Concert Review by Lou Wigdor Bouncin’
at Bob’s with Catie Curtis |
![]() When you leave room lights on and perform
unmiked to an enthusiastic audience whose Catie’s intimate, engaging music was tailor-made for chez Blue. Have you considered broadening your repertoire to include more songs beyond your own affairs of the heart? I asked Catie before the performance. Not especially, she responded, emphasizing her own creative need to remain true to her motivational instincts, adding that about 20% of her repertoire did in fact broach additional topics [e.g., religious hypocrisy, sugar cane workers, child adoption, gay rights, her father’s retirement role as a purveyor of antiques and things kitsch]. After hearing Catie in action, I realized that my question had been gratuitous. In performance, she wears her heart on her sleeve, without guile or musical mannerisms. But unlike many “confessional” performers, she rarely forces you below sea level with the gravity of her message. Part of the explanation is that she is essentially an optimist or at least strives to consider the prospect of a glass half full. Equally important, she infuses much of her music with a rhythmic buoyancy that keeps things moving and mercurial. And it’s all conveyed with perhaps her most distinctive asset: her richly hued, versatile alto, which is equally at home with nuance and down-home declarations. In performance, Catie served up a veritable
career resume in music, with animated versions of Magnolia Street,
Tired, What’s the Matter? I’ll Cover You, and other favorites. She
reached back to 1989 with Dandelion, and unveiled her
most recent and
How do you capture moments like these on disc?
Consider Catie’s newest release, Acoustic Valentine, an
unplugged reframing of twelve of her most requested songs, plus a new
one, Honest World. Released late in January, Valentine
is a musically intimate collaboration between Catie and guitar
virtuoso, John Jennings. With four CDs to her credit, Catie has traded
in her corporate credentials for the picaresque indie life. Because
her former employers own distribution rights to her previous output,
you can only purchase the new disc at her Question: What’s your best kept secret?
Reply: That I’m famous! That gem, Catie continued, was authored
by none other than Bob Blue himself. What more evidence do we need
that Bob and Catie are inspirations to us all? |
©2003 by Lou Wigdor |
Hosted by Pioneer Valley Folklore Society |