Performer
extraordinaire, Laura Kemp (has the) ability to make an audience
chuckle, tear up, and feel an instant connection with her
lyrics - all in the course of one song. - San Francisco
Bay Guardian
Laura
Kemp is certainly in the top 5 of all unsigned folk/acoustic-rock
artists - Folk Web, Boston
Give
Bob Dylan a good voice and you've got the idea of the impact
of Laura Kemp's message and music. - Victory Review,
Seattle, WA
I
was struck by your fluidity and rhythmic security. Your
guitar has a confidence that doesn’t need a band to
pull off an arrangement, and your poignant integration of
voice, writing, and playing makes me think of Dougie Maclean
or David Wilcox. - Timothy, CA
Performing
Songwriter,
July/Aug. 2005.
The
sun-touched folk songs on Laura Kemp's May are as clear and
cool as rainwater. This is unadulterated acoustic folk. Though
the country/bluegrass flavor is enhanced by some great mandolin
playing by Steve Smith as well as some nice banjo, dobro and
fiddle work, there is also something in Kemp's melodies and
voice that lend a touch of twang to the mix. This gives the
record a magnetic blend of classic American folk with Southern
Americana, the result sounding like a mix of Joan Baez and
Shawn Colvin or Joni Mitchell and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Kemp's
warm voice and agile melodies help this all along. Then there's
the highlight track "Sword Ferns and Salmonberries,"
which sounds like an Appalachian Civil War ballad. It's an
anomaly on this record, the most hillbilly and least sweeping
of the tunes, but it somehow glues the whole lovely package
together. - CS
Sing
Out!, Spring 2005.
A
hint of Kate Wolf infuses Laura Kemp's music...though I would
hasten to add that Kemp is not a derivative of Wolf. While
she ends this recording with an appealing version of Wolf's
"The Lilac and the Apple," with only guitar and
harmonica accompaniment, the phrasing is very different from
Wolf's. Kemp co-produced the CD with her engineer Tony Kaltenberg
creating dynamite sound from fiddle, mandolin, bass, Dobro,
and banjo in various combinations. She accompanies herself
on guitar on all but one of the ten tracks, with an occasional
harmonica part. There is something organically alive about
this recording. Kemp sings with a beautiful, assured voice
that knows where it's going. She knows which words she wants
you to heed. She knows how to turn a phrase. Most of the nine
original songs here contain a bit of the earth, nature and
the seasons. Thus song titles such as "May," "Love
and Soil," "Snow Returns" and "Sword Ferns
and Salmonberries." Of course, some of them also sing
about love of place and people, present and past. Her one
overtly political piece is "T.V. Song" that relates
how much better life is without a TV. She questions if she
would be playing guitar had she grown up with a TV, which
was forbidden in her home. May appeals to the ear as
much as the intellect, and Laura Kemp creates a delightfully
attractive sound. - RWarr
Talking
Leaves, Spring 2004
I suspect
I have already exhausted my supply of superlatives in describing
Laura Kemp's music over the past decade, and in the process
have violated, many times, my current policy of not using
comparative terms when assessing artistic merit. Nevertheless,
what I wrote about her first CD, Volcano (1994), in an early
Talking Leaves, still seems just as true to me today:
"Laura Kemp...has more talent as a singer-songwriter-musician
than most nationally recognized recording artists, and Volcano
is a better album than the vast majority of those I have heard,
regardless of musical genre....It is fortunate for Eugeneans
that her work has not yet been spoiled by commercialization....[She
is] a keen observer of the human condition, splendidly gifted
at transforming life into art through music, and helping others
share in the experience."
Since then, with two more equally accomplished CDs, Corduroy
(1997) and Alone (2000), and regular live appearances, she
has continued to be arguably the most consistently well-loved
performer on Eugene's folk singer-songwriter scene, winning
a variety of honors including "Favorite Female Musician"
virtually every year in Eugene Weekly's readers' poll. In
a variety of configurations--with the Laura Kemp Band, Babes
With Axes, Kemp-Kelley-Wakefield, in various duos, in songwriters-in-the-round
appearances, and solo--she has used her beautiful voice, adept
acoustic guitar work, harmonica, and occasional dobro or other
instrument to bring a steady supply of fresh songs to audiences
in Eugene and throughout the region. Many of us regular fans
are familiar with at least two to three albums' worth of as
yet unrecorded material by Laura, some of which her guitar
students (including me) have learned to play even without
any recordings to imitate.
Laura's eagerly anticipated new CD, May, goes a long way toward
filling in the gaps in her recorded repertoire. But it does
much more than that. A skillfully and beautifully assembled
song cycle, it presents a cohesive whole, and sets a new standard
for a Rain Water Records album. It surpasses even Laura's
fine previous recordings in the quality of the performances,
the depth and range of emotion and experience conveyed, the
beauty and power of the music.
Laura's concerts never fail to be moving, satisfying, grounding
experiences for me, reminding me of much of what's most important
in my life. To achieve that effect on a CD is an ambitious
feat, but Laura and her well-chosen array of guest musicians
have accomplished it here. This disc preserves the immediacy
and inspiration of Laura's songs while also reflecting a care
and attention to musical detail likely to generate ongoing,
lasting pleasure in even the most discriminating of listeners.
Some tracks, like "Sword Ferns and Salmonberries,"
are beautiful in the simplicity of the arrangement (just voice
and banjo); others, like "Snow Returns," are intoxicating
in the rich tapestry of sounds they weave from multiple instruments.
Nearly all of the songs have something to do with land, the
seasons, and/or weather, as well as with such themes as love,
gardening, relationship, and personal feelings and choices.
Though I have never been to the specific place it describes,
the wistful, haunting "Hannah Branch" evokes in
me memories of many places I have loved and left. Sounding
like an old-fashioned hoedown, the bluegrassy "In Time"
celebrates surrender and transformation. "Rootless Way,"
a favorite in Laura's set list for ten years now, contemplates
the roads that take many of us away from one another, in this
culture and time in which geographic separation from friends
and family can be the norm rather than the exception. "May,"
a song from Alone recorded here in a new arrangement, explores
the emotional territory of many non-parents' perennial question:
whether to remain childless when the desire to have a baby
can be so strong. A bittersweet, evocative "Cold Comfort"
shares the pain and paradox of a relationship that has gone
sour. It serves as a reminder that we are all capable of being
in the emotional and spiritual "pits," and (as the
rest of the album proves) emerging to see the beauty even
in that journey into darkness.
The upbeat "Love and Soil" follows, bringing together
love of gardening and love of a person and distilling two
complex arts into their essences: a willingness to embrace
life. The funky, humorous, and touching "T.V. Song"
should convince anyone to at least consider what home could
be like without a T.V. set. The gently driving "Snow
Returns" mixes some of the nostalgia of "Hannah
Branch" with separation from a lover and the knowledge
that "spring will bring on changes new." Like "Love
and Soil," "Sword Ferns and Salmonberries"
is inspired by the earth and by love. A cover of Kate Wolf's
"The Lilac and the Apple" closes the album on a
note similar to that which opened it--reflecting on the passage
of time, changes, and the perennial presence of the land,
whose readiness to nurture transcends generations.
These tracks feature, in various combinations, vocals, acoustic
guitar, harmonica (all provided by Laura, with Dennis Berck
adding harmony vocals on one song), dobro (played by Sally
VanMeter), mandolin and mandola (Steve Smith), banjo (Mark
Thomas), fiddle (Roy Brewer), violin (David Burham), upright
bass (Suzanne Pearce), fretless bass (T.R. Kelley), and drums
and percussion (Brian West).
Among the hidden treats on May are a sly reference to Jimi
Hendrix (can you find it?), a feline commentary on the proceedings
(from Laura's cat Chumley), and, not-so-hidden, a wonderful
cover painting by Julia Lynch. Co-producer Tony Kaltenberg
contributed his musician's ear, studio finesse, and optimism
in the face of a complete hard drive meltdown. As was said
about Sgt. Pepper (to which Laura is, understandably, steadfastly
resisting comparison, despite May's thematic and musical richness
and the hundreds of hours poured into its creation)...a splendid
time is guaranteed for all.
(I mean that literally: if you buy it on my recommendation
and don't like it, I will pay you for it and find it a good
home. I'm serious.)