Kate Reid: Press

Emotional Rescue -an interview with Kate Reid

Kate Reid owes her life to music. It lifted her from chronic despair into an outrageously funny and utterly engaging performer feted by tugboat hands and critics like Tim Readman. He supplies the superlatives.
Kate Reid is, quite simply, one of the best songwriters to emerge from the Canadian folk roots scene since David Francey. Songs such as The Only Dyke at the Open Mic, Ex-Junkie Boyfriend and No More Missing Daughters showcase her ability to write compelling, often funny, sometimes tragic songs that make listeners sit up and take notice.

For many, songwriting is a hobby, for some it is a profession, but for Kate it is literally a matter of life and death. “Growing up, I was afraid of success, afraid of failure, afraid of just about everything. I had a lot of grief, sadness and anger, and I hadn’t really uncovered a lot of stuff about my childhood that was sitting inside, stuff that I couldn’t articulate. I always say that music saved my life and it truly did. It helped me rise up out of situations of despair.

“I was extremely terrified about doing music but even more frightened of not doing it. I knew I’d have to get over it if I wanted to do anything with music. Now I have to keep my songwriting at a level that is deep and not shut myself off. I don’t want to have that feeling of being dead ever again, because that’s what it felt like in my early life.”

Her music started with singing at camp and in school choir. “The sound of everyone’s voices coming together was so powerful. I knew then that I could sing and it made me feel good.”

She picked up the guitar at 17 years old and played covers of Joni, Neil, Ferron and the Indigo Girls. She soon realized that she wanted to write her own songs, wanted to write about her life.

“I was too nervous, so I wouldn’t play in front of people. I had no sense of myself as a musician. Then I played for a couple of friends, and they encouraged me to go to open mics. I moved to Midway, BC, and then I wrote a couple I thought were half-decent.”

One of those songs is Small Town, which appeared on her first CD, named, appropriately enough, Coming Alive. It is about her time in that rather red-neck community and it features the deliciously funny lines:

And in an effort of self-preservation / I took to shaving my legs / Cuz I didn’t want to get confused with an animal / And end up in my neighbour’s deep freeze / Freezing.

“By then I really liked how it felt to sing my songs. It was a good way to get all that stuff, all that turmoil out of my body. I needed to know who I was and songwriting was a way to find out. With music I came alive. I came alive when I sang. I discovered I had a voice I had never heard before inside myself.”

She got more and more positive feedback, and realized she was touching on stuff that was meaningful to others, especially when they laughed because of her words. “I realized, ‘Oh I’m funny!’ I didn’t know! I could see myself in other people’s reactions. It helped me to have a sense of self.”

Coming out as a lesbian was difficult. “I was learning another part about myself that I was trying to hide, that I was really scared of. I was really worried about what people would think. I had a lot of internalized homophobia. Because of being empowered through my music, I can own that part of myself and feel proud of it.”

Now people are always asking her, ‘Do you really have to go on about being a dyke all the time?’ She replies: “There are road blocks whenever I talk about my sexuality. Look at the paper. We just had two guys in London who were gay bashed. We have gay marriage and stuff but there’s still a lot happening out there that are hate crimes. A lot of people make the mistake of saying we’ve won the fight. I remember listening to music that got me through hard stuff and I want to write music like that because it’s really important.

“We live in a culture where the mainstream is so straight and narrow, and I want to throw a wrench in there somewhere. I am not a spokeswoman. I don’t know if I can be the voice of the lesbian community. I am a white middle class woman who happens to be a lesbian. All I can do is speak about my experience and if people resonate with that, that’s great. The lesbian community is so diverse. I’m not the IT girl, I just sing the songs.”

Her latest CD, I’m Just Warming Up, is a testament to her growing maturity as an artist. It is brilliantly written, beautifully sung, packed with diverse emotions and extremely musical.

“Being in the studio is a really good lesson in listening to oneself. I know when something is right and not right. It’s one of the few times I am very sure about what I like and what I don’t like. In the studio I am very clear.”

She is excited about her next project. Originally it was to be called Songs for Kids with 2 Mums, but then she realized, “There’s gay and lesbian joint parenting, insemination, adoption, step parenting—all these different possibilities of families I never thought about.”

She already has more than 20 interviews lined up. She plans to take it into schools as an educational tool for promoting diversity, inclusion and acceptance. As she wryly observes, “I know what it’s like to be a bit different.”

These days she writes constantly, often about the people she meets. Like the bloke in a bar on Vancouver Island who looked like an average guy. “He came and told me he drives a tug boat, he loves my songs and that he’s a total cross-dresser. His nickname is Captain Cupcake. How can you not write a song about that?”

Building a Dyke:
Humming and strumming with Kate Reid

She might not have won the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Award, but Kate Reid was just happy to be nominated—no, really. To the Vancouver-based folkie, the nod for New/Emerging Artist of the Year helped to draw some attention to her unique brand of dyke folk.

“People in the folk music community are really liking what I’m doing, which is great because that’s what I wanted, to have my music be out there and have the lesbian and gay community be more visible,” she says. “I felt really proud when I was at the awards because of that. It’s personal-is-political kind of music. So that’s big for me and important for me.”

With songs titles like “I’d Go Straight for Ridley Bent,” “The Only Dyke at the Open Mic” and her unrequited-grocery-store-clerk-crush ditty “Co-op Girlz,” Reid’s penchant for bringing herself and her sexuality front and centre in an often self-deprecating, funny way is indeed a big part of her music. But while others might shrug off their sexual orientation (queer or otherwise) as an unimportant part of their musical identity, Reid feels it’s still something to sing about.

“I often ask myself that question, why is it so important, and I think it’s really important because there’s still a lot of homophobia out there,” she says. “People think it’s sort of passé, but it’s not because people still struggle with coming out. I get letters all the time from people saying, ‘Thanks for doing what you’re doing and please keep doing it.’ It really helped them to come out. It shows me that people are still really having a hard time with their own sexuality and people around them have a hard time with it.”

Good reasons, for sure, but perhaps throw on the track “Uncharted Territory” on her CFMA-nominated I’m Just Warming Up for a more articulate view; it’s just one of the more serious tunes that Reid penned for the follow-up to 2006’s Comin’ Alive. While she still has her sense of humour on album two, Reid says having a second record has allowed her to spread her musical wings a bit.

“I think the serious stuff is important too,” she says. “The funny stuff does get the attention because it’s funny and kind of different, but the serious stuff, when I get emails from people they really comment on that as well.”

And the momentum is still going; Reid is already starting work on her next project: a record for kids of lesbian parents.

“I’m interviewing a bunch of kids and their moms to get the story on what their life is like,” she says. “I’ve gotten some fan mail from younger people and that inspired me to write songs about them because there isn’t really an album out there for kids who have lesbian parents.”

Hey, maybe it’ll get a nomination for Children’s Album of the Year.

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Kate Reid
(with Jennifer Louise Taylor and company)
7:30pm Friday, December 4
Solstice Cafe, 529 Pandora
Tickets $7-$15
katereid.net

A song can be a dangerous thing.

Ask Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Kate Reid. Reid, who is a lesbian, said that while Katy Perry’s song I Kissed A Girl is catchy, it may have unintended effects for the GLBT community by misrepresenting their experiences to mainstream audiences.

“(That song) was counter-productive ... (It was about) a straight woman trying to get more attention from men and the media,” said Reid. “A lot of people might not think about the implications of a song ... She’s not trying to represent us at all. She’s just representing herself.”

Similar to comedians like Dave Chapelle, Reid blends political awareness with wit. By directly challenging stereotypes, she tries to capture the stories of the people she writes about, including herself. Tracks like I’d Go Straight for Ridley Bent and The Only Dyke at the Open Mic are as funny as they are catchy.

“I think it’s easier to stomach what I’m talking about if I make fun of it,” she said. “I want to address stuff like homophobia — even our own internal homophobia ... If people feel like they are part of the story ... (that) helps us see how we are similar (as well as unique).”

That said, it’s not all fun for Reid, who also tackles tough subjects — a challenge during live sets that shift in emotions. For example, No More Missing Daughters, about the missing women of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, is still difficult to perform.

“It’s hard for me to separate my emotions — not so much when I’m writing, but when I’m on stage,” she said. “I’m trying to learn techniques like making a set list, and making sure I have comic relief to offset the heavy songs.”

Writing in a self-reflexive manner, Reid draws on the role that music played in her own experience of coming out. Stories told by musicians like Ani Difranco, Tracey Chapman and the Indigo Girls helped her figure out her own situation, and she hopes to do the same for others. Her next album will feature stories from cross-country interviews with children who have lesbian moms — an idea that came after a 13-year-old fan sent Reid a letter about her experience.

“(I wanted to) look at how they feel as kids,” said Reid, whose partner has two kids. “I heard all these cool stories, and wanted to turn them into songs, so I sent out an email and lined up 20 people within 24 hours who said they would love to be a part of it.”

October 1st, 2009
Kate Reid - (www.katereid.net)

I'm Just Warming Up - CD Review

Self-effacing Vancouver folkie Kate Reid knows how to write poignant and angry songs. The titles say it all: No More Missing Daughters, The Cremation of Sam McGee and Reach to You, whose harmony vocals evoke the Dixie Chicks. Reid is funny too: In Emergency Dyke Project, she sings to pop teen idol Katy Perry, "I've kissed a girl and I liked it too/ In fact, I've kissed a few in my day/ so how come I'm not famous for it yet?" A terrific album that catapults Reid into the ranks of Penny Lang and Joan Baez.
****1/2

What's on your iPOD?

Kate Reid is making quite a name for herself on the indie circuit. That’s because the lesbian singer-songwriter uses humour to comment on her world and her relationships. Songs like The Only Dyke at the Open Mic are steadily winning over new fans, regardless of sexual preference – as are her songs that deal with emotions common to everyone, gay or straight. While Reid makes her way here for an Oct. 3 show at the Yellow Door, here’s a list of her iPod faves.

1. Genda Benda d'bi Young

2. Hillcrest Mine James Keelaghan

3. Tony Patti Griffith

4. Shadows on a Dime Ferron

5. Blue Sky The Allman Brothers

6. You're All I Wanna Do Mary Gauthier

7. Bloody Mother F---ing A------ Martha Wainwright

8. No No Keshagesh Buffy Sainte Marie

9. Little Birdie Dyad

10. Yes I Guess They Oughta Name a Drink After You John Prine

Kate Reid performs Oct. 3 at the Yellow Door. Tickets cost $8, or $6 for students, at the door.

Calgary Shows for Funny Folkie - Reid's appeal springs from humanity of lyrics

She's a self-described 'homofolkie', but Kate Reid says her music appeals to more than just gay and lesbian music fans.

"A lot of straight men like my music for some reason," she says with a laugh. "Obviously I'm a dyke and I talk about it. But what appeals to people is the humour and the humanness of what I write about and the storytelling aspect. It's more about who we are as people rather than sexuality or a gender."

That said, Reid's next CD will be a youth-oriented collection of songs written specifically for children with lesbian parents.

"I got inspired by fan mail from some young people and also some friends of mine who are lesbians with kids."

"I know it's going to really pigeonhole me, but I realized there are a lot of kids who don't have songs for their lives. They don't have a language for their experiences in their families, which are different from the experiences of straight families."

Reid hopes to interview children of lesbian couples during her current Canadian tour. She says she will listen to their stories and turn their experiences into songs for the CD, titled Songs for Kids With Two Moms.

"I'm really excited about it and I think it's going to be a really fun project in terms of doing the research and writing the songs and trying to create a body of work that expresses the experiences in their lives," says Reid, who plays tonight at Soda, and Monday night at the Ironwood Stage in Inglewood.

The 38-year-old singer's latest album, I'm Just Warming Up, has been well-received by folk music fans across the country and her live performances are filled with so many one liners they could be stand-up comedy shows.

It's not just her hilarious between-song banter that brings the laughs. Songs such as The Only Dyke at the Open Mic, Junkie Ex-Boyfriend and Emergency Dyke Project also demonstrate Reid's keen lyric writing skills and sharp sense of humour.

"I have no idea where it came from," she says. "It just sort of happened. I think it came out of the hard times in my life and the sense of humour just helped keep me afloat. I realized that laughing at myself and at the world was helpful when I was going through the dark stuff."

Reid admits she is better known for her wisecracking than some of her deeper, more emotional numbers such as No More Missing Daughters, which was inspired by the Vancouver-area prostitutes murdered by B.C. pig farmer Robert Pickton.

But Reid says she doesn't want to add gravitas to her songs just for the sake of being taken more seriously.

"I like to do a mix of funny and serious on my albums and I don't want to get away from that."

LISA.WILTON@SUNMEDIA.CA

I’m Just Warming Up
Kate Reid
Released: 2009
Genre: Lesbian Folk,
Tracks: 10
Distribution: http://www.katereid.net/products.html
https://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/KateReid

This is the second release of this amazing Canadian singer/songwriter. For those of you who already know Kate’s music from her first release in 2006 Comin’ Alive, you will not be disappointed. Kate continues to write and perform in the range from comical and vibrant to deep and soul-searching. If this is your first listen to her music, then you will soon find yourself spellbound by her words, humming the tunes to yourself that carry her words on intricate, thoughtful, and fun melodies.
At her heart, Kate Reid is a storyteller and poet. Every song has a tale to tell. Be it a humorous jaunt about running into an ex-boyfriend or visiting a local small-town bar and realizing she is the only lesbian for a long ways. Other songs take a deeper look into her own heart, whether the first blush of love or the rage about the disappearing and murders of women in Vancouver. Kate shows her prowess with both pen and guitar by carrying us with her on a musical journey through a life that is full of joy and quirky humor, but like all of us she also reflects the sadness and dismay that can take hold and brings one to a deeper place of understanding.
Kate is most assuredly a proud lesbian and she takes many opportunities to let her listeners know this. For those of us who also name ourselves as proud lesbians, the lyrics will carry a familiarity of shared experience. Only Dyke At The Open Mic will be one that not only gets wonderfully stuck in your head, but you’ll laugh out loud. Emergency Dyke Project Which began with Kate sitting in her car by the side of the road while crews shored up[ an overflowing river, got me in the end. I wasn’t sure where it was going at first, but Kate’s sly wit, good writing, and upbeat playing drew me in. As the song wound on it became about the living as a visable lesbian and the wish for recognition from each other and maybe the mainstream. Uncharted Territory has a humorous tone but goes a little deeper and shows Kate’s savvy commentary on being a womon, surviving violence, being out, proud, and oh so lesbian despite what mainstream society says a woman who plays and sings ought to be. These songs show off her liveliness with/in music, including driving beats and interesting arrangements using layers of instruments which I especially enjoyed.
For those of you who are Canadian, you may recognize the 1907 Robert Service poem The Cremation of Sam McGee. This one is fun musically and an interesting story, but it might be that it takes being Canadian to appreciate it fully. The longest selection on the CD, I was quite happy when old Sam McGee was finally in the furnace. Mind you not a bad song, but it did seem a bit out of place on this recording of otherwise lesbian-identified delights.
For me, Kate Reid really shines when she gets down with raw emotions. She can do this with her wit, but when she casts off the humor and shows her other sides, I feel that part in me come to life that says, “Yes, I know what this is.” With the song, Truck Driver, Kate invites us to see her as a young girl and her memories dreaming of freedom and the open road. This song makes me long for a pick-up truck and nothing but highway before me. Sisters, listen to this one for those long journeys and sing it sweetly like Kate. Reach To You is a tender love song, one which makes me teary-eyed and onging for love every time I hear it. Rise Up feels like another love song, but this is about the love of life and facing, knowing, and loving one’s self. The journey that is sometimes a struggle, but ultimately embodies hope, when coming to truly know the worth of one’s own heart and place in the world. No More Missing Daughters is sad at first, but as I listened… it, like so many of Kate’s songs, ends up brilliant with hope and the light of possibility. Rage is the catalyst. It comes through loud and clear. Women being murdered is not something any of us need turn away from. Here it feels like Kate is not only telling us a story, but also calling us to action. The music is strong and simple — a ukulele, a shaker, and Kate’s clear voice weaves a web of power and magic that gave me visions of women everywhere marching out to every place on earth and stopping all violence in one fell swoop!
I could play Kate’s newest album over and over again and as with her first album it is one I will be acquiring for friends. I’m Just Warming Up is a must-have for this dyke and I hope it is so for many, many more lesbians. This singer-songwriter deserves our attention. If you are fortunate enough to live in BC, go see her perform live.
Maybe it’s because Kate sings of such universal ideas for and about lesbians. Maybe it’s that she can string together words and deliver them in a clear, vibrant, and tender voice. Maybe it’s that she is a gifted musician who knows how to use both complexity and simplicity to carry her strikingly clever and meaningful songs to our ears. Whatever it is, Kate Reid’s music has had an impact on me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m Just Warming Up - CD Review

With such song titles as The Only Dyke at the Open Mic and Emergency Dyke Project it’s easy to identify Kate Reid’s sexual orientation.

But the question posed by I’m Just Warming Up is whether the West Coast singer/songwriter’s music transcends gender identification.

The answer is affirmative. Smart, saucy and witty, Reid is an artist who happens to be lesbian rather than a lesbian artist with an agenda.

Her artistic reach embraces No More Missing Daughters, a song inspired by the missing women of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside worthy of Ani DiFranco, to Truckdriver, a coming-of-age song worthy of Ferron, to an adaptation of Robert Service’s The Cremation of Sam McGee.

Only Dyke at Open Mic? Kate Bridges Gap

Few artists burst on the scene with the impact that accompanied Kate Reid's arrival. Going from unknown act to the artist bringing the room to its knees nightly, the local singer/songwriter's first CD, Comin' Alive, boasted such genius moments as "I'd Go Straight for Ridley Bent" and the equally hilariously honest "Starving Artist."

Her sophomore effort, I'm Just Warming Up, dropped last month.

Produced by Adam Popowitz of Pacifika, the new album is a big jump in songwriting, variety and powerful messages. It's been a flurry of gigs since, hitting Pride events in Edmonton, Winnipeg and Victoria before this weekend's Vancouver Folk Music Festival appearances. While she loves being active in her lesbian community, that's not where her goals begin and end.

"Who would've thought it would go over as well with the mainstream or straight crowd as it did," says Reid. "Having a variety of people coming to my shows and being able to branch out and bridge the gap is awesome."

With songs as varied as the ridiculously funny story "The Only Dyke at the Open Mic" to the moving road ballad "Truckdriver," many will warm up to this CD.

Kate Reid

Kate Reid is going to make you laugh and maybe cheer too. This born-on-a-farm lesbian singer songwriter plays guitar and talks and sings and tells stories about the world as she views it: with an unflinching eye. With the wit and rapid-fire delivery of a Gilmore Girls episode, she tells it like it is. Sometimes it's funny (Only Dyke At The Open Mic) and sometimes it's sad (No More Missing Daughters), but Reid's words always ring true. No one known better than Kate Reid that the root of humour is tragedy. Soon you'll know, too.

Kate Reid Blogs with her Guitar

The East Van singer-songwriter says performing helps her reclaim her power and her voice.

Almost everything you need to know about Kate Reid is contained in “The Only Dyke at the Open Mic”, from the East Van–based performer’s brand-new CD, I’m Just Warming Up. Part pop, part folk, the song references Joni Mitchell and Kurt Cobain and being too broke to buy a beer. It’s also funny and poignant and strikingly self-assured, or at least it is once the narrator recovers from the shock of being out and alone in a room full of straight people and the shame of knocking the microphone stand to the floor.

Sexual specifics aside, it’s a story that will be familiar to anyone who’s ever worked up the nerve to sing their songs in front of an unfamiliar audience. And it’s also Reid’s life in miniature: lonely outsider finds acceptance, community, and even love through her music.

“I’m the only dyke at the open mic / I’m working the crowd and I’m making ’em laugh out loud” Reid sings. “I’m the only dyke at the open mic / Well, whatta ya know / I was winning ’em over.”

Reid’s been a minor star in womyn’s-music circles ever since the release of her debut CD, Comin’ Alive. More recently, though, she’s been winning over bigger audiences with songs such as that disc’s hilarious ode to a local alt-country icon, “I’d Go Straight for Ridley Bent”, and the new record’s barbed riposte to I-kissed-a-girl tease Katy Perry, “Emergency Dyke Project”.

“I’ve been pleasantly shocked and surprised to find that lots of people in the straight community really like my music—and particularly straight men, for some funny reason,” Reid reports, on the line from her home. “I’m not really sure why that is, but it’s been really cool to see the audience expand, and to see that acceptance. People are actually really enthusiastic. They’ll come up and say, ‘Wow, this is hilarious and so great,’ and all that sort of thing.”

It’s probable that Reid’s new fans, like her earlier constituents, are simply responding to the singer’s unwillingness to be anything other than herself. Her lyrics are so honest and outspoken that her style sometimes resembles blogging, only with a guitar instead of a computer keyboard.

“Blogging with a guitar? I’ve never heard that expression, but it’s good,” she says, laughing. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s a little self-indulgent—but, you know, it seems to be working. It’s not conceptual stuff, and it’s very personal, and there are lots of words, so I think it’s more like slam poetry meets folk music.”

The singer’s exuberant style doesn’t mean that she skims over serious topics, however. One of the reasons that she’s a performer is to give vent to feelings that she’s long kept bottled up. As Reid explains, she’s the product of a profoundly dysfunctional family environment, and that experience is the subtext behind many of her most moving songs.

“I won’t go into the gory details, but there was sexual abuse in my family, and some alcoholism, and then mental illness to go along with all that stuff,” she reveals. “And, yeah, the incest was sort of the big piece. But there was just a lot of silence around that, so I didn’t get it until I was well into my early 30s—why I was feeling like crap all the time, and why I was so paranoid and so unsteady and so worried about people. I was fearful, right? So that’s one of the basic things that I talk about.”

Today, Reid seems anything but depressed, and she credits two things for that confidence: coming out as a lesbian, and getting on-stage as a performer.

“That’s why I called my first album Comin’ Alive,” she says. “That was what it felt like for me when I discovered that I could write and perform and sing and make people laugh. I mean, when I have a good crowd and there’s fun stuff happening back and forth, there’s nothing I’d rather be doing—except maybe hiking.

“Performing is a way of reclaiming my power—and reclaiming my voice,” she continues. “I’m saying things that I wasn’t allowed to say as a child. So for me it’s very much about finding my voice and defining who I am, as separate from my parents and from all that shit that happened. So, for sure, it’s been a really powerful tool for healing for me.”

The joyous emotions Reid expresses in new songs like “Reach to You” and “Dirty Girl” suggest that the healing process is well under way. “I feel like I’ve simmered down a little bit,” she confides. But will love songs ever replace the sociopolitical themes in her repertoire? It’s unlikely. Reid expresses cautious optimism that the world is becoming a better place, but as long as hate, abuse, and homophobia exist, she’ll have lots to write about. As she says, she’s just warming up.

Kate Reid knows how to work an audience. When the dynamic singer steps on stage with her guitar, people listen.

“Some singers like well-behaved, quiet audiences,” she confides, “but me, I like unpredictable crowds.”

Part of Reid’s appeal is that she sees her musical contribution as more of an exchange than a performance.

“I like it when people chat with me while I’m on stage or come up to me after,” says the 38 year-old singer/songwriter.

With a wisp of hot pink in her hair and her casual T-shirt and jeans ensemble, Reid exudes an unpretentious vibe in person just as she does on stage.

Reid is about to release her second album, I’m Just Warming Up. In it, she really opens up and draws on her own experiences. The CD features stories about running into her ex-junkie boyfriend, about being the only dyke at an open mic and about having the courage to shed fear.

Her activism comes from a place of depth; she still struggles to find balance and solace in a world that is often unsupportive of the kind of blunt discussions Reid instigates. “People tell me I’m too in your face about being out in my music,” she says, “but I’m just being who I am. It has taken me a long time to accept who I am and where I am and I want to share that.”

For artists like Reid, there are no short cuts. “I know all about struggle and low self-esteem,” she says.

Dappling in a wide spectrum of relationships and experiences, Reid came upon her identity through a lot of trial and error.

Artistically, she credits the Indigo Girls for being good musical role models. She laughs unabashedly as she confides they are still among her favourites.

Her younger sister gave her an Indigo Girls CD long before Reid found her queer community. Recalling the internalized homophobia of her youth she says, “They were so willing to put it out there. There was something a little off-putting about it at first but also something attractive and exciting about their honesty.”

The indie folk singer grew up on a farm in southern Ontario. She had no clue lesbians even existed until her 20s. That early invisibility remains a driving motivation behind her music. She says she’s intent on “perpetuating real visibility for real lesbians.”

The last song on her CD is an articulate stab at Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” a pop song that struck a nerve. “I’m sick of portrayals of lesbians that are clearly marketed to straight men. There is so much consumption of lesbian culture that has nothing to do with the lives of real lesbians and does nothing to create more visibility or rights for us.” Reid has no time for Perry’s lip service and she’s not buying that — or the Britney-Madonna kiss or anything in that vein — as a nod to lesbians.

With her signature frankness, Reid says that “being a woman means we’re already second-class citizens. Add lesbian to that and it’s a double kick in the ass.”

Since Reid began playing for live audiences five years ago, she has gained a loyal fan base and it’s no wonder. She has the kind of gumption most people only hope for but she came upon it the hard way — by spending a lot of time in self-reflection. In 2003, while living in Nelson, Reid took a sabbatical year from teaching to switch gears.

“I had to ask myself all the hard questions: when am I going to be able to have a normal relationship? When am I going to be functional and not scared?”

Reid refers to this sabbatical as a time of “excavating old buried shit.” She overhauled her life and began a process of good decisions that allowed her to handpick relationships she wanted to foster.

“Artists have to be really careful about who they surround themselves with,” she says. “We can’t afford to be in draining situations. It’s hard enough just to do the work.”

The solo artist is now happily and busily creating a holistic creative career, a feat that requires her to be not only talented but also self-aware and skilled at business. Starting out, she recalls, “I used to have to ask everyone about everything from ‘what does a publicist do?’ to ‘how do you book a gig?’”

Now she is learning to acknowledge not only how difficult it is to launch a music career but her own achievements as well. “I always catch myself saying I’m lucky but that’s not entirely true. I’ve had luck. But I’ve worked damn hard, too.”

From the personal growth, the music started to flow and before she knew it, Trigger booked Reid to open for Yvette Narlock at The Railway Club in Vancouver. At the time, she was still living in Nelson but it wasn’t long before she moved to the city and dedicated herself to her music full time.

“I love Vancouver’s culture and we’ve got great food but I miss the country,” Reid says. If she had her way, she would live a two-hour car ride from a large city, somewhere with wide-open spaces. Though most of her lyrics are based on human interactions, the artist can’t help but scope out favourite landscapes and fantasize about retreat time somewhere like rural southern Alberta.

Reid likes the challenge of playing in unfamiliar venues where she knows no one. The naturally extroverted performer has been surprised by the diversity of her fans, “I guess it’s my own internalized homophobia,” she says, “but I thought that most of the people who enjoyed my music would be lesbians and that’s not the case.”

She is thrilled that her music speaks to people across the sexuality spectrum, a great place to be for an out and proud dyke singer who is about to spend the summer touring mainstream folk music festivals across Canada.

Funny girl: 'Homofolkie' Reid Sees the Humour in Life

There may be a lot of cultural factors that weigh into the stigma, but there's a long-running stereotype that women just aren't as funny as men, especially when it comes to straight-up stand-up. Despite the loads of hilarious exceptions out there—try Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman or Margaret Cho—there aren't a lot of gals who make it doing "women's comedy."

The vibrantly faux-hawked, multiply-pierced Kate Reid, on the other hand, takes her routine one step further. The self-professed "homofolkie" is one funny lady. And she's not afraid to be funny about being a woman, or being a dyke.

"Most people say lesbians are not funny; they would say we're really serious and feminist and hardcore," Reid says. "When I was younger I was one of those kids who sort of blended in. Now I have a sense of humour about life because I know that it helps in times of difficulty and challenge."

Reid's brand of folk music is a meld of spoken word poetry tinged with witticisms about lesbian culture, Canadiana and, of course, just a little bit of good-natured man-hating. It might not seem like a style that's palatable to a wide audience, but her songs have a certain resonance beyond her own demographic, and that's something that still surprises the Vancouver-based songwriter.

"I've had incredible responses to my music, from kids to older people in their 60s and 70s, from straight to gay and everyone in between," Reid says. "It's been shocking to me—I expected it to be a women's music kind of thing. I expected to have a fanbase of women and lesbians, and the majority of it is, but I am seeing a lot more straight audience as well. I did want it, but I didn't expect it. When I started out, my goal was to bridge the gap between the communities, and sort of bring lesbianism out to the forefront, to get it noticed and out there. So this is all going along with my plan," she laughs. "My master plan of world domination. But it shows me that people are getting it, that we're getting there as a society, as a culture."

Her tune "Ex-Junkie Boyfriend"—about stopping at a traffic light and seeing an ex drive by in a car—has an honesty to it that anyone with any ex might relate to. Then there's "I'd Go Straight for Ridley Bent" (who wouldn't?), which could work as a template for explaining any cross-orientation crush—try "I'd Go Gay For Portia De Rossi," as just one example.

But being an out lesbian on the radio (or trying to get on the radio), isn't easy. Inevitably, the Katy Perry question comes up. Last summer, when "I Kissed a Girl" was overplayed on every mainstream pop station, Reid wrote a response to it in one of her own songs.

"I don't begrudge her. She's definitely an intelligent woman—she sees a good thing and nails it," Reid explains. "I got to give her credit for that. I had a friend once say to me, 'At least we're getting exposure on the radio,' and I said, 'No, we're not getting exposure because of Katy Perry. This is not about us being more visible, this is about straight chicks who pose as lesbians to get male attention [being] more visible.'

"She might have had a lesbian experience or a same-sex experience, and it's titillating for people, [and] that's what it's really about. I'm not bitter," she chuckles, "but I am pissed a bit because I'm an out dyke on the radio and I'm not getting played. They don't play real gay/lesbian stuff on mainstream radio, that's what most people don't want to hear."

Homofolkie Triumphant!
“Too lesbian”? “Too feminist”? Singer/songwriter Kate Reid doesn’t know the meaning of those phrases

Published June 11, 2009 by Kathleen Bell in Music Preview

She’s Not A Spokesman | But singer/songwriter Kate Reid does want her music to speak strongly to women and men alike.

“If somebody doesn’t like my music because I’m too lesbian or too feminist, well I don’t really give a shit,” declares singer/songwriter and self-described homofolkie Kate Reid — but in the friendliest possible way. “There’s always going to be somebody that doesn’t like it, right? It just may not be their cup of tea. I guess I shouldn’t say I don’t give a shit, I think it would bug me, but I’d have to realize that that’s not necessarily about me either.”

And anyway, anyone who can’t appreciate Reid’s special blend of fema-power ballads and her quirky look into queer life is missing out on many a hearty laugh. Her sophomore release, I’m Just Warming Up, is a sassy stroll through Reid’s life — from her small-town upbringing to her stint with a “boring junkie boyfriend” to her struggle to erode anti-gay discrimination through song. While she isn’t shy about addressing the topic of sexual orientation — in fact, she brazenly confronts anyone who dares suggest she tone down the lesbian references in her lyrics — her songs aren’t alienating but funny, often vulnerable, and always honest. “I don’t want to say I’m a spokesperson for the gay and lesbian community,” Reid says, “but I want there to be music out there that speaks to, and is about, lesbians and women.”

Nevertheless, when a reviewer from a folk magazine commented that her songs focused far too much on being a lesbian, she took the criticism under consideration. “When I first heard that,” she says, “I thought, ‘Decent feedback,’ right?’ And then I thought, ‘Wait a second — that’s extremely homophobic.’ And the reason I thought that was, I don’t think anyone has ever said that to an artist that sings about straight relationships.”

Out came “Uncharted Territory.” The track is a blatant assertion of her modus operandi, on which she proclaims “I’m political just by loving who I love. By being who I am. It’s an act of rebellion” while happily strumming an acoustic guitar, backed by some cheery banjo-pickin’ and harmonica-whistlin’. “I get so much great feedback from people — straight, lesbian or gay, whatever — about how different, unique, and great it is for them to hear those words, so I know that it’s right. I am doing what I need to be doing. But it really was born out of anger. It was like, ‘Fuck you! I’m going to do it anyways because somebody’s gotta do it.’”

Strong words set against a sprightly arrangement of folk music may seem slightly counterintuitive, but it’s nothing compared to the juxtaposition she plays with on “No More Missing Daughters,” an acoustic track written for Vancouver’s missing women. Reid calls for the accused’s head on a stick, more or less, wishing she could gather a “pack of angry bitches” to hunt the guilty party down.

“I thought it would be even more powerful if I sang soft and sweet,” she explains, “but if I was coming back with this kickass image and message. I also try to make fun of it a little bit, too. It’s sort of like, ‘Duh, why wouldn’t we be bitches?’ I mean, look at the world, look how women are treated and then we get called those names.” Under her command, ‘bitches’ seems like a word repossessed, full of fire instead of a way to douse a spark.

And while people may try to extinguish Reid’s rhetoric by giving her “advice” on how to make it in the “biz,” she’s happy figuring things out for herself. “It’s getting clearer to me every day about who I am, what I’m doing, and what my purpose is,” Reid says. “I mean, so far I’ve mostly heard really, really great stuff. So essentially it’s easy to accept and be happy about and be excited about, right?”

Vancouver-based folksinger Kate Reid has kissed a girl or two in her day. She's kissed a few, actually. She makes no bones about it in her new song, Emergency Dyke Project.

Oh yeah, and she liked it too.

Now where we have heard that story before?

Of course, it's a riff on the electro-bouncy "lezploitation" ditty I Kissed A Girl by pop-star sexpot Katy Perry, which was one of the biggest hits on the radio last summer, even earning the rock Betty Boop a Grammy nomination.

But not everyone liked the song. Reid didn't, nor did her friends in Vancouver's lesbian community. Actually, the song offended her enough that she decided to take a flippant, though unmistakably sharp dig at it in Emergency Dyke Project, off her second independent release I'm Just Warming Up.

In the song, Reid accuses Perry of treating lesbianism as a "trendy joyride," something that the singer-songwriter finds off-putting.

"It bugs me because she's using the lesbian experience to promote herself and she's not [a lesbian]," says Reid, 38, who will be performing at the WISE Hall tonight. "It's a pose and she's making money off of it."

Emergency Dyke Project, and a good deal of Reid's music, is about the perceived hurdles lesbians still face in today's society -- even though lesbianism now has a sort of pop culture chic about it, as evidenced by the runaway success of a tune like Perry's.

That trend is part of the underlying problem, as Reid sees it. "It is trendy, for sure . . . but it's not [depicted realistically]," Reid says. "I Kissed A Girl doesn't portray real lesbian women [or their] lives. . . . Katy Perry certainly doesn't represent me. I'm not in her songs. No one that I hang out with is."

Perry, for her part, has borne the brunt of this very sort of criticism since her song topped the charts last year.

Defending herself, Perry told one interviewer: "I'm not a lesbian, but I can appreciate the beauty of women. That's what the song is about: Me opening up a magazine and seeing Scarlett Johansson and saying 'if she wanted to kiss me, I wouldn't say no.' . . . It's fantasy. It's a song about curiosity."

In taking such offence to the tune, some might say Reid's being humourless about the subject. And, speaking of the perception of lesbians in society, there is the stereotype that they tend to be a humourless, up-in-arms bunch.

That's a stereotype Reid tries to combat with her material, actually, much of which takes a playful, funny approach to lesbian life. Songs like Ex-Junkie Boyfriend, The Only Dyke At the Open Mic, and Co-op Girlz are examples of this approach. As is the proclamation on Reid's MySpace page that announces: "Wisecrackin' homofolkie releases latest CD!"

"I never really thought about it when I started writing funny songs," Reid says. "I just wanted to write about my life. . . . It wasn't a conscious thing on my part to fly in the face of the stereotype. But now I realize it is a tool I use to make the idea of lesbianism and being gay more palatable for people."

However, Reid stresses that she's not just a singer of humorous songs and that's true. One of her songs in particular makes that clear and that's the dark, seething No More Missing Daughters, inspired by Robert Pickton, the serial killing pig farmer from Port Coquitlam who was convicted on six counts of second-degree murder in 2007.

He still faces an additional 20 counts of first-degree murder.

It's a song that Reid says she needed to write, but notes that she only performs it for certain crowds at this point.

For now it's her more lighthearted songs that are bringing Reid attention from the mainstream, and that's something she's hoped for -- even if she didn't think it was possible when she first began pursuing a musical career four years ago.

"Initially I was like 'OK, this is going to be pretty big on the gay scene.' . . . But I'm finding out that the straight community is really liking my music, which is great. . . I've been shocked. I've come away from gigs going 'Oh my God, that was so fun and it was mostly straight people. They loved it.' Who knew? I didn't think that was going to happen.

"But I guess that's my own phobias speaking, because I expect the worst sometimes."

In fact, Reid's had such positive feedback from the straight community that she's set new, ambitious goals for herself.

"I've written this down at home. I want to have the things I sing about become more mainstream. I want the gay and lesbian community to be more accepted and I want my music to be a bridge between the communities.

"In my dreams, yeah, I'd love to be in the mainstream. Absolutely."

"Kate Reid is one of the funniest one-woman artists I've ever heard. Any one who'd write a song called "The Only Dyke at the Open Mic" deserves a medal, and when she follows it up with "Co-op Girlz" (about trying to pick up a chick at a health food store) and "I‘d Go Straight for Ridley Bent" she should be eligible for the Order of Canada. Enter taining. Sharp. Honest. A woman who breaks the stereotypes and makes us all think as well as laugh. I am, not so
secretly, in love with this woman."

Reid Between the Lines? …No need to as singer-songwriter’s lyrics razor-sharp.
By Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Province

The best thing about good singer/songwriters is their honesty and sense of humour. Thirty seconds into our interview, Kate Reid jokes about being an airhead. OK, technically, that's "Ayr"-head.
"I grew up on a farm in a small town in Southern Ontario called Ayr," says Reid. "I went to University at Guelph to do a degree in psychology and moved to Vancouver in '94 via the New Orleans jazz festival up through Utah.
"I always wanted to to live here because of the mountains."
A few years on the coast was enough to realize that said mountains were larger inland, so she loaded up the truck and she moved to Nelson. The shangri-la in the Kootenays provided the right environment for her to get the bug again. The music bug, that is.
"I taught myself to play guitar when I was 17 so I could play along with my dad when he got back from a business trip and learned the Eagles' "Lyin' Eyes." I played with him in my 20s. Around '96, I started playing my own songs at parties."
People were super supportive and encouraging of the original material, egging her on to hit the stage. So she did, debuting at the "Five Feminist Minutes" cabaret organized by the Nelson's Women Centre. Initially, the stage fright was "terrifying." In short order, she transformed into a freakin' whirlwind. She honed her craft everywhere there was, performing songs from her first CD, Comin' Alive. Her passion and fire-red dyed faux-hawk aren't easily forgotten. She banks on getting an audience's attention early.
"I don't want to be the background because I can't be. I suck at guitar, so I can't depend on that to grab anyone. I'm a lyricist most of all."
That's too critical of her strumming. Her bio is more accurate: "One Woman. One Guitar. Lots of Attitude. A straight shooter but definitely not straight, Kate Reid has busted out of the closet with a knack for candid storytelling and songs that are riddled with humour and social commentary." No kidding.
Since arriving back in town two years ago, she's been tearing up the local scene with showstoppers such as the hilarious ode to an evening when she was wowed by a fellow singer titled "I'd Go Straight For Ridley Bent."
"I'm an experiential songwriter. My lyrics come from my life. The more I do, the more songs can come of it."
Comin' Alive documents a decade of artistic awakening revealed through day to day life. From "Small Town" -- "hey this is where I live, it's one of those places you don't want to blink or else you'll miss it" -- to the budding romance in "Times Like These" -- "we started seeing each other a week after I moved into town and we put our best boots forward like dykes often do" -- her lyrical edge is sharp as a samurai, slicing away any of the mush that makes much roots/folk writing smell like cow patties.
The word is getting out about it, too. Thanks to katereid.net and fans.
"I just got back from playing the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and it was incredible. There's so much going on down there. That's totally where my heart is, and where I write from, but I also think my writing is broader than that and crosses over."
She dreams of taking her talent across Canada to expose her art to more folks. Doubtless, she'll have her little notebook in hand jotting down new tales to put to music.

sderdeyn@png.canwest.com

Kate Reid
CD Review: Comin’ Alive

Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Kate Reid is one witty chick. She nails the lesbian experience with songs like “Everyone’s Fucked But Me,” with its references to uptight straight women trying fit in at women’s events, two-year relationships and going to therapy to support local women in business. Whether she’s singing about having crushes on “Co-op Girlz,” or living in a town midway to nowhere on “Small Town,” Reid is uncompromisingly queer. No ambiguous pronouns, no potential breakout singles, just a collection of 12 highly personal songs that offer her take on the universal human condition.
Reid’s guitar style—basic pop-folk— provides a nice accompaniment for her truly impressive voice. Produced by former Mollies’ Revenge frontwoman Yvette Narlock, “Comin’ Alive” sounds great. The vocals are exactly where they need to be—forefront and centre.
In the song “Starving Artist,” she asks: “How will I get on the radio when I cuss and swear and sing about women?” Tongue-in-cheek, she knows that the price for play outside the confines of co-op radio, or maybe CBC on a good day, would be integrity. Reid doesn’t sound like she’s up for the compromise.
Your local music store probably won’t have this one. Log on to www.katereid.net to order a copy.

Kate Reid
CD Review: Comin’ Alive

"...very impressive. Heal Myself, Bright Out Here, and Identity are introspective and universal numbers with marvellous harmonies. Kori Miyanishi adds some expert banjo and fiddle tracks, and a rhythm section allows Kate to rock out like she should. Everyone’s Fucked But Me, Small Town, and Co-op Girlz are just clever and twisted enough to draw chuckles. In the epic Crone Woman, she muses on becoming elderly and wise. Great lyrics there, and her voice is always in tune, maybe sometimes even a bit Rae Spoon-esque."

“One woman, one guitar, damn sexy on stage. A punky lesbian-feminist singer-songwriter who doesn’t mind the moniker, this Vancouver singer is so suave with her instrument, she looks like she’s been playing Whiskey A Go-Go for years.”

[Kate] is really a vibrant talent. A welcome island of wit and charm in a sea of whining, introspective cack!”

I'M COMIN' ALIVE WITH KATE REID (IN A RENTAL CAR)
Tamara Gorzalka / tam@vueweekly.com


It would be easy to write Kate Reid off as just another lesbian folk singer. After all, she sings about her sexual orientation and women’s issues with just her acoustic guitar as back-up. But listening to Kate’s music is somewhere between watching a stand-up comedian and finding someone’s secret journal. Her songs are raw and honest but with an amazing dose of wit, all delivered in a casual yet earnest tone. There isn’t a lot of cryptic poetry in her lyrics, just matter-of-fact stories told with a musical style similar to Melissa Ferrick or Ani DiFranco.
I’ve been a fan since her CD first arrived at CJSR last year and I got the chance to interview Kate before her concert at the Blue Chair Café on Oct 24, also the day I turned 22. We had a delicious dinner of ahi tuna before her sound check, then moved into her rental car for a quiet place to do the interview.
Vue Weekly: It seems like it’s just a room full of dykes right now. Is that what it’s usually like when you’re playing?
Kate Reid: I wouldn’t say that’s what it’s usually like. Yeah, obviously lots of lesbians come out and women, but there’s crossover. Lots of guys and whoever just show up that like folk music.

VW: Are you on tour right now or are you just doing a couple stops?
KR: I’m just doing a couple shows right now. I haven’t actually gone on a full few week tour yet. I’m going to do that probably in the spring.

VW: Where do you think you’ll be going?
KR:I’m not sure. Probably across Canada. I don’t know if this is gong to work out but I’m also looking at potentially going down the west coast, down through California and that kind of thing.

VW: You have a CD out called Comin’ Alive, how’s that been doing?
KR: Like on radio and stuff? Well obviously it’s not played on the Top 40. I don’t know actually. I haven’t checked up on that. I sell a lot of CDs at shows, so that’s really good. I get lots of emails from people saying that they really love it. I think it’s doing fairly well.

VW: What was the recording process like?
KR: Did you hear of that band Mollies Revenge in the early ‘90s? It was fronted by a woman named Yvette Narlock and she’s in Vancouver and she has a recoding studio in her house now. I was her first project. It took about three months to do it and it was a lot of work; I never realized how much work it was until I actually started doing it. It started off being small, like I was going to do mainly acoustic and some basic instrumentation. Then as I was sitting in the studio I could start hearing all these things in my head, all these instruments, and we kept wanting to add stuff. So it just sort of expanded.

VW: What’s your favourite queer movie or TV show?
KR: I don’t watch TV very much ...

VW: I’m just glad that you didn’t say The L Word.
KR: Oh please, can we not say that?

VW: Yeah, thanks, that makes me feel better. All these artists that I really respect, like Melissa Etheridge sitting there talking about how she’s like Shane, I don’t want to know that. If that’s true, just keep it to yourself.
KR: [laughs] I don’t understand that. I mean I get why people like the show, but it’s not my thing. It doesn’t resonate with my ... whatever.

VW: But do you have a favourite lesbian movie?
KR: I love Bound.

VW: I love Bound! That’s my favourite.
KR: [laughs] I just think it’s great because they kick ass, they kick the guy’s ass and I think that’s awesome. I love that one and Better Than Chocolate.

VW: That one’s cool because it’s Canadian.
KR: And it was filmed in Vancouver. Go Fish I rented back in ‘94. I was living with my boyfriend at that time. He went away for the weekend and I rented it. It was great because I loved it. This is the kind of stuff I’d been wanting to watch.

VW: Do you have any gay or lesbian heroes?
KR: Ferron is a total hero of mine. Penny Lang is too, she’s a lesbian. I think they’re both fantastic songwriters. Back when Ani DiFranco was dating women I really looked up to her in terms of a lesbian hero, I always thought she was an amazing woman, business woman, songwriter. Audre Lorde is one of my favourite writers.

VW: You have a song titled “What I Want.” Right now, what do you want?
KR: I really want to be able to not teach anymore and do this as a living and continue making an impact in women’s lives. Music is really important to me. Listening to other people’s music, playing it, writing it, it’s saved my life. It’s an important tool for us to get connected with ourselves. We just need to have more voices out there, we have to have more music resonate with our own experience and our souls. I want to keep doing that because I want to do something important in the world and that feels like part of what I’m supposed to be doing.

VW: All right, well, thank you very much for inviting me into your rental car.
KR: Anytime!

VW: I guess we’ll go head back into the den of lesbians and I can’t wait to hear the concert.
KR: Great, it was nice talking to you.

Her show was fantastic and Kate definitely both charmed and touched the audience. What a great way to celebrate a birthday. Comin’ Alive is out now, find out more at katereid.net. V

Kate Reid...On the Road

I didn’t think much about Kate Reid at first. Someone had put her CD into my mailbox at CJSR, probably based solely on the fact that her short-haired, tank topped appearance in the press release had given a good indication of the music it would carry. I was more than bored with lesbian acoustic folk by then. I pawned the album onto another volunteer instead, asking them to take a listen and report back if it was even remotely worth playing. I just couldn’t take any more angry hippie women.

My expectations were wrong. The volunteer came back with a bunch of tracks written down, saying the album was awesome and funny and I totally needed to check it out. I was blown away by the new spin Reid had brought to the genre. Casual but intensely hilarious storytelling in every song, sometimes with the occasional heartbreaking bit of poeticism. I was immediately made a fan.

A few months later Reid came to town to play a show at the Blue Chair Café. Outside the restaurant, in her rental car in the parking lot, I had one of the most enjoyable interview experiences I’ve done so far. She was insightful, hilarious and wholly accommodating. It helped, I’m sure, that it was my birthday and Reid gave me lots of cool presents like a CD, poster and a dedicated song.

Kate Reid will be returning to town again, this time as part of the Women in the Round ... On the Road tour of Western Canada. Joining her will be Sarah MacDougall and Joanna Chapman-Smith. I have to admit to not yet being familiar with the work of these fine ladies, but after checking out their MySpaces I’m already a big fan.

Billed as a “rollicking, estrogen-injected evening of powerhouse women in folk music,” the first stop in Edmonton is at the Blue Chair Café on Thu, Apr 17 and then Prism Bar and Grill on Fri, Apr 18.

This faux-hawked folkie asks, “How am I going to get on the radio when I cuss and swear and sing about lovin’ women?” Well, writing songs this honest, smart and often gut-splittingly funny can’t hurt. This kind of precocious is precious and altogether rare. An original talent waiting to be discovered.”

Kate Reid is one of the best songwriters I've heard in years. I'd put her on a stage any time, any where."

Punky, yet wise beyond her years, Kate Reid is a breath of fresh air on the Vancouver music scene. She is quirky, in-your-face and charming at the same time, and most of all, a superb entertainer and songwriter. Kate rocks! Oh yeah…she's hilarious!

“Her songs, and particularly her sense of humour, resonate strongly with all members of the audience. Kate sings from and to the heart about love, personal struggle, social issues and the environment. She reveals those awkward moments we all experience in a way that cuts across boundaries and inhibitions as she leads her audience on a deeply personal journey into life in all its shades and colour.”

If you like music by and for women, this is your next cd to buy….the twelve tunes are great, fun and current. I wish I could air all the tracks but Kate’s self-described “trucker-mouth” precludes a few. Get this album and enjoy tunes about the average and not-so-average lesbian life!

Kate is a brilliant songwriter and storyteller with a “laugh at yourself and the world laughs with you” attitude. Her songs put you in the moment and make you smile from the inside out.