Kate Campbell

    Kate Campbell

    Nashville, Tennessee6 reviews across 6 releases

    americanacountryfolksinger-songwriter
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    Kate Campbell is a Southern folk singer-songwriter from New Orleans who grew up in Sledge, Mississippi, and later Nashville, in the family of a Baptist preacher. Her songs join regional observation to religious and historical subjects, with ordinary people treated as story characters rather than symbols. Songs From the Levee established a largely acoustic setting, with a Southern vocal inflection and writing rooted in Delta imagery; the songs were compared at the time to Nanci Griffith and Lucinda Williams. On Rosaryville, the literary storytelling became more pointed, moving through faith, family, and social history. Wandering Strange shifted further toward gospel, drawing on traditional hymns while retaining a rock and country band sound. Her writing could place civil-rights history beside comic material such as "Jesus and Tomatoes," a combination that remained characteristic.

    After Compass Records declined to sell the masters for several of her earlier albums, Campbell re-recorded much of that material for Sing Me Out and The Portable Kate Campbell, both released in 2004 by Compadre Records. The latter was produced by Will Kimbrough and included guest appearances by Nanci Griffith and Kim Richey, while Sing Me Out used an entirely acoustic backing band. In 2005, Campbell moved to Large River Music for bluesandlamentations, turning toward a sorrowful country sound colored by gospel and, on two tracks, New Orleans-style brass. She continued releasing albums after the period covered here, including For the Living of These Days with Spooner Oldham, 1000 Pound Machine in 2012, and Damn Sure Blue in 2018. She also performed with Pierce Pettis and Tom Kimmel as the New Agrarians.

    6 releases reviewed