My Mother’s Voice
(COPPER CREEK CCCD-0201)
In addition to being an award-winning singer and guitarist, Kathy Kallick is a highly-acclaimed songwriter. She has released albums with more than 60 of her original songs, several of which have been recorded by other bluegrass and folk artists.

However, for the first time, Kathy has released an album with none of her own compositions. Instead, My Mother’s Voice (on Copper Creek Records) is a collection of songs that Kathy learned from her Mom.

Dodi Kallick was a prominent Chicago-area folk singer from the mid-1950s through the ’70s. She was a driving force in establishing the coffeehouse scene there, and she performed, taught, and hosted music parties for other enthusiasts.

In addition, Dodi collected a number of great songs in a variety of ways, and passed them on to other members of the Chicago folk music community—as well as to her daughter, Kathy. Many of these songs have become traditional music standards, but are sometimes overlooked because they seem too familiar.

What Kathy Kallick found out was that other musicians also had learned these songs from family members and early mentors, and were delighted to rediscover them during the recording process. All the songs (other than two with the Kathy Kallick Band) were recorded with less than a full band, which, according to Kathy, “allowed each treatment to be hugely flavored by the great players and singers” and “seemed to bring the sound of the songs closer to the setting in which I first heard them: informally and comfortably in an intimate space.”

Some of those great players and singers collaborating with Kathy on My Mother’s Voice include Peter Rowan, Lynn Morris, Claire Lynch, Ron Stewart, Keith Little, Jones & Leva, Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin, Laurie Lewis, Darol Anger, and members of the Good Ol’ Persons and Kathy Kallick Band. Their treatments are generally based in bluegrass or old-time country music, but there are forays into blues, Celtic, and other folk forms.

Kathy Kallick may not have written the songs on My Mother’s Voice, but, through her singing and arrangements, she makes them her own. She breaths new life into old favorites as well as uncovering a few lesser-known gems, as she passes the music on to us—much as her mother did to her.

1. EAST VIRGINIA BLUES RealAudio    MP3 (776 K)
   Lynn Morris: vocal, clawhammer banjo
   Ron Stewart: fiddle
2. HELLO STRANGER (A.P. Carter, APRS/BMI) RealAudio    MP3 (4.2 MB)
   Peter Rowan: vocal, guitar
3. ROSEWOOD CASKET
   Keith Little: vocal
   Sally Van Meter: Lyric slide guitar
   Jim Nunally: guitar
4. COTTON-EYED JOE
   James Leva: vocal, fiddle
   Carol Elizabeth Jones: vocal
   Bill Evans: banjo
5. MY NATIVE HOME (A.P. Carter, APRS/BMI)
   Gene Tortora: dobro
   John Reischman: mandolin
6. ALL THE GOOD TIMES (ARE PAST AND GONE)
   Suzanne Thomas: vocal, guitar
7. MY HOME'S ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE MNTNS RealAudio    MP3 (740 K)
   Kate Brislin: vocal
   Jody Stecher: vocal, guitar
   Keith Little: banjo
8. SHADY GROVE
   Peter Rowan: vocal, mandolin, guitar
   Darol Anger: fiddle
9. I NEVER WILL MARRY
   Claire Lynch: vocal
   John Reischman: mandolin
10. WRECK OF THE OLD #9 (Carmen Jenks, Universal Duchess Music Corp./BMI)
    Laurie Lewis: vocal, fiddle
11. THE TAILOR & THE MOUSE
    A cappella
12. WILLIE POOR BOY RealAudio    MP3 (688 K)
    Sally Van Meter: Lyric slide guitar
    Jim Nunally: guitar
    Norton Buffalo: harmonica
13. BANKS OF THE OHIO
    Peter Rowan: vocal, guitar
14. ROW US OVER THE TIDE
    Jody Stecher: vocal, guitar
    Kate Brislin: vocal
    Amy Stenberg: vocal
15. WATERBOUND
    Amy Stenberg: vocal, bass
    Tom Bekeny: fiddle
    Avram Siegel: banjo
16. I'LL FLY AWAY
    Tom Bekeny: vocal, mandolin
    Avram Siegel: vocal, banjo
    Amy Stenberg: vocal, bass
17. WEB OF BIRDSONG (Bob Coltman) RealAudio    MP3 (3.5 MB)
    John Miller: guitar
    John Reischman: mandocello