Event

Catie Curtis & Lucy Kaplansky with Scott Miller

Scott will perform first, followed by Lucy, and then Catie.

Catie bio

Catie Curtis has been a fan favorite on the acoustic music scene for a number of years now. Her well-deserved reputation as one of our very best singer/songwriters has followed her through nine critically-acclaimed recordings. With her tenth and newest project, Hello Stranger, released in August 2009, she gifts her loyal fan base and entices new listeners with a recording that captures some of the magic of her live performances. With the help of her Nashville-based record label, Compass Records, she selected a few of Nashville's best musicians to make an album featuring fiddle, mandolin and banjo as well as acoustic guitar.

Catie Curtis and her producer, Garry West, put a fresh spin on some of Curtis's best-loved songs as well as several handpicked classics. The supporting musicians, Alison Brown and Stuart Duncan, along with Gary Marinelli (acoustic guitars, mandolin and resophonic guitar), Kenny Malone (drums and percussion) and Todd Phillips (acoustic bass) deliver these tunes with a pop, sizzle and shine. But most of all, the music is fun to listen to again and again. Country meets Catie in style!

Curtis has created a dedicated following that has grown steadily over the course of her 15-year career. With her live shows, film and tv placements, the 2006 International Songwriting Competition Grand Prize, and now the Hello Stranger string-band project, Curtis has proven that she's the real deal: a musician with the kind of raw talent and artistic maturity that makes her a force to be reckoned with, albeit a sweet force.

Lucy's Biography

She started out singing in Chicago bars. Then, barely out of high school, Lucy Kaplansky took off for New York City. There she found a fertile community of songwriters and performers - Suzanne Vega, John Gorka, Bill Morrissey, Cliff Eberhardt, and others - where she fit right in. With a beautiful flair for harmony, Lucy was everyone's favorite singing partner, but most often she found herself singing as a duo with Shawn Colvin. People envisioned big things for them; in fact, The New York Times said it was "easy to predict stardom for her." But then Lucy dropped it all.

Convinced that her calling was in another direction, Lucy left the musical fast track to pursue a doctorate in Psychology. Upon completing her degree, Dr. Kaplansky took a job at a New York hospital working with chronically mentally ill adults, and also started a private practice. Yet she continued to sing. Lucy was often pulled back into the studio by her friends, who now had contracts with record labels (and wanted her to sing on their albums). She harmonized on Colvin's Grammy-winning Steady On, on Nanci Griffith's Lone Star State of Mind and Little Love Affairs, and on four of John Gorka's albums. She also landed soundtrack credits, singing with Suzanne Vega on Pretty in Pink and with Griffith on The Firm, and several commercial credits as well - including "The Heartbeat of America" for Chevrolet.

Then Shawn Colvin - who was itching to produce a record - hooked up with Lucy, her ex-singing partner. They went into the studio, and it all came together. When Lucy's solo tapes got into the hands of Bob Feldman, president of Red House Records, he was blown away. Suddenly, Lucy was back in the music business. She signed with Red House and started playing gigs. Red House released The Tide in 1994 to rave reviews, and within six months Lucy signed with a major booking agency - Fleming Tamulevich & Associates - and began touring so much it required leaving her two psychologist positions behind.

Lucy's second album, Flesh and Bone (1996), was produced by Anton Sanko (producer of Suzanne Vega's Days of Open Hand), and it clearly showed a performer and songwriter stepping into her own. Some of Lucy's favorite singing partners joined her in the studio, including Jennifer Kimball (formerly of The Story), Richard Shindell, and John Gorka. Where The Tide had showcased Lucy's formidable interpretive skills, Flesh and Bone emphasized her development as a gifted songsmith. The album is graced with eight absorbing original songs, as well as four sharp covers.

Both The Tide and Flesh and Bone received significant radio airplay, and turned in impressive appappearancesthe Gavin Report's Americana and A3 charts (reaching the top 10 and top 20 respectively), as well as earning Honorable Mention Indie Awards from the Association for Independent Music (AFIM). She was also featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition," Mountain Stage, West Coast Live, Acoustic Cafe, and Vin Scelsa's "Idiot's Delight." Extensive touring in the U.S. and Europe have helped establish a far-reaching fan base. Lucy also contributed her story to a unique book, SOLO: Women Singer-Songwriters in Their Own Words, which includes some of the best known women on the music scene today: Ani DiFranco, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan and others. She is also featured in Lipshtick, a collection of essays by NPR commentator Gwen Macsai, which was published in the fall of 1999.

Lucy's voice continues to remain in high demand by her peers, and she can be heard on recently-released albums by Nanci Griffith and John Gorka. Another recent project combined the talents of Lucy, Dar Williams and Richard Shindell into a "folk supergroup" of sorts. Calling themselves Cry Cry Cry, the three chose to celebrate the amazing revitalization in contemporary songwriting, and recorded some of their favorite songs written by other artists. The resulting album, Cry Cry Cry (which The New Yorker dubbed "a collection of lovely harmonizing and pure emotion," and to which Entertainment Weekly gave an "A" rating), has met with astonishing success in stores and on radio. A national tour of sold-out concerts by the trio has served to introduce Lucy's luminous voice to a new expanse of eager listeners.

Since the release of Ten year Night Lucy has toured extensively in Ireland and the UK. This album is her most successful record to date and received the AFIM award (Association For Independent Music) for Best Pop Album in 1999. Her new recording, Every Single Day, features Lucy's sumptuous voice on seven original tracks (cowritten with her husband Rick Litvin and Duke Levine) and four cover songs. The players (Larry Campbell, Zev Katz, Jon Herington, Duke Levine and Ben Wittman) bring a wide array of talent and inspiration, and the rich harmonies of John Gorka, Richard Shindell, Buddy Miller and Jennifer Kimball combine with Lucy's voice to produce a unique and amazing vocal synthesis. Voices and instruments coalesce exquisitely into a perfect blend of folk-pop and alt-country. The performance is riveting: the nuance, power and texture in her voice are matched by the imagery and emotion of her lyrics and melodies. She gets to the heart of a song, touching listeners and leaving them wanting more.

Scott Miller Biography

Scott Miller blends folk and rock like there aint no words for. The power of storytelling with the power of a compressed electric guitar comes through this Virginian not heard since the likes of Wayne Newton (fellow Virginian) or The Statler Brothers (also of the Commonwealth.) Not even since Thomas Jefferson (Virginian) and Woodrow Wilson (another Virginian) formed their rock trio with drummer Stewart Copeland (northern Virginian) League of Nations.

Unlike most of the faux-simplified-effete-elite-Americana/ Alt-Country world, Miller was actually raised on a working farm. His parents were a WWII generation couple that carried on the Spartan lifestyle of their Scots-Irish forefathers. Miller has described the lifestyle as Amish that drink.

In 1990, Miller left the family farm and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he started scraping a living in local bars and clubs. Miller then founded a rock band called the V-roys, the first band signed to Jack Emersons (R.I.P.) and Steve Earles E-Squared label. His songwriting became more mature. His understanding of the music biz (It aint called show-friends.) became more astute, but his guitar playing remained the ham fisted flat-picking of his youth. He calls them solos.

Releasing four albums over the next 6 years for the highly respected Sugar Hill Label: THUS ALWAYS TO TYRANTS ( '01), UPSIDE/DOWNSIDE ('03--a #1 Americana Record), CITATION ('05), and the live album RECONSTRUCTION ('07) , Miller and the Commonwealth spent a year as the house band for the WB Network's "Blue Collar TV with Jeff Foxworthy." Miller recounts, Suddenly the band and I didnt have to load up and travel every night, we could walk across from the theatre where the television show was taped into a 5 star hotel bar, and make great money doing it. I hated it, of course.

And now, like most artists with a brain these days,Miller has founded his own record label (F.A.Y. Recordings) and is releasing a brand new record for '09 titled FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. This new batch of songs are already causing quite a stir among fans and critics. And critics of fans. And fans who criticize critics. And fans who criticize other fans. And even the critics who critique the critics of criticizing fans...

A parting word from the artist: "If this record gets to number one I will send each of you a REAL LIVE PONY!

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High Noon Saloon
701 E. Washington Ave.
Madison, WI 53703
United States

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