Kate Meehan, Skip Landy & Peter Gelling

Kate Meehan, Skip Landy & Peter Gelling - My Sister's Shoes - 2008 - Only Blues Music

Every great blues mama needs a great piano player and when you combine Kate Meehan’s sweet but gutsy vocals with Skip Landy’s sensual liberation of the piano it is nothing short of a delicious blend of lounge room blues. Kate and Skip will be showcasing new songs from their recently released collaboration with Peter Gelling, "My Sister's Shoes". Vocalist Kate and piano playing partner Skip have been playing their frivolous brand of "good rockin' rhythm and blues, boogies and ballads" around the festival circuit for over five years, leaving a trail of happiness in their wake. © 2007 Tourism Thredbo

Good Australian upbeat soul and roots blues with jazz and folk elements, played in a modern style. It's great to hear how strong blues music is "down under". Give this album a listen, and try and locate Kate's "Soulshaker" album.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

01 You've Been Telling Me Lies - Meehan/Gelling
02 Stay Happy Harry - Meehan/Gelling
03 My Sister's Shoes - Meehan/Gelling/Landy
04 New Shoes - Gelling/Rainey
05 Every Blues Singer - Meehan/Gelling/Landy/Quigley
06 Where Did I Go Wrong? - Gelling
07 Your Barndoor's Open - Kathy Murray
08 Broke, Down And Blue - Meehan/Gelling
09 Analysis Paralysis - Gelling
10 One Lie Leads To Another- Kathy Murray
11 Two Feet On The Ground - Meehan/Gelling
12 Blues For Lesley - Gelling/Landy

MAIN BAND

Kate Meehan - Vocals
Skip Landy - Piano
Peter Gelling - Guitar, Harmonica, Bass on Tracks 3,6,10, & 11, and Samples and Programming on Tracks 7,9, & 11, and Backing Vocals on Track 2

OTHER MUSICIANS

Rod Ennis - Keyboards on Tracks 3, & 11, and Trumpet on Tracks 1, & 11
Fraser Brown - Keyboards on Tracks 4, & 6
Ross McHenry - Bass on Tracks 1,2,5,7,8, & 9
George Arhontoulis - Bass on Track 4
Lyndon Gray - Double Bass on Track 12
Craig Lauritsen - Drums on Tracks 4,6,7,10,11, & 12
Jamie Jones - Drums on Tracks 1,2,3,5,8, & 9, and Backing Vocals on Track 2
Matthew Ottingnon - Tenor Sax on Track 4
Chris Soole - Tenor Sax on Tracks 1, 11, & 12, and Alto Sax on Track 1
Jonathan Hunt - Tenor Sax on Tracks 9, & 11, and Baritone Sax on Track 1
Miroslav Bukovsky - Trumpet on Track 4
Adam Mason - Trombone on Tracks 1, & 11
James Greening - Trombone on Track 4
Doug Williams - Backing Vocals on Tracks 4, & 11
Cat Johns - Backing Vocals on Tracks 2,3,& 6
Tinfish George - Backing Vocals on Track 2
Marisa Quigley - Special Guest Vocals on "Every Blues Singer"
Blind Dog Ferguson (Spike) - Vocals on "Your Barndoor's Open"

REVIEW

Nominated 2009 Female Vocalist of the year, Album of the year, song of the year and Duo /Group of the year Australian Blues Music "CHAIN" Awards 2009 Review by Rooster KATE MEEHAN – SKIP LANDY – PETER GELLING My sister’s shoes Independent. www.katemeehan.com There is so much to like about this album and for so many reasons. Collaborations can so often turn into just a jam but real collaboration is about knowing one another, sharing stories and building ideas. This is a real collaboration that has produced songs of real substance. What’s the old saying? “Blues is a feeling.” Blues works when those feelings are real and are expressed; it’s the factor that separates the great artists from others. Kate and Skip’s last album was stripped back and it worked well, but here they show their flexibility, easily slotting into a much bigger sound. Kate’s singing and songwriting is as strong as ever, showing a depth and confidence, blending the real and imagined into entertaining and thought provoking material. Skip easily slots into the band format and although not the main focus still manages to always add something whether it is a solo or driving the rhythm on piano or in his songwriting. As for Peter Gelling, well I hadn’t heard him for years, since his Blind Freddy days. I’m not sure how I haven’t heard him as he has released two wonderful albums during that time. His guitar playing and songwriting has a breadth that is gained only through years of hard living and hard work, but his other strings, harmonica & bass playing, vocals, arrangement, production, engineering and sampling show just how much talent he possesses. Songs of meaning such as the trio penned title track and Gelling’s “Where did I go wrong?” add a complexity of understanding that is rarely seen. 8 other originals covering the range of love gone bad (You’ve been telling me lies) to songs of feeling good about yourself (New shoes) are performed in various tempos and feels and provides for entertaining listening. Two tracks from Canadian Kathy Murray slot in seamlessly as the trio meld it to their style. And if that isn’t enough Matthew Ottignon, Chris Soole, Jonathan Hunt, Miroslav Bukovsky and James Greening really cook on horns with arrangements that adds a huge cherry on top! Speaking of cherries, well red heads, I just love the blues bragging songs and “Every blues singer,” a duet with Chubby Rae’s Marissa Quigley, is an absolute pearler. © Rooster, © www.katemeehan.com/cds.html

SHORT BIO

Kate was born in Hobart, the daughter of jazz trumpeter and vocalist Clem Meehan. She was raised in a household infused with music, hearing Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald one day, and listening to Carole King and Shirley Bassey the next. It was in this environment that Clem started giving Kate her first singing lessons. Kate’s formal music education commenced at the Sacred Heart College where she received piano lessons as well singing in the choir, and by the time she commenced High School, Kate had added guitar to her arsenal. At sixteen Kate left High School and moved to the mainland where she busked with her guitar around Adelaide for a few years learning the art of performing as a soloist in public. By the time she was twenty Kate had returned to Hobart where she fronted various covers and originals bands, before returning to the mainland, this time Melbourne, for a brief sojourn in front of another covers band. At twenty four Kate found herself back in Tasmania where she was approached by the Fabulous Blues Cats, a Chicago jump-blues styled band. This is where Kate found her groove. Koko Taylor was discovered, and there was no turning back. Kate learnt her craft as a raunchy blues belter in front of this band playing the midnight to four shift every Friday and Saturday night at the Round Midnight nightclub in Salamanca. In 1998 she recorded her first album as the Kate Meehan Blues Band “Let the Good Times Roll, a CD covering her favourite electric Chicago blues songs. This album opened doors back on the mainland on the blues festival circuit. It was also at this time that Kate heeded advice that she would have to write her own material to get anywhere as a blues singer, and over the next four years Kate released two more albums including her own songs as well as originals by her Texan pen friend, Kathy Murray. Kate was living in Canberra in 2003 when she met rhythm and blues pianist Skip Landy, a former Blind Freddy alumnus. They have since released two albums of unadorned piano and vocals, one comprising jazz standards, the other recapping Kate’s original blues repertoire. As Kate Meehan and Skip Landy, they are now constantly performing around Australia and New Zealand. In 2007 Kate teamed up with Peter Gelling in order to collaborate on a forthcoming album, My Sister’s Shoes. © www.katemeehan.com/biography.html