Kate's recordings are available through Waterbug Records and Wind River from Folk Era Records. See the CDs page for more information.
Kate MacLeod has been compared to most of the influential artists of her genre including Emmylou Harris, Joni Mithcell, Nanci Griffith, Kate McGarrigle, Joan Baez, Mary Chapin Carpenter...and the list goes on. Encompassing the essence of these well-known musicians in her own musicianship, she trascends fads and dates and is graced with an increasing listernership and growing respect throughout music communities. Kate follows in the footsteps of our culture's meaningful songwriters and authors; her songs are biographical, historical, philosophical and humanistic. In addition to performing her own compositions, she is a sought after vocalist, fiddler and guitar player, working regularly with other artists.
Kate MacLeod is living proof that time, maturity, and a good place to grow only make you better. Kate composes classic American music. Having grown up on the east coast, then residing in the western region of Utah for decades, home of rich folklore, the roaming grounds of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch and the land from where Utah Phillips took his name, she currently spends what little spare time she has in the northwest corner of our country near Seattle. Her slow western migration has fueled her appreciation and understanding of the American tapestry. Her songwriting style and live performances display an unbreakable link between traditional music and cutting-edge contemporary songwriting. Her collection of original songs includes a spectrum of material; from thoughtful songs of love and the human experience, to songs based on books, on philosophical questions or about folk legends. By request, she has written music based on historic events and personalities. She has been hailed as one of the “Ten Acts to Watch” by the editors of the MusicHound Folk Essential Album Guide. Originally from the Washington D.C. area, she is based in Salt Lake City and tours throughout the United States and Europe. Her music has been described by reviewers as reflecting the panoramic western landscape, perhaps due to her long residence in Utah. Kate's songs have been featured on nationally syndicated radio shows including Tom May's “River City Folk,” the holiday program hosted by Judy Collins, “Peace on Earth,” and have been sung by others on “A Prairie Home Companion.” You will find fans of many music genres in an audience gathered to hear Kate MacLeod perform. Her songs catch the ears of new artists, traditional singers, bluegrass musicians, celtic musicians and songwriters of many styles. Her songs find new life through other musicians at jam sessions and performances throughout the country and have been recorded by artists from California to the Czech Republic.
In 2011, you can hear exactly what experience and maturity can bring to an artist. At age 50, instead of packing it in, or losing an edge, Kate is now creating some of her best, and still growing. Twenty-somethings are singing her songs and audiences are beginning to catch on to the versatility of her repertoire. Recently, Kate was producer for the state of Utah-based Utah Phillips Tribute CD recording--a dream come true for Kate. Also released this year is the second Kate MacLeod and Kat Eggleston duo recording, Lost and Found, now available through Waterbug Records. This new duo recording recently released to radio has already been chosen as a featured recording on stations such as Celtic Radio and Iowa Public Radio. Kate and Kat also worked together as co-producers for Seattle-based musician Rose Laughlin's 2011release, House of Memory. Kate has a busy performance year including guest appearances with the song-cycle performance group Red Rock Rondo, and will be joining in on pianist Robin Spielberg's American Tapestery concerts.
Her latest solo recording, Blooming,
will "rock your world" in one way or another. Kate went to Nashville,
TN to record this project with Tim O'Brien as producer,
David Ferguson as engineer, and musicians Darrel Scott, Byron
House, and Kenny Malone. The outcome is a culmination of her love and experience
with the styles of American music that she has been performing most of
her life. On this recording you will hear twelve songs expressed in
shades of
country, folk, bluegrass, folk-rock, pop, art-song and sounds of
modern Americana music held together in a project that is full of
personality and ease. With the help and inspiration of the musicians
she was working with, Kate gave her all on this recording. Blooming
is distributed by
Waterbug Records.
Becoming a full-time musician is a more recent mark on my life's time line. As I worked in other areas of life, none of that work seemed to be able to displace the time that I spent on music. I would eventually put work aside if it interfered with music. I've tended to my children and watched them grow up. I've been performing with various musicians and music groups for many years and have learned an incalculable amount of music from many cultures. Since I was a teenager I've written songs. I've lost track of many of them. Music groups in my region began singing my songs before I recorded any of them myself. I created my first recording because I knew that my local radio station would play it, for they featured me as guest performer many times, singing my original songs. Since then, things have grown at a grass-roots pace and I am happy to travel anywhere to play music. I've had to learn how to perform on stage, as it is a different skill than making the music sound. Most of all, despite the overly commercial and complicated world we live in, I've learned that music does make a difference in people's lives.
One of my favorite songs that I sing to myself almost every day is... Keep On The Sunny Side Of Life. I highly recommend this song for everday use. It works especially well in the car.
Biographical and promotional information is also avalailable in a PDF file on the Press Kit page.
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