Biography
2014 Flying Dream Bio
Flying Dream
Catie Curtis
Flying Dream
(February 25 - Catie Curtis Records)
Plenty of performers succumb to the temptation to cruise on autopilot two decades into their
careers. Thatâs the safe and simple way to go, after all. But Catie Curtis, dubbed a âfolk-rock
goddessâ by The New Yorker and treated as one by her loyal fans, is one veteran artist who has
resolutely refused to coast along in comfort. Her 13th album, Flying Dream, is a work of both
continuity and courage, capturing the way sheâs embraced a season of heady change with the
emotional intelligence that has been her songwriting signature.
While Curtis has most often composed soloâonly occasionally co-writing with such respected
peers as Beth Nielson Chapman, Mary Gauthier, Fred Wilhelm and Mark Erelli (a song she
co-penned with the latter won Grand Prize in the 2006 International Songwriting
Competition)âthis time around she took a chance on a start-to-finish collaboration with Sugarland
co-founder and modern folk songwriting luminary Kristen Hall.
Gauthier introduced the two talents, and from there, says Curtis (a Maine native), âWe discovered
that we were very compatible in writing together. After we had a couple songs under our belts, I
wanted to keep going.â
âWe both care about what we're saying and the message we convey,â adds Hall. âWhen you're
alone out there on a stage, it requires you stand behind your words, quite literally.â
Curtis placed her trust in Hallâs instincts as a producer, and with some of the finest players Boston
has to offer: drummer Jim Gwin (of the Boston Pops Orchestra), Jamie Edwards (keyboardist for
Aimee Mann), bassist Richard Gates and multi-instrumentalist Duke Levine, whoâve logged
sessions with the likes of Suzanne Vega and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Together, they crafted a
lustrous long player with subtle jazz, electronic and AM pop shadings. Hall calls it her âhappiest
in-studio experience; a very relaxed and creative
atmosphere with super-talented people.â
It sounds like Curtis to be sureâwith her tunefulness and casual elegance intactâbut it also
sounds unlike anything else in her catalog. So itâs only fitting that sheâs releasing it through her
own, newly formed, thoroughly independent, Catie Curtis Records.
The songs on Flying Dream are sure to connect with her audience and continue the conversation
sheâs been carrying on with them for nearly two decades. She wrote two alone, six with Hall, and
covers one that Hall had in her back pocket, and another unexpected, trip-hop-leaning version of a
Burt Bacharach classic (an adventurous idea of Hallâs). Curtis came to those co-writing sessions
with a desire to articulate âsome really universal experiences.â âWhatâs eerie,â she says, âis how
much the songs ended up being true to my life.â
Sheâs always drawn emotionally honest art from her circumstances, sharing reflections on
searching for love and finding it, on joining two lives together andâonce Massachusetts extended
the legal rightâon marrying, on becoming adoptive parents and a myriad other experiences, and
the autobiographical threads have enriched her work and endeared her to listeners. Because
Curtis and her wife Liz are now separated after 17 years together, and their daughters are
becoming more independent as they inch toward adolescence, and life just plain doesnât look or
feel the same as it once did, there were complex new corners of the human heart that begged to
be explored in this song cycle.
Says Hall, âThereâs a lot of bittersweet in it, which is my favorite flavor by a mile.â
Thereâs a lot else in it too, every bit of it delivered in Curtisâs fetching, feathery timbre. Like songs
illustrating the powerfully pleasing and painful pull that love can exert on a yielding heart (âFour
Walls,â âMaybe Tomorrow,â Bacharachâs âThis Girlâs In Love With Youâ, and the breathtaking
âWhen You Find Loveâ). And songs that get at the soul-sick experience of sensing trouble in oneâs
relationship (âIf Iâm Right,â a song laced with artful wordplay, and âOrion,â which traces out a
story of sibling betrayal from Greek mythology). Itâs no accident that the album is bookended by
songs that deal with choosing to not withdraw from life, but rather savor the simple, sensual and
sacred surprises it brings (opening track âFlying Dream,â which has its origins in a trip to
Guatemala to visit their adoptive daughtersâ birth families, âLive Laugh Love,â an irrepressibly
upbeat number that arrives midway through, and closing tune âThe Voyagerâ).
âSometimes things change in ways that you donât expect,â Curtis reflects. âIt can be really
challenging and painful. But I think part of whatâs in this record is this feeling of being authentic,
going with the ride, going with the dream, and living passionately. I really tend to be resilient and
want to look at things in a way where Iâm trying to find the meaning in it, find whatâs gonna work
out about it. It may sound corny...but to me, thatâs survival.â
Itâs never only Curtisâs own stories that sheâs tellingâclear, accessible communicator that she
isâexcept when it comes to a song titled âThe Queenâ (as in, Latifah). Curtis has received several
invitations to perform at the White House, which is certainly no culturally insignificant gig. On one
occasion she was to share the bill with Latifah at an inaugural ball, but the iconic hip-hop artist
failed to show.
âAs a folksinger, everythingâs about self-deprecation and humility,â says Curtis with a chuckle.
âThat night I felt this fun sense of, âIâve earned this place, taking the queenâs place for the
inaugural ball.â I think part of itâs just being comfortable taking up space. Finally, after twenty
years I feel like I deserve to be here.â
However, as a former social worker, and a confessional folk-pop poet who absorbed the lessons
of the politically agitating â60s folk revival, the acutely reflective â70s singer-songwriter movement
and the solidarity of self-expression that was Lilith Fair in the â90s (which she played, by the way),
Curtis is all about shared triumphs, shared stories and
shared causes. She produces concerts in support of Voices United for Separation of Church and
State, she got ordained by the Universal Life Church so that she could officiate at her fansâ
same-sex weddings, and she writes and sings about joyful and jarring sensations alike from a
posture of empathy.
âMy goal is not just to reflect my own personal life, but to reflect back to people what happens in
life, in their lives, in our world,â she says. âAs we all know, sh#t happens.â
Wise words from a truly intrepid songwriter.
Publicity contact:
Stephanie Fields / Make It Bigger Mama Publicity / SF, CA / Stephanie@MakeItBiggerMama.com