[.ca] Weaver of Visions: The Kate Wolf Antholgy

From Amazon.com:
Ahead of her time and somehow beyond time, Northern California singer-songwriter Kate Wolf now has a collection to represent all her craft, wisdom, and radiance. Produced and compiled by Wolf's son Max, the 35 songs on Weaver of Visions include every track from the previous anthology, Gold in California (less only "Full Time Woman" and the antinuke ballad "The Sun Is Burning"), and adds 10 live performances and two previously unavailable songs. The selection is impeccable, focusing on what Wolf's guitarist Nina Gerber has called "Kateness": an intimacy born of hard times, a communion forged in love's fire, a delicate soulfulness that few of her acoustic-oriented peers--Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams come to mind--have captured. Even if you own every Wolf album, Weaver of Visions will be a revelation--from the sparkling remastering to the elegant photographs to the intelligent, 42-page liner notes to the songs and voice that will tear out your heart, then mend and renew it once again. --Roy Kasten

Too much sameness:
This CD was a big letdown for me because the reviews I read led me to believe this was something extremely special. While Kate Wolf has an incredibly rich, full, and beautiful voice, the material on these CD's seem to have a monotonous sameness -- once you've heard one you've heard them all. Very little change in tone, tempo. mood from song to song, and not much expression or creativity in interpretation or arrangment of the pieces. Her voice is awesome but I was disappointed and bored with this CD.

Precious gems:
It's hard to describe in words just how perfect Kate Wolf is -- the voice, the songs ... Then again, I don't really have to: this excellent two disc compilation does it all for me, skimming the cream off her recordings. Fittingly enough, it includes a good heaping serve of live tracks, because Wolf in concert was a very special experience. If the compilers managed to miss a couple of my own favourites, well, that's simply a tribute to the consistent quality and depth of her songs. Listeners new are guaranteed to fall in love with Kate Wolf; listeners old will welcome a fine, fine compilation.

How did we ever learn to live without Kate:
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 gets 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.

Here in California...:
Nobody has ever captured the spirit of the rural West in music better than Kate Wolf. This generous set will satisfy almost anybody but those who have to have it all; for those who are just new to this astist, this is the best place to start - all killer, no filler. Some tracks are immediately addictive, while others reveal their pleasures more gradually. Kate's songs are a celebration of passion, humanity, nature, healing, friendship, love, and much more. Her partners supported her with expert skills and arrangments that explored all the roots of American music, yet her style, concept, and delivery were completely her own. If Weaver of Visions is your first introduction to Kate, it may be a revelation.

Great Collection:
Pacheco/RedtailHawk, Medicine Wheel,Across the Great Divide. I have several Kate Wolf Cd's and I seem to listen to this one the most, but there are many other songs and its hard to pick a favorite. Kate wasn't a country bluegrass stompin kind of singer but a beautiful folk singer. I wish I could go to the Kate Wolf Festival held in California every year,where a line up of wellknown singers sing there versions of her music. The information is on her website.

• Although I've Gone Away
• Green Eyes
• Emma Rose
• Like a River
• Old Jerome
• These Times We're Living In \oLive\c
• Sweet Love
• Across the Great Divide
• Brother Warrior
• Unfinished Life
• Eyes of a Painter \oLive\c
• Safe at Anchor
• Give Yourself to Love \oLive\c
• Trumpet Vine
• Slender Thread
• Muddy Roads
• Early Morning Melody
• Telluride
• Here in California
• Looking Back at You \oLive\c
• Minstrel
• Picture Puzzle
• Cornflower Blue \oLive\c
• Wind Blows Wild
• You're Not Standing Like You Used To
• Carolina Pines
• Medicine Wheel
• Two-Way Waltz
• Lilac & The Apple
• Shadow of a Life
• She Rises Like the Dolphin
• Poet's Heart
• Friend of Mine \oLive\c
• Pacheco/The Redtail Hawk \oLive\c
• Back Roads