Tie Me To You
Kathleen Grace (with Larry Goldings)
Monsoon Records — April 17th, 2020
Kathleen Grace’s latest album, Tie Me To You, was born from a place of awakening, the kind that can only trigger massive change, great loss and also, hope. It is the product of finally seeing yourself fully for the first time and the price you pay to do so.
In her case, it cost her a marriage that had consumed her entire adult life. It also marked the birth of a new woman, one who would call a new man to her side — a man who, ultimately, could not stay.
Amidst this love and loss, Grace barely slept. Instead, she was flooded with music day and night — poems, songs, and melodies. She imagined recording this new music freely, in the moment, with no big production or fixes; she envisioned simple songs broken down to their most basic parts.
Soon, she picked up the phone and called Larry Goldings, a legendary keyboardist who has worked with James Taylor, Norah Jones, John Mayer, and others. She said simply, “Listen, I need to make a record. And you’re the only one in the world I can make it with. Can you call me back?”
He did.
And so it was that Grace found herself in the only place left that made any sense: a recording studio in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake, California. The pair recorded live in the low light of the wood-framed building, often producing songs in single takes. What emerged is a portrait of a woman exposed as she mourns what she must let go of in order to keep reaching for herself. The result is a new sound for Grace, one that is more vulnerable and bold, one that embraces her eclecticism without apology.
Grace explains, “I remember this time so clearly, the tastes, the colors, and the sounds. The feeling of sitting next to Larry on a piano bench without headphones and just singing. Singing songs only for me, most of which I’d never sung before. Singing to myself and also to the men I loved. It’s all there in the music. Forever. Trapped in a snow globe of emotion.”
Grace and Goldings invited masterful partners into their creation of Tie Me To You. Bass player David Piltch (KD Lang) appears throughout the album, and violinist Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers) is a special guest appearing as both a soloist and string section.
The project was championed by Grammy®-winning engineer Sheldon Gomberg, who offered up his studio for the better part of a year. A song record at its core, Tie Me To You features original music by both Grace and Goldings as well as covers of pieces by French icon Francois Hardy, blues great Son House, and The Beatles, and standards by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers & Hart.
Much like her music, Grace’s career has expanded in recent years beyond its jazz and folk roots that saw her appearing at The Montreux Jazz Festival and The Kennedy Center for the Arts, with performances alongside rock band Portugal The Man at Coachella and throughout My Morning Jacket leader Jim James’ latest solo release, Uniform Distortion. Grace also teaches music at the Flora L. Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California (USC).
About Kathleen
Kathleen Grace grew up in the West, its vistas etching an impression that would stay with the Tucson native as she traveled to the dry hills of Los Angeles. Forging a career that has sent her around the globe, Grace has played for a worldwide audience whose diversity reflects her own eclectic musical tastes. Emerging from her jazz roots, Grace’s sound bridges traditional and nostalgic with an approachable modernity, taking her into the blues, folk and pop-leaning realms.
“Jazz is a value system,” Grace explains, “I may not always be creating music specific to that space, but I try to let its deepest truths of freedom, listening and trust guide my path, my choices.”
Over time, Grace’s organic evolution has led her to an expansive career, not only as an interpreter of song, but also a respected songwriter in the modern folk and Americana worlds. Her prior album, No Place To Fall, was a sun-drenched landscape of music rooted in her desert upbringing and elegant country spirit, and an undeniable evolution of Grace as a naturally exquisite singer and songwriter, whose soulful instincts are skillfully honed by her prior experience in jazz and blues.
“I’ve put out a few records in my life so far — some jazz, some folk, some country,” Grace says, “But this record, Tie Me To You, is the one the album I never thought I’d make. The one that happened to me instead of me making it happen, an album with no rehearsal and no fixes.
“My life was changing fundamentally and we made a record documenting that change,” Grace says. “Larry was remarkable to work with, deeply trusting and intuitive, which I think helped me feel the same. We laughed so much and became quite a team over the year it took to finish the record. My gratitude to him is boundless. So here we are, at another beginning in a life full of them.”