Gold In California: A Retrospective Of Recordings, 1975-1985

Gold In California: A Retrospective Of Recordings, 1975-1985

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Kate Wolf died of leukemia in 1986, and listening to this exceptional, two-disc retrospective reminds us of just how much we lost. Her voice had a palatable ache, a lonesome grace, and she wrote so many thoughtful, finely shaped songs. Every song her makes clear how well she understood the deepest aspects of both country and folk idioms: "Like a River" flows like a classic bluegrass ballad, "The Sun is Burning" is an intense political meditation, and her finest song, "Unfinished Life" is a heartbreaking premonition of death. Fans of Townes Van Zandt, Lucinda Williams, and Iris Dement must hear these songs. With Kate Wolf, the well is more than deep: it never seems to end. --Roy Francis Kasten

Tracks:

Full Time Woman
She Rises Like The Dolphin
Like A River
Telluride
Muddy Roads
Across The Great Divide
The Lilac & The Apple
Unfinished Life
Early Morning Melody
Safe At Anchor
The Redtail Hawk

Tracks:

The Sun Is Burning
Brother Warrior
Two-Way Waltz
Eyes Of A Painter
Emma Rose
Here In California
Poet's Heart
Carolina Pines
The Trumpet Vine

Amazon.com

Kate Wolf died of leukemia in 1986, and listening to this exceptional, two-disc retrospective reminds us of just how much we lost. Her voice had a palatable ache, a lonesome grace, and she wrote so many thoughtful, finely shaped songs. Every song her makes clear how well she understood the deepest aspects of both country and folk idioms: "Like a River" flows like a classic bluegrass ballad, "The Sun is Burning" is an intense political meditation, and her finest song, "Unfinished Life" is a heartbreaking premonition of death. Fans of Townes Van Zandt, Lucinda Williams, and Iris Dement must hear these songs. With Kate Wolf, the well is more than deep: it never seems to end. --Roy Francis Kasten

Customer Reviews:

One of the finest voices in music........2007-07-16

It's really impossible to go wrong with Kate Wolf.

Wolf is much more mellow than most of the music I like, but her songwriting is lovely and her voice is one-of-a-kind. Different from, but easily as beautiful as Emmylou Harris or Judy Collins. It's only a pity we lost her so early.

Songs to remember, great band; but her voice grows dull.......2006-03-23

The songs are richly varied and tuneful (classically American); imagery comes from a golden weathered, often New-Agey, bucolic idyll. Band is superb, and settings are well tailored to each song. But her vocal tone never varies, giving the album an overall monotonous feel despite the band and songs. She sings in an even, steady, close/engaged, but weary way that NEVER varies. Result: Her interminable melancholy yields a flat, dull affect that feels resigned to sadness, but determined to carry on. The even tone distances Wolf from her own affecting material.

The music I listen to most.............2006-01-11

I can't possibly enlarge on the beautiful, accurate, and thoughtful other reviews already here, concerning Kate Wolf's music and awesome talents.

Hers is the music I find myself playing most frequently, of ALL the hundreds of CDs I have, across all musical categories. This fact is the best statement I can make about Kate Wolf.

There are other CDs of Kate's that you can find on her family's website, (katewolf.com), but I have to recommend two retrospectives that you must have, if you love Kate's music.

One is called, "Treasures Left Behind, Remembering Kate Wolf", and the second is "A Kate Wolf Retrospective" (recorded live in 1996, in Sebastopol, California).

The golden rolling hills of california oh kate we need you.......2004-02-05

Kate's "Red Tailed Hawk" will always be inscribed on my brain its beauty its realness, its aptness, and the reality of the golden rolling hills of California. So perfect and beautiful even though I never had a tape or LP or a CD of it until 12 years after it came out, until after we lost Kate. Still its power comes to me as it did on an old radio sitting in an Oakland apartment, the signal fighting its way all the way up from KFAT ("because we need the bucks) down in Gilroy.

The vision of California that Kate weaves on all her records is preciseless, unique real, and a treasure even if much of it is sweetened myth.

I feel so bad that I lived in San Fransisco and Oakland and travelled up and down California and the West Coast in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Kate was doing her best work and only saw her sing once. When I hear something like Sweet love on this CD, I wonder why I am not always listening to Kate. There is something to her voice that gets through to me, something pure. Now that I sing and play guitar and banjo and fiddle, I tend to listen to any singer or player that I hear trying to scope them out learn something, evaluate, figure out how to put what they do into my performance. Even though Kate plays the kind of music I have always wanted to play, I just sit there and listen to the song and receive its thoughts in my heart and mind.

Part of Kate's magic is the superb arrangements and backup that she got from the musical genius Nina Gerber, her main accompaniest. Nina is now out there solo alot. If you like guitar and this kind music check out Nina too.

Oh Kate, why didn't we realize how much of a golden treasure you were when you were among us. In her memory think of a performer you might miss like we all miss Kate--well that isnt fair because thats a big ideal to measure up to--how about someone you would miss half or a quarter as much as I miss Kate, and make sure you go see them while you can, and maybe bring a friend, bring two.

Melancholy and Romantic.......2002-08-22

This CD, especially Volume 2, stayed in the CD alarm clock and became "wake-up" and "fall-asleep" music for about a year. Kate Wolf put this collection together as she was dying of leukemia. Songs like "Unfinished Life" allude to her coming to grips with mortality. Her lyrics are pure poetry infused with life wisdom. Her lovely voice is both soothing and tinged with a touch of sorrow.

My favorite song, "Here in California," contains wonderful maternal advice about falling in love:
"When I was young, my mama told mama told me,
she said, 'Child take your time.
Don't fall in love quickly,
before you know your mind.'
She held me 'round the shoulders,
and in a voice so soft and kind
She said, 'Love can make you happy
and love can rob you blind.' "

"Two-Way Waltz" evokes the pain and hope of the two lovers reuniting or considering a reconcilation after a difficult separation: "[T]he sweetest hello always comes after the hardest goodbye."

If you believe that the only way to cure a broken heart is to listen to the blues*, or if you are a hopeless romantic who can't hear too many love songs, "Gold in California" is a must. * Note: Kate Wolf is not a blues singer. Her style is modern folk.

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