KATE SHEERAN
The Gift
The Gift – How Blue – Take This Rosary – I’ll Give You A Daisy A Day – Wall of Tears
Every time I hear an Irish singer or songwriter, I seem to
be impressed. This beautiful young woman is astonishing as a classic
country singer as well as a classic country songwriter. You may say,
how can an Irish woman be ‘country?’ Very easily if you ‘listen’ to
what is involved; in the lyrics, what musical instruments are playing,
how it’s arranged, how it’s sung….easy. Fiddle and guitar predominate
in the first two songs. Kate had some vocal help from Richie Penrose
on the first song, and he too is an excellent classic country singer,
very unlike the “wish they were” country singers in Nashville, who are
really simply ‘pop’ singers. These songs come in pairs, all of them a
bit different, all of them sounding like they were cut in different
studios with different musicians, although I can’t say that for sure
since I don’t have the participants. I like “Take This Rosary” but I
like the way Kate does “Daisy A Day.” It opens with a very nice Irish
sounding fiddle. And, her voice takes us on a journey into the memories
of someone thinking of another time, another place, another person.
“Wall of Tears” has some terrific steel on it, and all of the songs are
extremely well mixed with Kate’s voice in the spotlight, exactly where
it should be. There’s an additional CD with an additional six songs on
it without names, musicians, writers, or anything, but like the first
five, it’s once again super great classic country music with some
incredible fiddle in it. The other four tracks wouldn’t come up so I’m
not sure what they were, and quite obviously these tracks were not
intended for review, but I thought they were great anyway. We hardly
ever get a really really good CD to place before the Rural Roots Music
Commission for “International Classic Country CD of the Year” but this
collection of songs prompts me to do that. Kate will have her new CD
out any day now, and I hope to be able to take a listen when it’s
available and bring you up to date. Kate is at ksheeranmusic@gmail.com
be impressed. This beautiful young woman is astonishing as a classic
country singer as well as a classic country songwriter. You may say,
how can an Irish woman be ‘country?’ Very easily if you ‘listen’ to
what is involved; in the lyrics, what musical instruments are playing,
how it’s arranged, how it’s sung….easy. Fiddle and guitar predominate
in the first two songs. Kate had some vocal help from Richie Penrose
on the first song, and he too is an excellent classic country singer,
very unlike the “wish they were” country singers in Nashville, who are
really simply ‘pop’ singers. These songs come in pairs, all of them a
bit different, all of them sounding like they were cut in different
studios with different musicians, although I can’t say that for sure
since I don’t have the participants. I like “Take This Rosary” but I
like the way Kate does “Daisy A Day.” It opens with a very nice Irish
sounding fiddle. And, her voice takes us on a journey into the memories
of someone thinking of another time, another place, another person.
“Wall of Tears” has some terrific steel on it, and all of the songs are
extremely well mixed with Kate’s voice in the spotlight, exactly where
it should be. There’s an additional CD with an additional six songs on
it without names, musicians, writers, or anything, but like the first
five, it’s once again super great classic country music with some
incredible fiddle in it. The other four tracks wouldn’t come up so I’m
not sure what they were, and quite obviously these tracks were not
intended for review, but I thought they were great anyway. We hardly
ever get a really really good CD to place before the Rural Roots Music
Commission for “International Classic Country CD of the Year” but this
collection of songs prompts me to do that. Kate will have her new CD
out any day now, and I hope to be able to take a listen when it’s
available and bring you up to date. Kate is at ksheeranmusic@gmail.com
Review by Bob Everhart, President NTCMA www.ntcma.net
for Country Music News International