Presently residing in Hoboken,
New Jersey, where she spends a good deal of her time
tending her garden through the ravages of the
weather, Kate Jacobs is a talented singer-songwriter
whose terms of reference go way beyond the usual. On
a recent visit she presented a stunning solo acoustic
set despite the burden of a good old fashioned
English cold! She brought a storybook with her full
of autobiographical and family inspired songs that
brought to mind Iris Dement in their concision and
the purity of her voice. However trying to pin down
Jacobs art is difficult as she is as likely to sing
about Russian poets, wrecked cars, T.B. wards and the
Spanish Civil War as the more usual staples of the
american songwriters craft. As well as presenting
material from latest disc 'hydrangea' which contained
the more 'historical' songs including the wonderful
'Eddy went to Spain' she also revealed the depth her
back catalogue.
So far she has released three
discs. The first 'The calm comes after' 1993 came
about after Kate traded in a background in ballet for
an acoustic guitar to " see about the songs in
my head". Those songs came out of a life that
started in Virginia before being tranplanted to
Europe. Second disc 'What about regret' from 1995
seems to be well worth seeking out going by some of
the beautiful country travelogue songs she presented
live. A song about a field full of old cars really
stuck in the memory.
Dave Schramm, Vicky Peterson
and Susan Cowsill as well as former Db-er Peter
Holsapple assisted in the making of 'Hydrangea'. This
disc betrays the pop history of these participants.
To my mind it is selection of strong songs that would
have been better presented straight as in her live
performance. The backings tend toward the
over-produced. For somebody as obviously talented as
Kate the necessity to gild the lily with the minimum
of decoration would in my opinion pay off handsomely.
Having said that the afore-mentioned 'Eddy's Gone to
Spain' survives the production which sometimes swamps
her delicate voice as does the jolly 'Hope is a weed'
. If you're any kind of fan of interesting country/
pop crossover in the manner of The Mary Janes then
you should check this disc out. I look forward to her
next spin around these islands and hope that the band
lets her voice flower not wilt because it's one of
the best things I've heard in this Oxfordshire garden
all year.
dRumKe
