the business
The jewel in Cathy's crowning achievements is her most recent CD, "The Heart of the Matter," from which I stole the title of this feature. Her husky alto is
combined with just the right amount of backup instrumentation. Sometimes it's only her and her guitar, and while she also has a live CD ("Live at The Blue Angel Cafe"),
at times, the recorded work here seems so intimate that it's like she's performing right in front of you. Her guitar work is spare but impeccable. She's very good with
a cover tune and intelligently displays this talent here. Her stripped-down version of the old Pretender's hit "Don't Get Me Wrong." makes it her own. The cover of
Taj Mahal's "She Caught the Katy" displays a killer percussive guitar attack. My favorite is "Hold Me Tight (Let Me Go) by Russell Javars. She prefaces it with
a small jewel of an fingepicked guitar instrumental, "Little Star," that fits perfectly as an intro to the bittersweet regret-filled reverie of the Javars' piece.
Then her voice expressively winds itself around the sad turnings of realization that come with unrequited love. Both her singing and the song resemble the
Bonnie Raitt hit "I Can't Make You Love Me." It's that good. This CD belongs in your collection.
Make every effort to see Cathy wherever she performs. You won't be disappointed. After one IMAC performance, Roy Abrams of The Island Ear wrote:
"…Cathy Kreger is an artist whose talent is going to provide her with ample rewards. Cathy Kreger unequicovally belongs on the national musical map
and I'm sure she's well on her way" DL Johnson of Mojave Sun Records wrote about Cathy's work: " When I finally noticed that I'd stopped breathing,
I realized I was hearing the heart and soul of music."
For Cathy's gig listings check her web page at http://members.aol.com/cathyspage
Cathy will open for Wishing Chair at Sun Music Co., 340 E 71 St. in Manhattan on July 27th, 8:00pm
Out on Long Island, she'll be performing a couple of dates at The Rose and Thistle in Huntington (516-421-1444)
5:00- 8:00pm. July 30th and August 6th
At The Landmark Grill in Lindenhurst 127 E. Montauk Hwy (631-225-5454) 6:30-9:30pm July 7th& 28th, August 18th, & 25th and Sept 1st.
To order a CD by phone, call 1-800-539-RECD. They take credit cards.
You can order online at www.klaritymusic.com
Sometimes, Good Things come in Threes: Simple Gifts by Barbara Horowitz
Take one woman whose early background is classical, another who played in contra dance bands as a teenager, and a third whose early love was
bluegrass, and you might think they'd have little in common musically. Not so with Linda Littleton, Rachel Hall, and Karen Hirshon. Together they
form Simple Gifts, a group in which the three individuals have tremendously open attitudes toward what music is and can be, coupled with curiosity,
energy, and humor.
Linda feels that folk music is "where my heart has always been" and in 1989 she formed Simple Gifts, which in its original incarnation consisted
of Linda and two men who concentrated mainly on American and Irish folk music.
By 1995 the group had re-formed as the three women, and Linda was pleased to realize as I interviewed her that Simple Gifts is coming upon its
fifth anniversary concert season in this configuration. They now play folk music from many different cultures, and each composes as well.
Linda notes that their original compositions and the contemporary music that they play often does, in fact, "sound as traditional as traditional music."
Among them are represented some twelve instruments, including fiddle, mandolin, guitar, concertina, piano, hammered dulcimer, banjo-mandolin,
banjo-guitar, psaltery, recorders, and percussion.
Simple Gifts' style and choice of music is influenced by what touches each member of the group. As they travel around giving concerts and workshops,
each woman is also listening to the music of others and bringing back to the group songs that she feels will work well for them. Linda had been interested i
n klezmer music for some time, and recognized that the group had the right configuration of instruments and backgrounds to make a great klezmer sound.
Today Simple Gifts includes a large Jewish repertoire in its musical menu. When Rachel spent a year on a fellowship studying folk music of Scandinavia
and the British Isles, she returned with a host of melodies.
What's so agonizing for the group is to narrow down what they will actually learn to play together from all the wonderful tunes that they find.
Even so, they make the time to learn as much new material as they can. They rehearse about once a week and put a great deal of effort into working out
interesting, effective arrangements of the tunes. Currently under study is a Hungarian Gypsy piece.
As if that weren't enough, they can't seem to help becoming interested in learning to play new instruments, no doubt influenced by each other's sounds.
A number of years ago Linda took up the hammered dulcimer and the psaltery ("I saw a psaltery at a festival about 10 years ago, and it just felt right.").
Karen is now learning the hammered dulcimer, and Rachel has taken up the fiddle.
And, yes, the group is largely instrumental. Voice is considered as another instrument, one the group chooses to use sparingly. "We need a singer about
as much as we need a trombone player!" says Linda.
The three women share a camaraderie that is apparent at their concerts, and they are also tremendously supportive of one another. They encourage each other
to take the lead, even arguing about it-"You take the lead on this one." "No, you." They enjoy switching off on lead and back-up.
An important part of any of their concerts is interaction with the audience. Linda feels a concert has been successful if the audience has laughed.
She considers interacting with the audience as important as actually playing the music. Sometimes they will hold a workshop right before a concert and
will teach a song, which will then be performed by the workshop attendees at the concert itself. The group members often participate in jam sessions after
concerts as well.
Each year, as a further commitment to involving more people in music, Simple Gifts coordinates and hosts a weekend of workshops, group playing, jam
sessions, and concerts at Clarion Folk College in Clarion, Pennsylvania.
Clearly, Simple Gifts is a group of women with a great deal of respect for each other and their audience. I'm curious to see what directions such a group
moves in and how it continues to evolve as it hurtles toward its tenth anniversary. I plan to keep tuned.
Simple Gifts will be performing on July 30 at 3:00 at Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island.
Weather permitting, the concert will be outside, on the
steps of the art museum. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. In the event of inclement weather the concert
will move indoors. Admission is free; for more information, call 718-448-2500.
The group will have a number of performances this month in Pennsylvania;
call Linda Littleton at 814-238-8048 or e-mail her at lrl@psu.edu.
To obtain more information about Simple Gifts' recordings, including their latest,
"Time and Again" (which won 3rd place in the Crossroads Music Awards acoustic
instrumental category), contact Linda or visit the website at www.songs.com/simple gifts