Kathleen Grace: The Beginning of Something Big

As someone who entered music initially through performing classical music, I used to find myself late to the party in discovering much-loved bands or songwriters. Hearing singer-songwriter Kathleen Grace in an intimate listening room this past Tuesday, I felt like I was witnessing an artist at the beginning of something big.

By Debra Penberthy

To hear Kathleen Grace sing a song is to enter the world in which that song lives. One can almost see cinematic elements begin to appear: costumes, landscapes, and leading men. Clearly living every word she intones, Kathleen tenderly takes us along for the ride. A jazz singer by training, and currently the head of the vocal jazz department at USC’s Thornton School of Music, she stands on a bedrock of unquestionable vocal and songwriting chops. She’s performed jazz globally and has put out three jazz albums. Luckily for us, she’s now pouring those talents into the fertile ground of Americana and country music. In May, she released what she calls her “Americana torch song” debut album No Place to Fall.

On a genuinely dark and stormy night this past Tuesday, I made the journey to Silverlake to see Kathleen with a couple of these collaborators at a much-storied watering hole, the Hyperion Tavern. I had to turn around a couple of times before finding the place, which seems unmarked. A group was huddled out front, and though they let us pass through, I felt like I was missing the password to a modern-day speakeasy. Entering, I stepped back in time. Soaked in what appeared to be ancient wood, the room’s main nod to the last fifty years was the rotary phone. On the miniature cabaret-like stage, along with her frequent collaborator and bassist Erik Kertes and guitar-player Philip Krohnengold, Kathleen performed stripped-down versions of much of her new album, which is a mixture of carefully-curated covers and originals. Kathleen described her recent release this way:

I always like to blur the lines between genres and frankly I often just ignore them. This album is about me falling in love with country and traditional American roots music, and letting that love filter through my songwriting and jazz experience.

Because I know Kathleen’s work mainly through her songwriting, I asked her why she chose to release about half covers and half originals for No Place to Fall. She explained:

For this record, it was about capturing a spirit throughout the album be it through originals or covers. I love songwriting, and it’s a huge part of who I am. But interpreting music is equally inspiring to me. And when I think of country artists whom I love, Dolly Parton is big influence thanks to her songwriting. But I also love Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt because they’re great miners and interpreters of song. Our world is so heavily singer-songwriter influenced that there is a little bit of a negative reaction to doing a cover. I come from jazz, where it’s about finding your own distinct personal path through a song, so that when you perform it, you’ve made it brand new again.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, sums up why Kathleen is one singer to take the time to hear live and on record. She sets a high goal for her art, and she achieves it. But the truth is in the figgy pudding. Don’t take my word for it. Watch this video of her countrified cover of the jazz-standard “Mood Indigo” (Ellington-Bigard-Mills).

Stay tuned in the new year, for her second release from her high-energy country side project: the band Fleeting Heart, a collaboration with Erik Kertes. (Inside scoop: check out their touching song “Living with your ghost,” which is available here).

! Check out more of Kathleen’s works on her website.

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Hyperion Tavern (1941 Hyperion Ave, Los Angles, 90027)
Price: free! (Bar is cash only)