Remembering Kate Wolf
Mike Rickard
listen to, and I play her music often. Kate was born January 27, 1942, and
I came along eight months to the day later, yet I've outlived her now for
seventeen years. Remembering this helps me put my life in perspective
sometimes.
Mike
Ed Maier
Thanks for the reminder, Mike. She was a mentor
to many singer-songwriters, including Nanci
Griffith.
Ed Maier
--
Work like you don't need the money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
Dance like there's nobody watching,
And sing really, really loud.
Wayne Harrison
"Mike Rickard" <mari...@pdq.net> wrote in message
news:br89p5$t...@library2.airnews.net...
wayne harrison
>
elmcmeen
moving performance by her from the hospital.
EM
Ken Cashion
wrote:
Mike, it was nice of you to mention this. I remember buying
her first LP -- from Flying Fish, I think it was. She had a good way
of making contact with the listener by saying exactly what she was
thinking and doing so in such a nice manner.
"Sitting by my backdoor trying to sing the blues away,
I don't know where they came from or how long they will
stay,
Picking out a little tune, I've never heard before
And wishing you were here at my door.
You can lay me down easy,
Lay me down easy in my mind
'Cause, Babe, I got the blues and there's something you can
do,
You can lay me down easy,
In my mind...in my mind.
Babe, you know what its like to wake up feelin' old,
And wonderin' if you're doing what you should,
And everyone around you, they can't read your mind,
And maybe they wouldn't want to if they could.
You can lay me down easy,
Lay me down easy in my mind
'Cause, Babe, I got the blues and there's something you can
do,
You can lay me down easy,
In my mind...in my mind."
I just recalled doing that a long time ago. I don't have the
words written down anywhere and there are probably errors in it...but
like I say...it was a l-o-o-o-o-n-g time ago.
By the way, I love women who write like they are a woman.
Cheers -- Ken
Chris Rockcliffe
> On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 17:22:15 -0600, "Mike Rickard" <mari...@pdq.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Kate Wolf died December 10, 1986.
(original poster snipped)
> Mike, it was nice of you to mention this. I remember buying
> her first LP -- from Flying Fish, I think it was. She had a good way
> of making contact with the listener by saying exactly what she was
> thinking and doing so in such a nice manner.
>
> "Sitting by my backdoor trying to sing the blues away,
> I don't know where they came from or how long they will
> stay,
> Picking out a little tune, I've never heard before
> And wishing you were here at my door.
(song snipped)
Thanks Ken, I don't know this lady, but I really like her lyrics here.
Looks like I've got a new exploration project.
CR
Wade Hampton Miller
>Thanks Ken, I don't know this lady, but I really like her lyrics here. >Looks
like I've got a new exploration project.
Oh, Kate Wolf is one of the best. Very warm voice, good songs. I used to play
her music on the air when I had a radio show on Radio Free Big Lake, KABN
Radio, Big Lake, Alaska.
Wade Hampton Miller
Chugiak, Alaska
Remove the "Howdy" to reply...
LarryLarry2003
It is nice to remember the great songs and performances she left for us in her
absence. Give Yourself to Love will always be one of my favorite songs.
Larry Sprigg
Mike Rickard
"Chris Rockcliffe" <chrisro...@scripto99.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> "Sitting by my backdoor trying to sing the blues away,
> > I don't know where they came from or how long they will
> > stay,
> > Picking out a little tune, I've never heard before
> > And wishing you were here at my door.
>
> (song snipped)
>
> Thanks Ken, I don't know this lady, but I really like her lyrics here.
> Looks like I've got a new exploration project.
>
> CR
http://www.katewolf.com/index.htm
It's a nice and very informative website. Read, listen, and then buy either
the Retrospective or the Anthology. I'm sure you will enjoy what you hear.
She has a huge following to this day (and a festival in her honor) .
Mike
erickenback
I had one opportunity to see Kate Wolf.
It was at the Calgary folk festival.
It was just her and a guitar on stage and I had never heard of her
before.
I remember chatting with a friend through most of her performance.
I seriously regret that.
I actually discovered how wonderful she was after that show and I
remember thinking I should have paid better attention.
Then.. she died that December or the year after.
Then I was really really REALLY sorry I hadn't paid attention.
Ever since then, when I go to festival or a concert I try to keep the
cross-talk to a minimum because .... one never knows.
Ed Maier <takethiso...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message news:<br8bjb$j...@library2.airnews.net>...
Pat Martindale
LarryLarry2003 <larryla...@aol.com> writes
>Mike,
>
>It is nice to remember the great songs and performances she left for us in her
>absence. Give Yourself to Love will always be one of my favorite songs.
"Muddy Roads" or the entire "Poet's Heart" album would get my vote.
Best regards,
--
Pat Martindale
Jcarp
when I worked at the Kerrville Folk festival and also to be able to be
present for her taping of Austin City Limits in the mid-eighties. As
someone else said, she was the real deal. She also regularly
performed with her amazing guitar player Nina Gerber who still plays
Kate's guitar.
Jcarp
Riddley
by Nina Gerber, I believe.
Bunch of great songs. I think it's something like "Remembering Kat Wolf."
Still have not heard her own recorded voice.
gerry rosser
Ken Cashion
You are welcome, Chris.
Really, I do not know from where some of the songs I used to
do stay hidden for 20 years and then someone (Mike Rickard is a good
one to make me do this) reminds me of something, and out comes the
song. By the way, the chord progression for that song is nice and it
is a good finger picking song..
But her songs really are ladies' songs and many cannot be
converted to a man's song by merely changing the gender. No man would
write, say, or sing that they knew something was wrong "because your
clothes aren't fitting you right." That is a woman's-thing and
sometimes the accuracy of their intuition is downright spooky.
Still, she had a lovely voice, unintrusive manner, and was
gentle to listen to...and she made you think and appreciate other
things and other people. One can't say much nicer than that, huh?
Cheers -- Ken
Mike Rickard
"Riddley" <rid...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20031211101115...@mb-m06.aol.com...
they have some stuff you can listen to. www.katewolf.com
Mike
Mike Rickard
"Jcarp" <jca...@starpower.net> wrote in message
news:c5700deb.03121...@posting.google.com...
Gerber at the Kate Wolf Festival one year. I went into total seclusion for
like the entire decade of the 80's, following a failed relationship (that
still haunts me). So I missed Kate at Kerrville, missed her when she played
Anderson Fair, and when I saw her on Austin City Limits it was a repeat, and
she was already dead, but I didn't know that. I still remember standing in
a local record shop, holding the Retrospective CD, tears streaming, people
staring at me, as I read that she had died. Her music almost
single-handedly kept me sane during that decade. I envy you your memories,
and BTW, Nina Gerber is indeed a hell of a guitar player.
Mike
Ed Maier
> "Jcarp" <jca...@starpower.net> wrote in message
> news:c5700deb.03121...@posting.google.com...
>
>> Thanks for the reminder Mike. I was lucky to see Kate several
>> times when I worked at the Kerrville Folk festival and also to be
>> able to be present for her taping of Austin City Limits in the
>> mid-eighties. As someone else said, she was the real deal. She
>> also regularly performed with her amazing guitar player Nina Gerber
>> who still plays Kate's guitar.
>>
>> Jcarp
>
> And Greg Brown wrote a song about that guitar after borrowing it from
> Nina Gerber at the Kate Wolf Festival one year.
I posted the story about Kate Wolf's guitar about a year ago,
so if you missed it, here it is again:
I came across this story some years ago about Kate Wolf's guitar
as told by a person named Pat. No, I don't know his/her last
name, but he/she was a very eloquent writer in one of the music
listservs that I subscribe to. I think you'll enjoy the story.
Pat begins,
"The luthier is David Matlin from Mendocino. I met David back
in the early eighties (perhaps '82 or '83) after a week of
wandering the northern Calif. coast in search of answers to
questions I could not define. I decided to eat at the Cafe
Beaujolis in town for brunch. A burly bearded mountain man
walked past my table, retraced his steps and sat on the bench
next to me. Our friendly chat turned into an existential
discourse on life. He shared his unfolding into a luthier,
I shared my transition to that Cafe. Its funny how you open
your life, your fears and your heart to a stranger. He asked
what kind of music I enjoyed. The name I uttered without a
doubt changed my life, I said I've been listening a lot to
Kate Wolf. David invited me to his workshop for the twenty-five
cent tour, he told me he had just finished Kate's new guitar!
He took the instrument off the wall and into my arms. My
childhood wish for a guitar never materialized but in that
moment I was healed and haunted. I fiddled with the strings,
the vibrations shook that childhood dream alive. David told
me how a circle was completed in the making of that guitar.
David deeply loved Kate's music so when she met him to ask that
he build a guitar for her, he was touched and created an incredible
instrument. I believe the guitar is made of Koa wood and magic.
I first time I saw Kate play her guitar, I thought I saw the notes
float out of the soundhole. If there was ever an instrument
created with love and with the spirit of the artist at its center,
it is Kate's guitar.
A year or so later, I attended a Nanci concert at the Great
American Music Hall. Blissing out in the audience during
"Daddy Said," I had this weird sensation of a guitar in my
lap and then thought of David. There is a longer story here
but I'll just say that I called David the next day asking
if he could help me buy a guitar. He said he had a Martin
he could sell me and that weekend I was in Mendocino again.
His wife was having a baby and he needed extra cash. Now I
know David could have sold that guitar for two or three times
as much as I paid, but I was part of that circle having been
touched by Kate and by Nanci. Feeling like a first time mother
with her child, with my own guitar in my arms I asked him,
"what now?" He replied, "lessons, I hear Nina lives in your
area and teaches." Gulp.
I went through a long spell of illness, the desire to play that
guitar part of my medicine. I learned Puff and Old Suzanna from
Barry Olivier first, Kate's first guitar teacher. I donated
blood platelets in Kate's name when the call came out for a donor.
An hour after I heard Kate had passed, I called David. He had not
heard yet, and I for the first time felt a deep grief for the
passing of someone who had touched me with her spirit. Three
days later I saw Nanci in concert. Then I spent two years on
and off with Nina as my teacher. She asked me if I could do her
a favor. She was going to Nashville or was it Austin, I don't
remember. She needed to get Kate's guitar to David for a "fret job."
She asked if I could help her out and deliver it to him. I never
needed much encouragement to wander the north coast of California,
but to be entrusted with Nina's precious guitar, I don't have words
to explain my pure joy. This time holding Kate's guitar to my heart
I was at least able to play a few tunes and one of my favorites,
Trumpet Vine. I can testify that John's comment and Greg Brown's
song/poem "Kate's Guitar" is truth.
"I don't know how such a peacefulness found a home in Kate's guitar...
Kate left but I don't think
she really went that far--
Sometimes I swear there's
more than 2 hands
playing kate's guitar."
Greg wrote this song after he played Kate's guitar on Saturday of
the Kate Wolf Memorial Festival 1997. His Gibson string broke
and Nina gave him her (Kate's) guitar to continue while she restrung
his Gibson. I luckily got off a few pictures. That evening he
penned the lines to the song and sang it the next day. It was the
highlight of the festival imo, brought tears to my eyes, opened my
heart. Yes, I am the number one fan of that guitar. Nina is pretty
incredible too. So thanks John for your review. I'm going to pull
that ole Martin out and get over this mid-life crisis. Just printed
out West Texas Sun from the Web and I'm gonna see if I can make it
sound like a song."
Pat
"if I had a peaceful heart it would look like this--
some trees and hills, a creek
by which to kiss--
The fog would be this cool, the hawk would sail that far,
and the song I'd hear
would come from Kate's guitar..."
-greg brown
I hope you enjoyed the story,
Ed Maier
Arlington, TX
Jcarp
Thanks for sharing that Ed, it's a wonderful story.
Jcarp
D1Charette
Kates. He sang a song he wrote for her called, "Katie and the Dreamtime Land."
The last line of his chorus is, "...and I sang Cornflower Blue and thought of
you."
Eric is the composer of "No Mans Land" (sometimes called "Willie McBride") and
"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda."
Kate seemed to be in a class all by herself.
Regards,
Dana