#RecentlyAnnounced #KathyMattea #TroySavingsBankMusicHall #SpotlightNews
Grammy Award winning country singer Kathy Mattea returns to the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Thursday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m.
Hailed by The Washington Post as “one of Nashville’s finest song interpreters,” Mattea has enjoyed the kind of success of which many artists only dream — two Grammys, four CMA Awards, four No. 1 singles, five gold albums and a platinum collection of her greatest hits.
The dream almost ended, though, when Mattea entered her 50s and began to find her voice changing.
What followed was a three-year journey through life challenges and vocal glitches that she describes as her “dark night of the soul,” a trying time of personal anguish and professional uncertainty that threatened to silence her permanently.
“The hardest thing was facing the question of whether I would still be able to sing well enough to enjoy it,” said Mattea. “That was the acid test for me, and I had to be willing to walk through a process that bumped me up against the very real possibility that, in the end, the answer might be no.”
Instead, Mattea dug in with a vocal coach, re-committed to her music, and emerged with the most poignant album of her career, Pretty Bird. Working with her old friend, music roots wizard Tim O’Brien, producing, Pretty Bird is a chronicle of her journey, song by song, back to singing for the sheer joy of it.
It’s an emotional, moving collection, one that draws its strength not only from Mattea’s touching performances but also from her uncanny ability to weave seemingly disparate material into a cohesive whole. From a playful take on Oliver Wood’s “Chocolate On My Tongue” to a tender rendition of Mary Gauthier’s “Mercy Now,” from a British traditional to a Bobbie Gentry classic, these are the songs that helped Mattea reclaim her voice, and she inhabits each as fully as if it were her own.
Exquisitely arranged and delivered with the kind of subtlety and nuance that can only come from a lifetime of heartbreak and triumph, Pretty Bird is a title Mattea inhabits quite literally, and it’s a welcome reintroduction to one of country and Americana music’s most enduring and beloved figures.
Mattea will perform songs from this new album, along with selections from 2008’s Grammy-nominated “Coal,” her 2012 release, “Calling Me Home,” and some of her most beloved hits.
Tickets are on sale for $29 or $34, each. For tickets and information, call 518-273-0038 or visit troymusichall.org. The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Box Office is located at 30 Second Street in downtown Troy, and is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information on the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and upcoming programs are available on the website at troymusichall.org.
The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall has hosted performances by legions of world-renowned artists, from legends like Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Isaac Stern, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Vladimir Horowitz, to the best on today’s contemporary music scene, including Joshua Bell, Andrew Bird, Steve Martin, Lyle Lovett and John Prine and many others.