Courtly
Singer songwriter Suzl Katz, who has been compared to Jonl Mitchell end Suzanne Vega, will bring her
style to the Willamette Valley Folk Festival next Saturday night.
Katz seeks place in folk tradition
Suzi Katz is what I'd call an
Impressionist songwriter,"
Patty Larkin said "She's
great — sets a mood and takes
you to another place. And inci
dentally, she kills on the guitar."
Suzi Katz will perform at 7 p.m.
next Saturday at the Willamette
Valley Folk Festival.
Katz released her self-titled
album six months ago. Katz has
been compared to other
singer/songwriters such as Joni
Mitchell and Suzanne Vega She,
however, has been very success
ful standing on her own
Part of this comes from the
musical talent of Katz's supporting
cast. She plays with vocalist Jan
Reimer, bassist Enrique Toussamt,
percussionist Marc Anderson, and
guitarist and recording artist Steve
Tibbetts
Katz met Tibbetts, who was a
guest instructor, at the University
of Colorado He took immediate
interest in Katz's work Only two
years later, she was signed by
East Side Digital and has now
released her first album.
“I play a lot ol songs that have
jazz chords, and I play in open tun
ing," she said "I don't play a lot of
basic folk chords. And then I write
the lyrics in a kind of stream of con
sciousness I keep a notebook and
write word after word after word. It
doesn't have to make sense until
She's great — sets a mood and takes you to
another place. And incidentally, she kills on
the guitar.'
— Patty Larkin
Philo recording artist
I put the lyrics and the music
together."
Katz enjoys both the musical as
well as the songwriting part of her
job. but has found songwriting to
be a difficult step
"It's hard not to be cliched or
overly sentimental and still be
meaningful," Katz said.
Her music grasps many "wry.
jazzy inflections" in combination
with her understated voice and
depth of songwriting. These char
acteristics of her music are often
compared to other artists, such as
Mitchell known for jazzy inflections
and Vega known for her under
stated voce.
While Katz has opened for such
bands as the Samples, &g Head
Todd and the Monsters, and David
Wilcox, this is not really the audi
ence that she is looking for
“The audiences really don't lis
ten to me," she said “They want
ed more of a rock 'n' roll show."
Now Katz wants to find audi
ences who come specifically to lis
ten
"I hear the Indigo Girls on the
radio, and I know they’ve got a tug
following, but I don't know it that’s
good tor me," she said. "Their
songs are simple — they’ve got
that groove, and I associate that
groove with rock music. And I don't
know it my songs have that groove
or not."
Katz was born in Detroit and
moved to Boulder in 1982 She
believes that region ol Denver
inspires her. She said she wrote
bad songs m Detroit.
"I hated the area," she said "It
was ugly, an endless stream ol
shopping malls You couldn’t walk
anywhere—you had to drive."
Had she stayed in Detroit. Katz
said she would have had to write
songs tor her album about Wal
mart and plastic flowers
Katz is very determined to be
a strong addition to the new
acoustic movement. She wants
to explore her talents and tmd an
audience that really wants to lis
ten to her
Teresa Isabelle
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