Kate Wolf (born Kathryn Louise Allen; January 27, 1942 – December 10, 1986) was an American
folk singer
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
and songwriter.
["Kate Wolf", pp. 533–534, in '']All Music Guide
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...
'', 2nd edition (1994), edited by Michael Erlewine. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. . Though her career was relatively short, she had a significant impact on the folk music scene. Her best-known compositions include "Here in California", "Love Still Remains", "Across the Great Divide", "Unfinished Life", “Green Eyes” and "Give Yourself to Love". She recorded six albums as a solo artist.
She was elected to the
NAIRD
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, North ...
Independent Music Hall of Fame in 1987.
[ Her songs have since been recorded by ]Nanci Griffith
Nanci Caroline Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She often appeared on the PBS music program ''Austin City Limits'', starting in 1985 during season 10. In 1990, Griffith appeared on th ...
and Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
(whose recording of "Love Still Remains" was nominated for a Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
in 1999).
Biography
Wolf was born in San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
to John Fred Allen (1915-1991) and Ernestine Ruth Allen, née Endicott (1918−1996). She began studying piano at 4 but quit at 16 because of her shyness.[ During their senior year (1959–60) at Berkeley High School, Kathy Allen and her friend Marian Auerbach (now Shapiro) sang folk songs at the Berkeley High School Talent Shows (1957 and 1960). At age 19 she first met Saul Wolf, an architecture student at ]UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
; they married two years later. They had two children, born in 1964 and 1967.
In 1969 she became part of the Big Sur
Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Range, Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from th ...
music community and developed rapidly as a guitarist and songwriter, influenced by such friends as Gil "Jellyroll" Turner and George Schroder.[ In 1971, she parted from Saul Wolf on good terms and moved to ]Sonoma County
Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa.
Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...
. There she formed her first band, The Wildwood Flower, with Don Coffin, whom she later married.
Her first album, ''Back Roads'', released in 1976 on her own label, Owl Records,[ was recorded in a living room with the band Wildwood Flower, and was "remarkably well done."][ An important mentor, friend and touring companion was ]Utah Phillips
Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips (May 15, 1935 – May 23, 2008)
, KVMR, Nevada City, California, May 24, 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2008 ...
. In 1979, she separated from Don Coffin, and the Wildwood Flower folded, but guitarist and mandolin player Nina Gerber
Nina Gerber is an American guitarist who first came to attention when she accompanied singer-songwriter Kate Wolf from 1979 until Wolf's death in 1986.
Gerber was born and raised in Sebastopol, California
Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma ...
became her accompanist for the rest of her career.
She was married to Terry Fowler from 1982 until her death on December 10, 1986, at age 44, after a long battle with leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...
. She is buried at a small church cemetery in Goodyears Bar, California
Goodyears Bar, known as Slaughter's Bar before 1851, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sierra County, California, United States. Goodyears Bar is located along the North Yuba River and California State Route 49 west-southwest of Downievill ...
. In 1987, the World Folk Music Association established the Kate Wolf Award to honor her memory.
Discography
* ''Back Roads'' (1976) (billed as Kate Wolf and the Wildwood Flower)
* ''Lines on the Paper'' (1977) (billed as Kate Wolf and the Wildwood Flower)
* ''Safe at Anchor'' (1979)
* ''Close to You'' (1980)
* ''Give Yourself to Love'' (1982)
* ''Poet's Heart'' (1985)
* ''Gold in California – A Retrospective of Recordings'' (1986)
* ''The Wind Blows Wild'' (1988)
* ''An Evening in Austin'' (1988)
* ''Looking Back at You'' (1994)
* ''Carry It On'' (1996)
* ''Weaver of Visions – The Kate Wolf Anthology'' (2000)
* ''Live in Mendocino'' (2018)
A live performance by Kate Wolf in 1981, comprising seven songs on which she is accompanied by Nina Gerber
Nina Gerber is an American guitarist who first came to attention when she accompanied singer-songwriter Kate Wolf from 1979 until Wolf's death in 1986.
Gerber was born and raised in Sebastopol, California
Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma ...
and Ford James, is included in the 2024 album '' Bear's Sonic Journals: Sing Out!''.
Wolf, with fellow musician Don Coffin to whom she was married at the time, also appears on the 1973 album ''We Walked by the Water'' by folksinger Lionel Kilberg. This album was re-released in 1995 under the title ''Breezes'' and credited to Wolf alone on the front cover. Her family has stated that Wolf did not consider these songs as representative of her work.
Both Kilberg's ''We Walked by the Water'' and Wolf's own album ''Lines on the Paper'' are dedicated to Gil Turner
Gil Turner (born Gilbert Strunk; May 6, 1933 – September 23, 1974) was an American folk singer-songwriter, magazine editor, Shakespearean actor, political activist, and for a time, a lay Baptist preacher. Turner was a prominent figure in the G ...
, who Wolf and Coffin first met via Lionel Kilberg. Wolf subsequently recorded her own version of Turner's much-covered folk anthem "Carry It On".
A number of Wolf's albums were done in collaboration with Bill Griffin.
Legacy
Music festival
Wolf's music was celebrated each year toward the end of June at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival held at Black Oak Ranch in Laytonville, California
Laytonville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located north-northwest of Willits, at an elevation of . The population was 1,152 at the 2020 census, down from 1,227 at the 2010 census.
Geog ...
. Several thousand guests attended this outdoor festival
A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...
, which was regularly headlined by popular folk musicians such as Nina Gerber
Nina Gerber is an American guitarist who first came to attention when she accompanied singer-songwriter Kate Wolf from 1979 until Wolf's death in 1986.
Gerber was born and raised in Sebastopol, California
Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma ...
and Greg Brown. The festival traditionally closed with Wolf's song "Give Yourself to Love".
The 25th annual Kate Wolf Music Festival was scheduled for June 2020, then postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It took place 2 years later, as a 4-day festival, rescheduled to June 23–26, 2022. According to the promoters, Back Road Productions, 2022 was the final Kate Wolf Music Festival.
Tributes and covers
*American folk duo Buskin
A buskin is a knee- or calf-length boot made of leather or cloth, enclosed by material, and laced, from above the toes to the top of the boot, and open across the toes.
The word buskin, only recorded in English since 1503 meaning "half boot ...
and Batteau wrote "Never Cry Wolf" as a tribute to Wolf."Buskin and Batteau"
World Folk Music Association.
*Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle (born 23 September 1944) is an Australian folk music, folk singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Scotland, he emigrated to Australia at the age of 25 to settle near Adelaide, South Australia. Bogle's songs have covered a variety of to ...
wrote "Katie and the Dreamtime Land" as a tribute to Wolf.
* Greg Brown wrote and performed "Kate's Guitar", which is on his 2004 album '' In the Hills of California'', recorded live at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival.
*'Gaelic Americana' singer Kyle Carey
Kyle Carey (born 1988) is a Celtic Americana musical artist who creates a synthesis of music called 'Gaelic Americana'.
Biography
Born in New Hampshire to schoolteacher parents, Kyle lived in Yup'ik native communities in the Alaskan bush unt ...
covered Wolf's song "Across the Great Divide" which is on her 2014 album ''North Star''.
* "Across the Great Divide" is the first track on Nanci Griffith's 1993 cover album called '' Other Voices, Other Rooms''. She is accompanied by Emmylou Harris.
*Klezmer revival
Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...
folk musicians Daniel Kahn and Sarah Mina Gordon premiered a Yiddish-language cover of Wolf's "Telluride" at the Yiddish Book Center
The Yiddish Book Center (formerly the National Yiddish Book Center), located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books in the Yiddish language, ...
's YidStock Klezmer Festival in July 2019.
*Songwriter, Joel Koosed, upon hearing on the radio of Wolf's death, wrot
"Goodbye, Kate Wolf."
*In 1998, a tribute album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...
titled ''Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf'' was released by Red House Records
Red House Records is an independent folk and Americana record label in St. Paul, Minnesota. The label was founded in 1983 by Bob Feldman after seeing a performance by Iowa folk singer Greg Brown.
Origin
The label is named for a farmhouse in I ...
. The album contains Wolf songs performed by various artists and the booklet contains tributes and remembrances about her.
Track listing:
*#"Give Yourself to Love" (Kathy Mattea
Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reac ...
)
*#"These Times We're Living In" (Dave Alvin
David Albert Alvin (born November 11, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He is a former and founding member of the roots rock band the Blasters. Alvin has recorded and performed as a solo artist since the late 1980s ...
)
*#"Friend of Mine" (Nanci Griffith
Nanci Caroline Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She often appeared on the PBS music program ''Austin City Limits'', starting in 1985 during season 10. In 1990, Griffith appeared on th ...
)
*#"Sweet Love" (John Gorka
John Gorka (born July 27, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. In 1991, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."
Personal life
Gorka was raised in the Colon ...
)
*#"Here in California" (Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Gayl Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, ''Ramblin' on My Mind (Lucinda Williams album), Ramblin' on My Mind'' (1979) and ''Happy Woman Blues'' (198 ...
)
*#"Like a River" (Peter Rowan
Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. He plays guitar, fiddle, dobro, banjo, bass, piano and mandolin. He has a wide vocal range and yodels. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall o ...
& The Rowan Brothers)
*#"Carolina Pines" (Cris Williamson
Cris Williamson (born February 15, 1947) is an American feminist singer-songwriter and recording artist. She was a visible lesbian political activist during an era when few who were unconnected to the lesbian community were aware of gay and l ...
& Tret Fure)
*#"See Here, She Said" (U. Utah Phillips
Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips (May 15, 1935 – May 23, 2008)
, KVMR, Nevada City, California, May 24, 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2008 ...
)
*#"In China, or a Woman's Heart" ( Rosalie Sorrels)
*#"Tequila and Me" ( Greg Brown & Ferron
Ferron Foisy (born Deborah Foisy on 1 June 1952; known professionally as Ferron) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet. In addition to gaining fame as one of Canada's most respected songwriters, Ferron, who is openly lesbian, became one of t ...
)
*#"Back Roads" (Nina Gerber)
*#"Cornflower Blue" (Eric Bogle)
*#"Love Still Remains" (Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
)
*#"Thinking About You" ( Terry Garthwaite)
*In 2002, Will Oldham
Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Brothers, Palace Son ...
under the name Bonny Billy and Rainywood (who would later become Brightblack Morning Light) released a Kate Wolf tribute split single. Oldham covered Wolf's "Brother Warrior" while Rainywood covered Wolf's "Cornflower Blue". The single was issued by Oldham's Palace Records through Drag City Records
Drag City is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, established in the city in 1989 by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn. It specializes in indie rock, noise rock, psychedelic folk, alternative country, and experimental music. ...
br>Bonny Billy / Rainywood - Brother Warrior / Cornflower Blue
References
External links
Official website
Kate Wolf discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Kate
1942 births
1986 deaths
American folk singers
American women folk singers
American women singer-songwriters
Singer-songwriters from California
20th-century American singer-songwriters
20th-century American women singers
Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area
Musicians from Berkeley, California
Singers from San Francisco
Songwriters from San Francisco
People from Sonoma County, California
Deaths from leukemia in California