Goldings, a player with James
Taylor, Norah Jones, John Mayer, De La Soul, Beck, others, called back. “Tie Me
To You” arrives April 17th.
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Kathleen
Grace as photographed by Emilia Pare
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Kathleen
Grace | In The Press
“Genre-blurring dexterity... The airwaves should be
full of Grace.” — JazzTimes
“Smart, alluring and evocative.” — The Washington Post
“The stuff of imaginative talent on the rise.” — Los Angeles Times
“Mixes styles to create her own sound.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Echoes of Linda
Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.” — Downbeat
“Grace’s bright,
clear voice reflects simple beauty and subtle wisdom.” — LA Weekly
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Kathleen Grace (with Larry Goldings)
Tie Me To You
(Monsoon Records)
April 17th, 2020
Track Listing:
01. Tie Me To You
(Kathleen Grace & Larry Goldings)
02. Where Or When
(Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart)
03. Everywhere
(Kathleen Grace)
04. John The Revelator (Traditional)
05. Berceuse
(George Moustaki)
06. The Thill Is Gone (Ray Henderson & Lew Brown)
07. Embarcadero
(Kathleen Grace & Darek Oleszkiewicz)
08. Love For Sale
(Cole Porter)
10. I’ll Follow The Sun (John Lennon & Paul McCartney)
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Kathleen Grace (with Larry Goldings) | About
Kathleen Grace’s
latest album, Tie Me To You, was born from a place of awakening, the kind
that can only trigger massive change, great loss and also, hope. It is the
product of finally seeing yourself fully for the first time and the price you pay to do so.
In her case, it cost her a marriage that had consumed
her entire adult life. It also marked the birth of a new woman, one who would
call a new man to her side — a man who, ultimately, could not stay.
Amidst this love and loss, Grace barely slept. Instead, she was flooded with music day and
night — poems, songs, and melodies. She
imagined recording this new music freely, in the moment, with no big production
or fixes; she envisioned simple songs broken down to their most basic parts.
Soon, she picked up the phone and called Larry Goldings, a legendary keyboardist
who has worked with James Taylor, Norah Jones, John Mayer, and others. She said simply, “Listen, I need to make a
record. And you’re the only one in the world I can make it with. Can you call
me back?”
He did.
And so it was that Grace found herself in the only place left that made any sense: a
recording studio in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake, California.
The pair recorded live in the low light of the wood-framed building, often
producing songs in single takes. What emerged is a portrait of a woman exposed
as she mourns what she must let go of in order to keep reaching for herself.
The result is a new sound for Grace,
one that is more vulnerable and bold, one that embraces her eclecticism without
apology.
Grace explains, “I remember this time so clearly, the
tastes, the colors, and the sounds. The feeling of sitting next to Larry on a
piano bench without headphones and just singing. Singing songs only for me,
most of which I’d never sung before. Singing to myself and also to the men I
loved. It’s all there in the music. Forever. Trapped in a snow globe of
emotion.”
Grace and Goldings
invited masterful partners into their creation of Tie Me To You. Bass
player David Piltch (KD Lang) appears throughout the album,
and violinist Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers) is a special guest appearing
as both a soloist and string section.
The project was championed by Grammy®-winning
engineer Sheldon Gomberg, who
offered up his studio for the better part of a year. A song record at its core,
Tie
Me To You features original music by both Grace and Goldings as
well as covers of pieces by French icon Francois
Hardy, blues great Son House,
and The Beatles, and standards by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers
& Hart.
Much like her music, Grace’s career has expanded in recent years beyond its jazz and
folk roots that saw her appearing at The
Montreux Jazz Festival and The
Kennedy Center for the Arts, with performances alongside rock band Portugal The Man at Coachella and throughout My Morning Jacket leader Jim James’ latest solo release, Uniform
Distortion. Grace also teaches
music at the Flora L. Thornton School of
Music at the University of Southern
California (USC).
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More about
Kathleen Grace and Tie Me To You by
Kathleen Grace (with Larry Goldings):
Kathleen
Grace grew up in the West, its vistas
etching an impression that would stay with the Tucson native as she traveled to
the dry hills of Los Angeles. Forging a career that has sent her around the
globe, Grace has played for a
worldwide audience whose diversity reflects her own eclectic musical tastes. Emerging
from her jazz roots, Grace’s sound
bridges traditional and nostalgic with an approachable modernity, taking her
into the blues, folk and pop-leaning realms.
“Jazz is a value system,” Grace explains, “I may not always be creating music specific to that
space, but I try to let its deepest truths of freedom, listening and trust
guide my path, my choices.”
Over time, Grace’s
organic evolution has led her to an expansive career, not only as an
interpreter of song, but also a respected songwriter in the modern folk and
Americana worlds. Her prior album, No Place To Fall, was a sun-drenched
landscape of music rooted in her desert upbringing and elegant country spirit,
and an undeniable evolution of Grace
as a naturally exquisite singer and songwriter, whose soulful instincts are
skillfully honed by her prior experience in jazz and blues.
“I’ve put out a few records in my life so far — some
jazz, some folk, some country,” Grace
says, “But this record, Tie Me To You, is the one the album
I never thought I’d make. The one that happened to me instead of me making it
happen, an album with no rehearsal and no fixes.
“My life was changing fundamentally and we made a
record documenting that change,” Grace
says. “Larry was remarkable to work
with, deeply trusting and intuitive, which I think helped me feel the same. We
laughed so much and became quite a team over the year it took to finish the
record. My gratitude to him is boundless. So here we are, at another beginning
in a life full of them.”
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Kathleen Grace | Links
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic
Promotion | Contact
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