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RELEASED: Jan. 8, 2004
DANVILLE, KY—Centre College will host an evening of music featuring Nashville singer and songwriter Kate Campbell. Campbell will perform on Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Weisiger Theater in the College's Norton Center for the Arts. The show is free and open to the public.
Campbell is known for her eloquent gift for storytelling and easy command of a full range of American music styles. A critic for Billboard magazine wrote "Kate Campbell is fast making herself known as one of the more innovative and fresh writers around today."
As the daughter of a Baptist preacher from Sledge, Miss., Campbell's formative years were spent in the core of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and the experiences of those years have shaped her heart, character and convictions. As a child of the South, Campbell's musical tastes were influenced by soul, R&B, Southern rock, country and folk music.
On a recent album, Monuments, Campbell's musical vision combined and extended these influences into a rootsy and contemporary sound. The CD cover artwork is a photograph of William Edmondson's Sculpture Yard. Edmondson (1872-1951) was the first African-American artist to be featured in a solo show at New York's Museum of Modern Art (1937). His folk-carvings inspired Campbell to write the songs for the album.
Campbell comments, "My albums usually have a theme, and with Monuments, Edmondson's life and carvings were the impetus for the recording. Each of the songs on the album references a monument of some kind."
On Campbell's most recent album, Twang on a Wire, she temporarily set aside her own formidable songwriting ability to salute a dozen singles culled from the years 1968-1975 by women country singers including ones written by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Tammy Wynette. Twang on a Wire is an enhanced CD and includes a movie about the making and recording of the album. It contains interviews with Campbell and live studio performance footage.
Campbell's Moonpie Dreams (1997) and Visions of Plenty (1998) garnered "Folk Album of the Year" nominations from the Nashville Music Awards. Campbell has played at the prestigious Cambridge Folk Festival (England), Merlefest, Philadelphia Folk Festival and Port Fairy Folk Festival (Australia). She has been featured on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Live From Mountain Stage.
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