In this endeavor of listening
to every single album in my collection
in alphabetical order by artist’s name,
this is my first encounter with a record
made by someone I know.
I would not have this record,
and I would not have met Kathryn,
had it not been for the musician
who plays bass on this album,
my friend and musical collaborator
from the earliest moments of my
musical life, Allen Hunter.
I attended this album release party,
2019, on the cusp of the pandemic,
picked up the record there,
and got autographs from the
entire band. Allen wrote
on the front cover, hilariously,
“thanks for giving me my start.”
He may or may not have been
kidding, but I feel that way about
him, that if we had never met,
my particular “start” as a drummer
and a songwriter could have
been radically different, or could
not have happened at all.
As I prepare to spin Kathyrn’s
album, my cup of gratitude
for my bass player friend runneth over.
From the first notes of
East Bound for Glory, even before
Kathryn starts singing, I recognize
his bass playing. This engineer
had the good sense to make sure
the bass was strong in the mix,
but the most salient feature
of this album is Kathryn’s voice,
tuneful, skilled, with a quiet
intensity, but comforting. Her
lyrics are smart, emotionally evocative.
And then there’s her violin, which
adds this lovely kind of folk feeling,
you know, the way a violin
can make you feel like you’re
in the old country, whatever that
means, a cultural memory, perhaps,
part of a collective consciousness.
It’s folk music, pop music, reminiscent
for me of a 10,000 Maniacs record,
but Kathryn’s melodies are more
inventive, more varied than
Merchant’s were, and this album
is at once darker and softer, less
interested in pretending to be
a rock record, which I appreciate
and value within my collection, one
that tends more often toward bombast.
This is lovely music that
deserves to be listened to more often.
I’m reminded now about the purpose
and the value of this whole endeavor,
after all: listen to more music,
listen more often and more widely,
explore this richness. Appreciate
the abundance, will ya?
I am happy that Kathryn Claire
is a key part of that abundance.
Notes on the vinyl edition: East Bound for Glory, Hammer of Joy Publishing, 2019, an earth tone, creamy tan vinyl with a black swirl.
For those of you visiting for the first time, I’m attempting to listen to every record in my collection alphabetically by artist, and to write a poem-like-thing in response for every artist represented.
michael jarmer 