HOT BLUEGRASS & COOL ORIGINALS!

There is a tendency to think of West Coast bluegrass as being softer, jazzier, and somehow “other” than traditional. This can be the case, but there is also a school of bluegrass in Northern California which has, from the beginning, been steeped in Monroe-based tradition—as well as welcoming to women and original songs.

Kathy Kallick has been leading bands in this traditional brand of West Coast bluegrass since 1975. She continues to evolve as one of the music’s extraordinary composers and vocalists, releasing 14 albums (which include over 100 of her original songs), and receiving a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the California Bluegrass Association.

Kathy has been among the elite of contemporary songwriters and singers since co-founding the internationally-acclaimed band, Good Ol’ Persons. Originally comprising five women including Kathy and Laurie Lewis, the Good Ol’ Persons tweaked the bluegrass establishment—not only with their name and personnel but also by combining contemporary sensibilities with a traditional foundation. Evolving into a unique and influential band, they were among the first musicians to incorporate swing, Latin, Cajun, and other folk musics into bluegrass, and were trailblazers in featuring the songwriting, lead playing, and singing of women. For 20 years, the Good Ol’ Persons were anchored by the luminous, passionate vocals, exemplary rhythm guitar playing, and celebrated original compositions of Kathy Kallick.

• released four “solo” albums for Sugar Hill and Copper Creek
• released two Kathy Kallick Band albums
• collaborated with Laurie Lewis on an album for Rounder
• written and recorded award-winning music for children and families
• won a Grammy and two IBMA Awards for her part on “True Life Blues: The Songs Of Bill Monroe”
• had three title tracks and albums—“Call Me A Taxi,” “Walkin’ In My Shoes,” and “Warmer Kind Of Blue”—each spend close to a year in the upper echelon of the Bluegrass Unlimited National Bluegrass Survey (“the charts”)
• appeared on three high-profile collections of bluegrass songs by women on Rounder
• appeared on compilations of bluegrass songs about baseball, family, trains, heartbreak, mothers, and Christmas, as well as highlight albums from WinterGrass, MerleFest, Grass Valley, and Winterhawk festivals
• performed and recorded with the Frank Wakefield Band
• produced albums for High Country
• toured throughout North America, Europe, and Japan
• taught singing, songwriting, guitar playing, and given band workshops throughout the U.S. and in England
• collaborated with some of the country’s top acoustic musicians. These collaborations have included:
  • Kathy & the Little Big Band (with Keith Little, Todd Phillips, and John Reischman);
  • Kathy with Together (also including Laurie Lewis, Lynn Morris, Markie Sanders, and Sally Van Meter);
  • Kathy & Rustler’s Moon (with Tom Bekeny, Cindy Browne, and Bill Evans);
  • Kathy & the Reason & Rhyme Band (with Cindy Browne, Nina Gerber, Scott Nygaard, John Reischman, Amy Stenberg, and Brian Wicklund)
  • The Kathy Kallick Band, comprising Tom Bekeny, Avram Siegel, Amy Stenberg, and then Brian Wicklund for its first ten years, and whose members have since included Brian Godchaux, Laurie Lewis, Keith Little, Mark McCornack, Steve Pottier, Markie Sanders, Paul Shelasky, Suzy Thompson, Gene Tortora, and Sally Van Meter. The current edition of the Kathy Kallick Band is composed of Tom, Dan Booth, Greg Booth, Annie Staninec, and, on occasion, Chad Manning. For more on these wonderful musicians, visit the KKB page.

In addition, Kathy has collaborated on recordings with a number of those listed above, as well as many other notable musicians, including Darol Anger, Kate Brislin, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Carol Elizabeth Jones, James Leva, Claire Lynch, Jim Nunally, Tim O’Brien, Alan O’Bryant, Herb Pedersen, Sandy Rothman, Peter Rowan, Tom Rozum, Jody Stecher, Ron Stewart, Suzanne Thomas, Butch Waller, and Kevin Wimmer.

THE KATHY KALLICK BAND is equally at home at a bluegrass festival, kids show, and folk concert, and band members are experienced at leading workshops and teaching as well as performing. All the musicians in the Kathy Kallick Band are experienced, magnetic performers, and their presentations are as engaging as they are memorable, always based in HOT BLUEGRASS & COOL ORIGINALS.

“Kathy Kallick is a great singer in the bluegrass-country-folk idiom, and the show with her band included plenty of humor, pathos, zippy instrumentals, and country harmonies. And then there were the soaring moments that made me tingle.”
—LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM