June 8, 2022

Greetings -

We're all so happy to be gearing up for Grass Valley -- and hope to see you there. I finally get to wear that sun hat I got in February, 2020!

And then, a few days later I get to play the Kate Wolf Music Festival with Laurie Lewis and Nina Gerber. What a joy to collaborate on our set of songs!

Our performance and workshop schedule for the Father's Day Festival is below ... along with other upcoming concerts and festivals.

Also below: news (and an appeal) about a beloved bluegrass musician who needs your help.

Thank you very much for your continuing support and enthusiasm; we couldn't do this without you! 

- Kathy for (L->R) Annie Staninec, Tom Bekeny, Cary Black, and Greg Booth, aka the Kathy Kallick Band

A photo (by Leslie Abbott) of the KKB the last time they were on the Grass Valley stage.

We all look just the same!

CONCERTS & FESTIVALS

June 16-17: Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival - ​Nevada County Fairgrounds, Grass Valley, CA

Presented by the California Bluegrass Association

KKB performances:

• Thur. (8:45 pm): Main Stage

• Fri. (1:55 pm): Pioneer Stage

• Fri. (7:45 pm): Main Stage

KKB workshop -

Thur. (6:00 pm): The Best Parts Of Being In A Bluegrass Band - location tba

June 23-26: Kate Wolf Music Festival - Black Oak Ranch - 5 miles north of Laytonville, CA

• Kathy’s playing this festival with Laurie Lewis and Nina Gerber

July 6: The Prickly Pear - 160 E. Main St., Lyons, CO

July 8-10: High Mountain Hay Fever Bluegrass Festival - Westcliffe, CO

Aug. 12-14: Mt. St. Helens Bluegrass Festival - Toledo, WA

• Annie's playing this festival with Whiskey Deaf

Aug. 20: Bowers Mansion Bluegrass Festival - Washoe Valley (near Reno), NV

Oct. 4: John Prine Celebration - Freight & Salvage, Berkeley

• Kathy's doing several songs written by another great songwriter from Chicago

looking (way) ahead ...

Feb. 19, 2023: KKB double bill w/ April Verch & Joe Newberry at the Freight & Salvage, Berkeley!

MUSIC CAMPS

June 12-15: California Bluegrass Association Music Camp - Grass Valley, CA

• Cary's teaching bass

June 19-25: Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp (Bluegrass Week) - Maryville, TN 

• Greg's teaching dobro

July 30 - Aug. 5: Puget Sound Guitar Workshop - Bremerton, WA

• Kathy's teaching guitar and (Grayson & Whitter) Repertoire
• Cary's teaching bass

DANNY PAISLEY NEEDS OUR HELP!

A group of fans and friends of the one and only Danny Paisley have created a GoFundMe campaign to help Danny while he’s off the road receiving medical treatment for his throat cancer. This group from the California Bluegrass Association hopes to raise $47,000 -- in honor of the CBA's 47th Annual Father’s Day Festival in 2022 — all of which will be given to Danny and his son Ryan (pictured above) and other family (and Southern Grass band) members.

Kathy is one member of this CBA group -- which also includes Darby Brandli, Angelica Branum, Laurie Lewis, Tristan Scroggins, Annie Staninec, Peter Thompson, and Molly Tuttle -- and she's recently posted this update to the GoFundMe campaign:

I first heard Danny Paisley playing and singing with his dad, Bob Paisley. The two of them created a wall of sound and incredible rhythm that’s characteristic of Galax Bluegrass. Danny followed in his dad's style of playing rhythm guitar with his thumb pick, which is so distinctive. 

It is Danny's singing that is his trademark. Instantly recognizable, with an ornamented, soulful, completely unique sound. Like all my favorite singers, Danny imbues each song with his own phrasing, distinctive note choices, and a tonal quality that sets him apart. It's sparkly, deep, rich, and yet conversational. So bluegrass!

Danny is influential in his commitment to expression, but is not much imitated, because: how could a person imitate that unprecedented style? It's not singing that is easily accessible to everybody else, but essential to Danny. IBMA's Bluegrass Male Vocalist of the year — three times!

So this stellar person, one of the sweetest men in the world with a ready laugh and kind words for everyone, is entering treatment for throat cancer. He and his family need all the support we can muster. There is a bit of health care in place, but the loss of income and expenses of care can be devastating.

Please dig deep and contribute to this GoFundMe campaign. It's not just the money, but the outpouring of support and concern that will help to lift him up.

But it's also the money. So let's pitch in.

Thanks! - KK

NEW ALBUM!

More than 20 years ago, Kathy released My Mother’s Voice (Copper Creek), a collection of songs learned from Dodi Kallick, who was a folksinger and educator in Chicago’s thriving folk scene of the 1950s and ‘60s. Kathy’s recordings with a number of musical associates of songs she heard her mother sing garnered rave reviews, but the album lacked one thing: performances by Dodi Kallick herself.

   A tape discovered in the WFMT (Chicago) archives of Dodi’s appearances on two radio shows has inspired an 18-track sequel to Kathy’s 2001 album, combining highlights from those programs with new recordings by Kathy with musical pals, including the Kathy Kallick Band, of additional songs learned from Dodi.

   The official release for What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? is June 17th, and there will be copies of this 2-CD set available at Grass Valley.

KATHY KALLICK (guitar, vocal) with

1. MOLLY TUTTLE (guitar, vocal): Put My Little Shoes Away * see below *

2. TRISTAN SCROGGINS (mandolin): Sittin' On Top of the World

3. CLIFF PERRY (guitar, vocal) & LAUREL BLISS (dobro, vocal): Little Moses

4. JIM HURST (guitar, vocal): Jimmy Brown the Newsboy

5. KATHY KALLICK BAND*: Footprints In the Snow

6. KATHY KALLICK BIG BAND**:The Wild Side Of Life > It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels

7. ANNIE STANINEC (fiddle): Handsome Molly

8. MIKE COMPTON (mandolin, vocal) & JOE NEWBERRY (banjo, vocal): Farther Along

9. LAURIE LEWIS (fiddle, voc) & SUZY THOMPSON (guitar, voc): What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?

*Annie Staninec: fiddle; Tom Bekeny: mandolin; Greg Booth: banjo; Cary Black: bass

**Annie Staninec: fiddle; Tom Bekeny: mandolin; Greg Booth: dobro; Cary Black: bass plus 

  Juniper Waller and Riley Thompson: vocals; Paul Shelasky: fiddle

 DODI KALLICK

1. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?

2. I'm A Long Time Traveling

3. Cotton-Eyed Joe

4. One Hundred Miles

5. Row Us Over the Tide

6. Red Clay Country

7. Down In the Willow Garden 

8. My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains

9. The Parting Glass

All tracks (except as noted): Dodi Kallick – vocal, dulcimer

     4: Dodi Kallick – vocal, guitar * 9: Dodi Kallick - vocal

All tracks (except as noted): The Midnight Special, WFMT, 1966 or 1969

     7: w/ Hobart Smith (fiddle), 1963 * 8: Old Town School Of Folk Music concert, 1966

“Dodi Kallick’s voice could be as tender as Carter Stanley, as plaintive as Piaf, or as cutting as a straight razor. It could bring sorrow to your heart or a smile to your lips; it all depended upon what Dodi wanted 

to do.” - Larry Ehrlich

Listen HERE for a sneak preview! 

Kathy & Molly do "Put My Little Shoes Away.” 

Kathy's Good Ol' Persons bandmate Paul Shelasky joined the KKB for some fin twiddling on a song that's part of What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? -- as are Kathy's daughters, Juniper and Riley, who added memorable vocal parts. Paul, Juniper, and Riley will all join the Kathy Kallick Band onstage at Grass Valley.

The aforementioned sun hat: