Kate McLeod

See what you missed? Were you able to join Black Rose for our recent open stage featuring Kate McLeod? If not here are some lovely photos taken by volunteer photographer Reggie Barrett.

Of course Kate played "Lark in the Morning" (which she wrote) and was wonderful!

Read what Betsy had to say about her in our newsletter...


Sing Out! Magazine says Kate "channels the spirit of the great Carter Family classics," while Kate has been compared to most influential artists of her genre including Joni Mitchell, Nanci Griffith, Richard Thompson and Emmylou Harris. She has taught songwriting workshops in schools, concert outreach programs, summer camps and at music festivals since her 1995 debut recording on Waterbug Records.

Her latest solo recording was produced by Grammy-winning musician Tim O'Brien from which the song "Something Left You Living" was featured on NPR's syndicated song showcase “What's in a Song.” In addition to performing her own compositions, she is a sought after vocalist, fiddler and guitar player, working regularly with other artists. Recently, Kate was producer for the state of Utah-based Utah Phillips Tribute CD recording a dream come true for Kate. Also released this year is the second Kate MacLeod and Kat Eggleston duo recording, Lost and Found, now available through Waterbug Records.

Her latest solo recording, Blooming, will "rock your world" in one way or another. Kate went to Nashville, TN to record this project with Tim O'Brien as producer, David Ferguson as engineer, and musicians Darrell Scott, Byron House, and Kenny Malone. The outcome is a culmination of her love and experience with the styles of American music that she has been performing most of her life. On this recording you will hear twelve songs expressed in shades of country, folk, bluegrass, folk-rock, pop, art song and sounds of modern Americana music held together in a project that is full of personality and ease.

Kate's own words....“It has taken most of my life for me to settle into being a professional musician. When I am interviewed it can be difficult for me to describe the actual turn of events in my life that led me to this. All of my time with music has been interspersed with other activities such as schooling, raising a family, investigating other careers and sorting out the vagaries of human existence. Was it that I longed to be a musician when I begged for a violin at the age of six? What was the effect of my first music teacher's spell cast on me when she leaned over the music stand, her crazy shock of pure white hair bouncing, telling me that I may try to do other things in my life, but that I will first and always be a musician?

Becoming a full-time musician is a more recent mark on my life's time line. As I worked in other areas of life, none of that work seemed to be able to displace the time that I spent on music. I would eventually put work aside if it interfered with music. I've tended to my children and watched them grow up. I've been performing with various musicians and music groups for many years and have learned an incalculable amount of music from many cultures. Since I was a teenager I've written songs. I've lost track of many of them. Music groups in my region began singing my songs before I recorded any of them myself. I created my first recording because I knew that my local radio station would play it, for they featured me as guest performer many times, singing my original songs. Since then, things have grown at a grass-roots pace and I am happy to travel anywhere to play music. I've had to learn how to perform on stage, as it is a different skill than making the music sound. Most of all, despite the overly commercial and complicated world we live in, I've learned that music does make a difference in people's lives.

One of my favorite songs that I sing to myself almost every day is... Keep On The Sunny Side Of Life. I highly recommend this song for everyday use. It works especially well in the car.”
-Betsy Grovenburg