Lucy Kaplansky

Lucy Kaplansky - Every Single Day - 2001 - Red House

Lucy Kaplansky is a talented songwriter and a delightful singer who suffers somewhat from one or two of the afflictions that are endemic to modern folk-rock singer/songwriters -- chief among them Irritating Vowel Syndrome, which can cause one to pronounce "sky" as "skeh-ee" and "heart" as if one had grown up in Maine. (Kaplansky seems to have caught this disease from Dar Williams, with whom she sometimes collaborates and who is in its advanced stages.) Those tendencies are easy to ignore on this gorgeous album, though, which floats deliriously on a bed of lush chord progressions, gently powerful guitar work (courtesy of an all-star cast of backing musicians that includes Larry Campbell and Jon Herington), and Kaplansky's own sweet, unassumingly lovely voice. Her own compositions are consistently very good, but she also exhibits fine taste in others' work as well, delivering covers of Steve Earle's excellent "You're Still Standing There," Julie Miller's "Broken Things," and, most surprisingly, an old Louvin Brothers gospel tune. John Gorka and Richard Shindell pitch in low harmonies at perfect moments. Very, very nice. © Rick Anderson © 2011 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/r547276

Lucy Kaplansky (born 1960) is an American folk musician based in New York City. She first became involved in NYC's folk music scene, around Greenwich Village, where she played with artists like Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin and Richard Shindell. In 1985, she recorded an album called "The Song Project" with Frank Christian, Tom Intondi, and Martha Hogen. In 1998 Lucy formed the folk group Cry Cry Cry with Dar Williams and Richard Shindell which toured extensively and recorded one s/t album before splitting up. Her first album 'The Tide', a mixture of her own compositions and several covers, was released in 1994. She has recorded five other solo albums. In 2010, she recorded "Red Horse" with John Gorka and Eliza Gilkyson. She is in high demand as a session vocalist and is a semi-regular collaborator with artists like John Gorka and Nanci Griffith. "Every Single Day", her fourth solo release, is closer to pop music than most of her other contemporary folk albums, but the song arrangements, song quality, and her great vocals make this an album of real quality. Songs worth mentioning are Paul Brady's brilliant "Crazy Dreams", Julie Miller’s “Broken Things", Steve Earle's "You're Still Standing There", and The Louvin Brothers’ “The Angels Rejoiced Last Night". The great Jon Herington plays some slide guitar on the album. Lucy is one of the most talented artists on the Roots/Folk scene today. Buy her "Ten Year Night" album, and check this blog for related releases

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Written On The Back Of His Hand - Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Litvin
2 Crazy Dreams - Paul Brady
3 Every Single Day - Lucy Kaplansky, Richard Litvin, Duke Levine *
4 Don't Mind Me - Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Litvin
5 Broken Things - Julie Miller
6 Guilty As Sin - Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Litvin
7 Nowhere - Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Litvin
8 No More Excuses - Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Litvin
9 Song For Molly - Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Litvin
10 You're Still Standing There - Steve Earle
11 The Angels Rejoiced Last Night - Charlie Louvin & Ira Louvin

MUSICIANS

Lucy Kaplansky - Guitar, Vocals, Background Vocals
Larry Campbell - Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Slide Guitar, Mandolin, Fiddle, Cittern
Jon Herington - Guitar, Slide Guitar
Duke Levine - Guitar, Mandola
Zev Katz - Bass, Baritone Guitar
Ben Wittman - Piano, Keyboards, Drums, Percussion
John Gorka, Jennifer Kimball, Richard Shindell - Background Vocals

BIO

When Lucy Kaplansky was 18 years old, she shocked her neighbors in the Hyde Park area near the University of Chicago when, instead of going to college, she went to New York City with her boyfriend to become a folksinger. Fifteen years later, having become a clinical psychologist as well as a sought-after duet and harmony singer, she made another surprising decision: she gave up her private practice and her position at a New York hospital to pursue a full-time singing career. Drawn to Greenwich Village in the late '70s by the resurgence of the folk scene, she became a regular at Gerde's Folk City. By 1982, she was a member of the CooP (later Fast Folk) and was featured on nine of the group's "musical magazines," along with Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, John Gorka, Richard Shindell, and others. By 1983, however, Kaplansky had enrolled in New York University with the aim of becoming a psychologist. Well known on the folk scene for her crystalline harmonies, Kaplansky sang harmony vocals on Nanci Griffith's Lone Star State of Mind and Little Love Affairs albums and performed in New York clubs as a duo with Colvin while earning her Ph.D. from Yeshiva University. But when she and Colvin attracted attention from record companies, Kaplansky declined, becoming a staff psychologist at a New York hospital and establishing a private practice while Colvin recorded her first three albums for Columbia Records. As a record of what Lucy had accomplished on the folk scene, and to give Colvin a chance to try her hand at production, the two collaborated on Kaplansky's first album, The Tide, comprising three of Kaplansky's own compositions and a collection of well-worn covers, including songs by Richard Thompson, Sting, and Robin Batteau. By 1994, when The Tide was released by Red House Records, Kaplansky decided to shift gears again and become a full-time touring folksinger. She spent much of the next few years playing the folk circuit of coffeehouses, church halls, and festivals, accompanying herself on guitar and performing in concert with Shindell and Gorka. In 1996, Red House Records released her second album, Flesh and Bone, produced by Anton Sanko (Vega's Solitude Standing and Days of Open Hand). It includes eight original songs (co-written with Kaplansky's husband, filmmaker Richard Litvin), as well as duets with Shindell and Gorka. Ten Year Night followed in 1999. Every Single Day appeared in 2001 on Red House Records, with Red Thread in 2004 and Over the Hills in 2007, both also on Red House. © Claire Keaveney © 2011 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lucy-kaplansky-p44854/biography