Recordings
My Mother's Voice
(COPPER CREEK CCCD-0201)
In addition to being an award-winning singer and guitarist, Kathy Kallick is a highly-acclaimed songwriter. She has released albums with more than 60 of her original songs, several of which have been recorded by other bluegrass and folk artists.
However, for the first time, Kathy has released an album with none of her own compositions. Instead, My Mother’s Voice (on Copper Creek Records) is a collection of songs that Kathy learned from her Mom.
Dodi Kallick was a prominent Chicago-area folk singer from the mid-1950s through the ’70s. She was a driving force in establishing the coffeehouse scene there, and she performed, taught, and hosted music parties for other enthusiasts.
In addition, Dodi collected a number of great songs in a variety of ways, and passed them on to other members of the Chicago folk music community—as well as to her daughter, Kathy. Many of these songs have become traditional music standards, but are sometimes overlooked because they seem too familiar.
What Kathy Kallick found out was that other musicians also had learned these songs from family members and early mentors, and were delighted to rediscover them during the recording process. All the songs (other than two with the Kathy Kallick Band) were recorded with less than a full band, which, according to Kathy, “allowed each treatment to be hugely flavored by the great players and singers” and “seemed to bring the sound of the songs closer to the setting in which I first heard them: informally and comfortably in an intimate space.”
Some of those great players and singers collaborating with Kathy on My Mother’s Voice include Peter Rowan, Lynn Morris, Claire Lynch, Ron Stewart, Keith Little, Jones & Leva, Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin, Laurie Lewis, Darol Anger, and members of the Good Ol’ Persons and Kathy Kallick Band. Their treatments are generally based in bluegrass or old-time country music, but there are forays into blues, Celtic, and other folk forms.
Kathy Kallick may not have written the songs on My Mother’s Voice, but, through her singing and arrangements, she makes them her own. She breaths new life into old favorites as well as uncovering a few lesser-known gems, as she passes the music on to us—much as her mother did to her.
Produced by Kathy Kallick & Jim Nunally
Kathy Kallick: lead vocals on all tracks. guitar on all tracks, except The Tailor & the Mouse and Web of Birdsong.
All songs: Traditional, arranged by Kathy Kallick (Red Shirt Pub. Co./BMI), except as noted.
Track Information
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- East Virginia Blues (Lynn Morris: vocal, clawhammer banjo; Ron Stewart: fiddle)
- Hello Stranger (A.P. Carter, APRS/BMI; Peter Rowan: vocal, guitar)
- Rosewood Casket (Keith Little: vocal; Sally Van Meter: Lyric slide guitar; Jim Nunally: guitar)
- Cotton-Eyed Joe (James Leva: vocal, fiddle; Carol Elizabeth Jones: vocal; Bill Evans: banjo)
- My Native Home (A.P. Carter, APRS/BMI; Gene Tortora: dobro; John Reischman: mandolin)
- All The Good Times (Suzanne Thomas: vocal, guitar)
- My Home's Across The Blueridge Mountains (Kate Brislin: vocal; Jody Stecher: vocal, guitar; Keith Little: banjo)
- Shady Grove (Peter Rowan: vocal, mandolin, guitar; Darol Anger: fiddle)
- I Never Will Marry (Claire Lynch: vocal; John Reischman: mandolin)
- Wreck of the Old #9 (Carmen Jenks, Universal Duchess Music Corp./BMI; Laurie Lewis: vocal, fiddle)
- The Tailor & The Mouse (A cappella)
- Willie Poor Boy (Sally Van Meter: Lyric slide guitar; Jim Nunally: guitar; Norton Buffalo: harmonica)
- Banks of the Ohio (Peter Rowan: vocal, guitar)
- Row Us Over The Tide (Jody Stecher: vocal, guitar; Kate Brislin: vocal; Amy Stenberg: vocal)
- Waterbound (Amy Stenberg: vocal, bass; Tom Bekeny: fiddle; Avram Siegel: banjo)
- I'll Fly Away (Tom Bekeny: vocal, mandolin; Avram Siegel: vocal, banjo; Amy Stenberg: vocal, bass)
- Web of Birdsong (Bob Coltman; John Miller: guitar;John Reischman: mandocello)