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. – Rich Warren.