Sound Off
On our minds and on our playlists
Kate Wolf had the kind of unvarnished voice that could easily go in one ear and slip out the other. When I first heard her music a few years ago, it didn’t strike me as exceptional - until I couldn’t get it out of my head for several weeks straight.
Wolf, a singer-songwriter who dabbled in folk and country without ever neatly fitting into either category, took over my heart and mind by telling her stories of love and loss simply. I never knew an acoustic guitar and a voice could be so devastating together until I heard Wolf sing “Cornflower Blue.’’ I eventually decided that her songs, much like Townes Van Zandt’s, reminded me of barley: rather plain and consistent, but ultimately hearty and good for you.
Wolf, who died in 1986 from leukemia at age 44, is back in the spotlight this month with Collectors’ Choice Music reissuing five of her albums - “Back Roads’’ (1976), “Lines on the Paper’’ (1977), “Safe at Anchor’’ (1979), “Give Yourself to Love’’ (1983), and “The Wind Blows Wild’’ (1988). For neophytes, “Back Roads,’’ her debut, is a good place to start, though “Give Yourself to Love’’ is a fine collection of live recordings that capture the intimacy of Wolf’s performances.
Taken as a whole, the albums are a formidable reminder of why Wolf’s catalog has aged so well and why she’s still credited as a major influence on such contemporary singer-songwriters as Alela Diane and Mariee Sioux. There’s nary an ounce of fat on Wolf’s songs, and her clean production gives the music a crisp, evergreen feel. Wolf’s music has never fallen out of fashion because it was never tethered to a specific time or place.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
