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Nina Gerber

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Liner Notes
These comments start at the point where most end, since to me the work of Kate Wolf is quite indescribable.

Kate Wolf has a naturally gorgeous voice; a deep, rich, beautifully tuned vocal instrument. Just listen to the first four bars of the opening track: "Here I stand alone again, reaching out across the room." Kate's voice is immediately personal, poignant and divinely inspired. I would be more than a little dishonest if I didn't admit that, to me, anything Kate Wolf sings with that voice is going to sound good.

Perhaps a good point, right there, to conclude the notes, but there are other things to be said.

You can learn something about a composer-lyricist who performs her own material by noting the tune titles. Kate quite obviously treats her songs as very intimate expressions of her feelings. Feelings toward the world with which she has chosen to surround herself, and feelings toward those who share that world.

All the songs here are Wolf compositions; each is orchestrated by the instrumental ensemble's unusual piano player, Bill Griffin.

Griffin, as you will note from the very first stanzas, has a feeling for Kate's voice - he treats it with affection, supporting it (indeed fondling it) with original and enhancing instrumental mixes. The mandolin-accordion blending on "Safe at Anchor," the violin-steel guitar combination on "September Song," the pair of guitars under Celtic harps on "Seashore Mountain Lady," etc. These are not just strokes of ingenious musicianship, they are clear signs that Griffin has a feel for Kate's voice and for her compositions.

I am often erroneously typed as a "jazz critic," so when Kate asked me to write some comments for this LP, I was both surprised and flattered. "Why me?" I asked. "Because I think you have a feeling for my music," she said.

She was, and is, right.

Philip Elwood
Music columnist, San Francisco Examiner

Musicians
Kate Wolf vocals, guitar, piano
Bill Amatneek bass
Darol Anger cello
Rick Byars harmony vocal
Christopher Caswell Celtic harps
Cyrus Clarke guitar
Nina Gerber guitar, mandolin
Bill Griffin piano, mandocaster
Jim Nail accordion
Todd Phillips bass
Dan Rubin violin, violectra
Peter Siegel pedal steel guitar
David West guitar

Credits
Produced by: Kate Wolf and Bill Griffin
Musical arrangements: Bill Griffin
String arrangements: Dan Rubin
Engineer: Bob Shumaker
Mixing: Kate, Bill Griffin, Bob, Tom, Jeff and Nina, all together
Mastering: Jim Sintetos, Kendun Recorders
Cover design: Ted Sharpe
CD design: Elizabeth Weil
Photographs: Ron Blanchette

Special Thanks to: Jeff Alexson, Tom Diamant, Stuart Gordon, Barry Olivier, Barbara Ehrenberger, Janis Campbell, U. Utah Phillips, Nina Gerber, Max & Hannah Wolf - You all know why

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