InfieldFest Raises the Stakes in Entertainment-Howard County Times

If Maryland Jockey club President Tom Chuckas has his way, this weekend’s Preakness Stakes will live up to its self-described status as The People’s Party.

“For years the Kentucky Derby has always pushed itself as a race for the upper echelon and that’s fine,” says Chuckas by phone from his office at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. “We believe that the Preakness has more of a wider scope. It can be for anybody in a top hat and tails to somebody that wants to come out to the Infield in blue jeans and a T-shirt.”

To that end, the country’s oldest sporting association is once again hosting the Preakness InfieldFEST, an all-day celebration leading up to the 136th running of the middle jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown.

This year’s musical headliners include pop stars Train and Bruno Mars.

“I think we’ve outdone ourselves this year by selecting these two Grammy winners,” Chuckas says.

The festival, now in its 3rd year, is the Jockey Club’s approach to managing the infield experience, which until just a few years ago, had a rather rowdy reputation.

 "In 2009 we changed the policy in the Infield to restrict what people could bring in, specifically alcohol,” Chuckas explains. “We realized that if we were going to do that, we had to put on a show. The Preakness Infield is a rite of passage in Baltimore and we want people to have a good time but we also look for some civility and respect for their neighbors. Depending on how far back you go; there was some of that possibly lacking,” he concedes.

In addition to live music, the Preakness InfieldFEST will include a women’s pro volleyball tournament, carnival games, a variety of Maryland based food vendors, a wagering 101 tent with advisors providing guidance for those interested in making a bet on Preakness Day, and the return of the “Mug Club.” For an additional $20, festival goers can purchase a refillable beer mug.

"I haven’t been shy about saying that we do want people in the Infield to have a party,” Chuckas asserts. “But now we are trying to do that by emphasizing all the entertainment and other events we have going on.” In total, six musical acts will play over two stages on the grounds of Pimlico this Saturday.

With three top ten hits from his debut selling CD, “Doo Wops and Hooligans,” it might appear as though Bruno Mars is an overnight sensation.

In fact, the 25 year old Hawaiian is partially responsible for some of the biggest hits of the past several years. As a member of the production trio, The Smeezingtons, Mars has helped craft hits for some of today’s biggest music stars. After many years behind the scenes, the pop singer has made the jump to center stage. Mars was nominated for seven Grammys earlier this year, taking home the trophy for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.”

Over the course of fifteen years, Train has rolled out an impressive number of chart- topping hits. Back in 2001, you’d be hard pressed not hear their song “Drops of Jupiter,” playing on your favorite radio station. Catchy lyrics and sing-along melodies have proven to be winning formula for the Top 40 trio. Earlier this year, the band earned their third Grammy for “Best Pop-Performance by a Duo or Group,” for their hit song, “Hey Soul Sister,” from their newest CD, “Save Me San Francisco.”
  
Maryland based rock band, Hotspur, will kick off the main stage entertainment. The quintet recently released their second CD, “You Should Know Better by Now,” and last year was named the grand prize winners of a nationwide search of the country’s top unsigned bands.

“We’re very excited to say the least,” says the group’s lead singer Joe Mach of playing at Pimlico.

 “I think we’ve been around the area long enough that people may have heard about us but haven’t had a chance to see us yet,” he continues by phone from his home in Beltsville, Maryland.

“InfieldFEST is giving us a chance to get out there and play in front of a lot of people."

Hotspur formed while undergraduates at the University of Maryland. With their catchy blend of pop-rock, the band seems well poised to move beyond local band status.

“If the right opportunity comes along we would definitely jump at the chance,” says Mach of Hotspur’s ambition to sign a major label record deal. “We’re making pop music; music for the masses, and the bottom line is you do need a bigger vehicle to get you to that next level,” he acknowledges. “We are at a stage where we definitely have accomplished a lot, but you do reach a point where you need a label or some financial backing to make the jump to radio or to be fully able to hit the mainstream.”

 So far the band has hit all the right notes. Their songs have made the playlist of Baltimore radio station 98 Rock, and three of their videos have been featured on mtvU, an offshoot channel of MTV, targeted to college age viewers.

"It’s one thing to have your video on You Tube but when you’re casually watching TV and a Hotspur video comes on right after Kanye West; that’s pretty exciting.” Mach confesses.

Hotspur are regular favorites at such local venues as Washington’s 9:30 Club, and Baltimore’s Ram’s Head Live. In 2007, the band played Merriweather Post Pavilion as part of alternative rocks’ Warped tour. “Talk about a highlight,” says Mach of playing the venerable Columbia concert spot.

“That was one of our first really big performances. I pride myself on never really getting nervous but that was a time when I thought, what am I getting myself into? I’m on the Jumbotron at Merriweather!”

A second stage at InfieldFEST will feature several additional musical acts including Virginia native, Phil Vassar. The country music singer has released six albums and has recorded five hit singles. He’s also an award winning songwriter, having composed number one songs for such country superstars as Alan Jackson and Tim McGraw.

Alternative rockers, Puddle of Mudd released their triple platinum selling debut in 2001. Four tunes from the CD went to number one on Billboard magazine’s mainstream rock chart including “Blurry,” the most played radio song of 2002. Led by charismatic front man Wesley Scantlin, Puddle of Mudd’s most recent release is 2010’s greatest hits collection, “ICON.”

Based out of Philadelphia, cover rock band Mr. Greengenes, are perennial favorites on the Mid Atlantic club scene. Over the past decade, the quintet has made regular appearances at summertime nightspots in Ocean City and Rehoboth Beach.

The Preakness is the largest single day sporting event in the state of Maryland and organizers say 30 thousand people attended last year’s InfieldFEST. Tom Chuckas says he’s hopeful that number can be topped.

"I think you’d be hard pressed to find this kind of entertainment for the price,” he contends. “We’ve really tried to create a fantastic day.”

KIX Feature- Baltimore Messenger, Columbia Flier

Steve Whiteman knew the end was coming. Gone were the days of traveling in limos and playing arenas. That much was evident when his band KIX walked off the stage after a less than crowded nightclub gig in Frederick, Maryland.

“I’ll never forget it,” says the band’s lead singer of the night in 1995 when KIX decided to pull the plug on their eighteen year career. “It was inevitable,” he says by phone from his home in Hagerstown. “It was obvious that our whole scene of music wasn’t happening anymore. The clubs were getting smaller and they were paying less money.”

Just a few short years following the release of a platinum selling album, it was clear to KIX that the musical climate had shifted dramatically. Thanks to bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam; party hearty hard rock was out, and grunge was in.

“When all those bands came out, it sounded raw and new,” says Whiteman. “People were like, this is different and cool. That’s why we got flushed. There was a new party in town and we weren’t invited.”

Rather than bemoan the winds of change, KIX called it quits but not necessarily for good.

“We said, let’s just go away and if this music ever comes back, maybe we’ll pick it back up one day.”
It may have been wishful thinking at the time, but has since become reality. Eighties era rock and roll is making a comeback, and bands like Baltimore’s own KIX are leading the charge. “It’s amazing,” says Whiteman of the resurgence.“Why and where it came from I don’t know, but it’s reinvigorated us all.”

On Friday, fans can catch up with KIX when the band headlines the M3 Rock Festival kick off concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia. Now in its third year, the event is a throwback to the days when big hair, spandex and headbanging at Hammerjack’s was King. It’s been such a success that promoters have added a second day.

KIX is arguably one of the biggest bands to come out of the Baltimore music scene. Formed in Hagerstown Maryland, the band was a big hit in Charm City in the eighties, and was practically the house band at one of the era’s most popular nightspots.

“The old Hammerjacks was in a class of its own,” says Whiteman, now 54. “It was renown on the entire East Coast.”

The buzz surrounding KIX soon grew, and they were signed to a major label record deal. Their self-titled 1981 debut is one of three KIX albums to make the top 50 in rock critic Chuck Eddy’s book, “Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe.” By 1988, KIX were touring with the likes of AC/DC and Aerosmith. Their videos were in heavy rotation on MTV and their power ballad “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” from their fourth album “Blow My Fuse,” was a hit; peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The good times would not last.

By the time KIX released their fifth album, the band’s popularity plummeted with the arrival of a new sound coming from Seattle. The so called hair metal era was coming to a close.

“We unfortunately got lumped in with the hair bands,” says Whiteman. “We just kind of got put into that category. You couldn’t escape it at the time. Everyone was jumping on the bandwagon. So many bands just copied other bands. Everybody looked alike and sounded alike. It got to be so formulated. I really feel like that was the demise of the music that we were trying to do.”

The KIX 2.0 reboot happened in 2004 with a series of reunion shows. Whiteman was joined by original members, guitarists Ronnie Younkins, and Brian Forsythe, drummer Jimmy Chalfant, and new bassist Mark Schenker. Their appearance at the inaugural M3 Rock Festival was a huge hit with the hometown crowd.

“People stood up as soon as we hit the stage and they never sat down the entire time,” Whiteman says. “It was their way of saying; we appreciate your body of work and for entertaining us for all of these years.”

So now that the band is back in the public eye, will a new KIX album follow?

“One step at a time,” says Whiteman. “I see other bands trying to come out with stuff because they don’t want to ride on their history, but that’s what made them and we know that. We just want to give the fans what they want. I’ve got to tip my hat to them for all of the support they’ve given us over the years. It’s humbling and flattering at the same time.”

Merriweather Makes Ready- Howard County Times

Howard County and Hollywood, California have at least one thing in common: When it comes to live music, nobody does it better.

Billboard Magazine, the music industry trade publication named the Hollywood Bowl and Columbia’s Merriweather Post Pavilion as two of the country’s top amphitheaters for 2010.

"We’ve got great reviews,” said Merriweather spokesperson, Audrey Schaefer, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t always improve.”

 So, what upgrades can concert goers expect when they pass through the gates this season? “Well, no matter where you are sitting this year, it’s going to be a better experience,” pledges Schaefer.

 First off, there’s good news for anyone who’s ever sat inside Merriweather’s pavilion on a sticky summer night.

“We are installing these new fans that use what is called whale technology,” Schaefer explains. “A normal fan has blades that are twenty-four inches. These are twenty four feet with a four feet diameter. They are going to be able to move four thousand cubic feet of air. It’s going to be a lot more comfortable, and interestingly enough, getting the humidity out even improves the sound quality.”

Fans who prefer to stretch out on the lawn will notice an improvement as well. The big TV monitors on display there are being replaced with High Definition screens.

“I expect that this will be a really fantastic season,” says Schaefer. “The line-up is shaping up to be really incredible and there are many more shows to be added.”

In the meantime, get out your calendars; it’s time to start planning this year’s concert outings in Columbia.

The Sweetlife Festival kicks off the season May 1 with headliners, The Strokes. Last month, the modern rockers released, “Angles,” their first CD in more than five years. The band’s Merriweather concert is one of only 5 dates they are scheduled to perform in the U.S. this summer.

“The Strokes were our dream band to get,” says Jonathan Neman, one of the organizers of the festival. The event is the creation of Neman and his partners, owners of the D.C. based restaurant group Sweetgreen, known locally for their network of healthy eateries.

 Last year, the inaugural Sweetlife Festival was held in the parking lot of Sweetgreen’s Dupont Circle location, drawing a crowd of approximately 1000 people.

“We always knew we wanted to something much bigger,” says Neman. “We can’t think of a better venue to do this than Merriweather. The place is legendary. I’ve seen some of the best shows of my life there.” In keeping with the company’s vision, concessions will offer organic food, and an on-site farmers market will feature produce and snacks from local growers.

A number of additional multi-band all day concert events are on tap for the 2011 season. Now in its third year, the M3 Rock Festival has been such a hit, that a second day has been added to the hard rock happening.

“It’s the end all and be all if you’re a heavy metal fan,” says Schaefer.

The daylong event, May 14, will feature such headliners as Whitesnake and Tesla. A kick-off concert will be held the night before with Baltimore’s own Kix.

“As a kid, I saw some of my favorite bands play at Merriweather,” says Kix bassist, Mark Schenker. “For me, as a local guy, to walk out on that stage and stand in the same spot as some of my heroes is kind of surreal.”

Self described, “Punk rock summer camp” returns in the guise of the Vans Warped Tour July 26. Now in its 17th year, this perennial summertime favorite is an eclectic mix of musical genres including punk, hip-hop and electronica, along with star athletes from the world of extreme sports. More than 60 bands will perform across 3 stages. Among the noteworthy artists headlining the main stage this year are alternative rockers Less than Jake and Against Me!

If your taste runs more Pinot Grigio than Pabst Blue Ribbon, then The Capital Jazz Fest may be more to your liking. This year’s annual three day contemporary jazz and soul showcase, from June 3-5, boasts a line-up that includes Natalie Cole, David Sanborn, and twelve time Grammy winner, Herbie Hancock.

Although dates and headliners have yet to be announced, organizers have confirmed that the Virgin Mobile FreeFest will return sometime this summer. This relatively new festival is quickly becoming one of the region’s biggest live music events, and as the name implies, it won’t pinch your pocketbook.

“Yes, it will still be free,” says Schaefer.
  
Not every show at Merriweather this season will be an all day event; single concerts this year include a range of acts from all ends of the musical spectrum.

“There is at least one show for everybody,” says Schaefer.

The first female artist in over a decade to score three Number 1 singles from the same album, Katy Perry will please the pop crowd when she brings her “Teenage Dream” tour to Merriweather June 15. Earlier this year, Perry won two People’s Choice Awards, including “Favorite Female Artist.”

Two of the more acclaimed bands in the indie rock world will touch down in Columbia this summer. Folk rock band The Decemberists, will try to top last summer’s much buzzed about Merriweather performance with a return engagement to the venue June 13. The quintet recently earned their first-ever number one album with their sixth release, “The King is Dead.” U.K based band, Mumford and Sons, will perform June 9. The Londoners debut release, “Sigh No More,” earned them the 2010 Brit Award for “Album of the Year.”

The undisputed kings of the Jam band scene; Phish return for a two night stand June 11 and 12. “Phish love Merriweather,” says Schaefer. “The 2011 shows will make it their 7th and 8th times playing here.” The band still holds the record for the fastest sell-out in Merriweather history.

For country music fans, there may be no bigger star at the moment than Miranda Lambert. Earlier this month the songstress won four Academy of Country Music awards, including Top Female Vocalist, plus Record, Song, and Video of the Year for “The House that Built Me.” Lambert brings her Texas twang to Merriweather July 15. Multiple Grammy winners Sugarland, coming May 22, are currently burning up the country music charts with their fourth CD, “The Incredible Machine.”

Between 1972 and 1980, Steely Dan released seven platinum selling albums and helped define the soundtrack of the 70’s. This summer the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are putting a unique spin on the concert experience by letting fans help determine their set lists by voting online. Hear if your favorite classic rock hit made the cut when Steely Dan performs in Columbia August 2.

A Ticket to Deannaland- Howard County Times

It wouldn’t be surprising if Deanna Bogart was feeling a little bit anxious right now.

 This weekend, the Howard County based musician is playing what is arguably one of the more high profile gigs of her career.
“We’re calling it the ‘mother ship show’,” says Bogart of this Friday’s concert at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Maryland.

 It is, in fact, the centerpiece of an ambitious musical project. “I’m really nervous and very excited about it,” she confides by phone from her home in Woodbine.

For the past two years, she and her band have been followed around by a camera crew gathering footage that will be used in a documentary. Friday’s concert will play a central role in the production. The film will include footage of Bogart entertaining the troops in Kuwait and blowing her sax in Cairo, but the bandleader says it wouldn’t be complete without local footage of the place she calls home.

“Maryland is my musical birthplace. I wasn’t born here, but I’ve lived here for thirty years now.” Even though she’s now a nationally recognized figure on the blues music scene, having shared the stage with the likes of B.B. King and James Brown, Bogart hasn’t forgotten where it all began.

“Howard County, and Carroll, and Frederick counties kept me afloat in the beginning of my career,” she notes. “I have a lot of love for Howard County and to all my friends here who’ve been traveling this particular road with me.”

 Fans who plan to come out to the concert can expect to see Bogart’s core band; guitarist Dan Leonard, bassist, Scott Ambush and drummer Mike Aubin, as well as a myriad of special guests that have played a part in Bogart’s long musical history.

While they’re at it, the band will also record audio for a live CD, which will be packaged along with the DVD when it is eventually released.

Originally from Detroit and raised in New York and Arizona, Bogart moved to Maryland in the early 80’s. Her first foray into the performing life was with the Maryland-based western swing group, Cowboy Jazz.

Next up was a stint as a horn player for Root Boy Slim, a popular D.C. based singer renowned for a rowdy blend of the blues, rock& roll, and R&B. By 1988, Deanna Bogart was ready to strike out on her own and has been fronting her own band ever since. Along the way she’s honed her impressive skills as a pianist and saxophone player, and has grown into a terrific singer and top notch songwriter.

Bogart’s music is a fusion of styles that is deeply rooted in the blues and boogie. Her finesse and performing prowess have not gone unnoticed. The musician has won well over twenty Washington Area Music Awards, and has been named the Blues Music Awards Horn Instrumentalist for the past three years running. She’s even taken on a new challenge; hosting a television show for HCC TV. The Howard Community College production, “An Evening With…,” explores the local and regional music scene.

But a resume does not define a life, and it’s the experiences and personal connections made along the way, that Bogart says she treasures most.

“I get to play with marvelous musicians who both inspire and challenge me and I get to travel to all kinds of places and meet all kinds of people.”

Not that her line of work comes without its sacrifices. A single mom, Bogart is on the road many weekends, playing nightclubs all across the country, and abroad. She’s also the band’s manager, and makes all the business decisions. If a printer in the office is broken or a band member misses a plane, it’s Bogart’s job to fix the problem.

“It’s a lot of work,” she acknowledges. But the tradeoff, she says, makes it all worthwhile. “I wouldn’t change it for the world. I remember being the sad homely girl when I was a teenager. But when I played the guitar, I felt free.”

 That feeling of liberation remains with the musician to this day.

“I play for when that can happen,” she reveals. “It’s so wonderful. People who play music for a living are playing for meaning,” she continues. “You’re playing for what you need to give or get, or heal from. Within that, she says, comes the possibility for a transcendent experience. “Every artist has a different name for those moments,” she divulges. “Some call it being “in the zone” or “being in it.”

Bogart’s description is a bit more fanciful. “I call it Deannaland,” she says with a chuckle. “It’s that moment where all past and present and future pain and joy meet, so that it’s utterly synchronized with everything and nothing at the same time. I can’t imagine a better drug. You sort of forget that everybody is there and you’re lost in the music, yet at the same time you’re completely in communication with the people you’re playing with and with the music itself.”
 
It would be fair to say that a big part of Bogart’s appeal is her lively stage presence. Sure, she has the chops, but it’s also obvious that she’s having fun.

“I figure that if I’m excited and the band is excited, then the audience will pick up on that energy as well,” she says.

Thirty years into her career, how does Bogart manage to keep her act from becoming routine?

“I realized over the years that whenever I would rely on what worked, or what was comfortable or safe, that it was consistent; but it lacked any kind of creative spark or the sense of adventure that can happen when you’re willing to put yourself out there a little bit,” she reveals.

That’s when Bogart deliberately began to shake things up.

“I started to exercise my fearless chip,” she explains. “I would call out a tune that no one had ever played together before, or I would change arrangements on the spot. It became really fun and exciting for the musicians and me. As a live performer, and someone who makes their living doing live shows, I have to have that, or something starts to die a little bit inside. I have to throw myself and the band some curveballs. Everybody has to be on their toes, and that gives the potential for magic to happen. At least the possibility is there.”

A few months ago, Deanna Bogart woke up in the desert where she had traveled to celebrate her fiftieth birthday. She was surprised by how energized she felt on that morning.

“I didn’t expect to feel this way at this point in my life,” she confesses. “Oddly enough, I’m starting to feel like I just got up to bat. Now I’m thinking, where else can I take this, and what else can I do now? I have so much more to write about, and play about. Boy, what a great ride this is.”

Kathy Mattea - West Virginia Magazine Feature

Last fall, singer Kathy Mattea had an epiphany. The West Virginia native was in a classroom at Boston’s Berklee College of Music teaching a lesson in vocal theory, when she realized that the students were hanging on to her every word.

“It was life changing,” says the musician of her experience as an artist-in-residence at the prestigious music academy. “I found out that I could really connect with these kids,” she continues. “It felt like discovering you can sing, when you never knew you could. I discovered that I could teach, and I never knew that about myself.”

The forty seven year old singer so enjoyed the experience that she’s signed on for a similar program; this one run by the folks at West Virginia Public Radio’s Mountain Stage program. This month, the two time Grammy winner will mentor young musicians at the New Song Academy in Shepherdstown. From August 23rd to 25th, Mattea will engage in three days of intensive workshops on song craft and live performance.

“I always wondered what I would have said to myself when I was twenty and just starting to make music myself,” she says from her home in Nashville. “Now I kind of get a chance to do that.”

Music was always a part of Kathy Mattea’s life. Growing up, she loved listening to records in the living room of her family home in the small town of Cross Lanes, eleven miles northwest of Charleston. Her older brothers introduced her to country and rock and roll, and her dad’s record collection introduced her to big bands and bluegrass.When Mattea started grade school, her teachers discovered that she was academically advanced. They urged her parents to keep the young girl active and engaged.

“I was quite a handful,” laughs the singer. “My mom took the advice very seriously, so I did Girl Scouts, piano lessons, singing lessons, ice skating, all kinds of stuff. The only thing that didn’t eventually get boring had to do with music.”

 Despite her passion, when it came time for college, Mattea enrolled at West Virginia University to study engineering.

“I was good at math and science, and my parents really wanted me to get a degree,” she recalls.

As it turns out, Mattea didn’t get that diploma, but she did make her parents proud. The singer’s list of accomplishments includes eighteen top ten country music hits. In 1990, she won awards for Female Vocalist of the Year from the Country Music Association, and the Academy of Country Music. At the height of her fame, the musician’s parents got to see their daughter play to a crowd of about 150 thousand at the Sternwheel Regatta in Charleston.

“There were people on the bridge, in boats on the water, across the river, and all up and down the boulevard,” remembers the singer. “It was incredible.”

Ironically, Mattea’s musical career took root in college. Almost as soon as she arrived at the Morgantown campus, she joined the bluegrass band Pennsboro, and performed with them in all of her spare time. The joy she found in music easily surpassed the feelings she had for calculus. After her sophomore year at WVU, one of the singer’s band mates announced that he was moving to Nashville. He invited Mattea to join him, and she knew instantly that it would be the right choice for her.

"I knew that I would never have this opportunity again, because I would never have moved there by myself,” she explains. “I had a chance to see if I could make a life with music, and have a shot at a more interesting life.”

Despite her conviction that she was meant to pursue music, Mattea knew that breaking the news to her parents would be difficult.

“My mom just thought I was throwing my life away, and I can understand now how a parent would worry,” says the singer. “But what you couldn’t really see on the outside was that this wasn’t arbitrary for me,” she continues. “It was something I had thought about a lot, I just never really talked to anyone about it. I wasn’t running from something, I was going to something.”

Mattea returned to Cross Lanes before moving to Nashville so that she could spend time with her family, and to tell them why the decision made sense to her.

“It was a transformative time in my relationship with my folks,” she says of the visit. “It was the first time in my life that we could disagree strongly, but still respect each others opinions. Looking back, I see I was stepping into a new relationship with my parents.” In 1978, Kathy Mattea packed the car and headed to Music City, a journey she would later write about in the hit song, “Leaving West Virginia.”

Once in Nashville, Mattea worked a series of odd jobs to help pay the rent while working towards her big break. Her first gig as a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame was followed by a stint as a secretary at an insurance company. Finally, she settled on a job as a waitress so she could have at flexible schedule in which to pursue session work as a back-up singer. Eventually, Mattea landed a gig singing in Bobby Goldsboro’s band. That soon led to the musician landing her own record deal. Her breakthrough album came with her third release, 1989’s “Walk the Way the Wind Blows” which produced four top ten hits.

Just the year before, Mattea had married musician Jon Vezner. The couple met when the songwriter stopped to help his future wife after her car broke down on a city street.

Mattea had a string of successful albums throughout the nineties, and with each new release she grew artistically, incorporating melodies beyond the restriction of the country music genre.

“Sometimes it can be a little frightening leaving what one knows so well. But these changes are exactly what makes you grow as an artist,” she says thoughtfully. “You hit a certain point and you know that you have a finite amount of years to make records,” she adds. “I had some records that I really wanted to get done, and I didn’t want my life to pass without doing that.”

In 2000; Kathy Mattea released “The Innocent Years,” which revealed the artist in a period of personal and professional reflection.

“My dad was struggling with cancer,” she explains. “I decided to try to share some of the human experience of growing through adulthood in the songs.”

 Mattea believes she connected with people by sharing her story, and it inspired her to keep challenging herself musically. The singer knows a thing or two about taking chances, and these days her music isn’t so easy to categorize.

 “I’ve always had eclectic tastes,” she notes.

 On her latest CD, “Right Out of Nowhere,” Mattea is still a little bit country, but she’s also equal parts folk, blues, and rock and roll. Self produced; the project is perhaps Mattea’s most personal record to date. Her father eventually lost his battle with cancer, and last year both she and her husband lost their mothers. For years, Mattea traveled home every four to six weeks to attend to her ailing parents. She says prayer, and running along Lake Chaweva in Cross Lanes helped her cope.

“You just sort of live in crisis for years, with lots of chronic illness and helping people walk towards their death,” she remembers. “Then you have to sort of rise up and dust yourself off and kind of figure out who that has made you.”

Part of that discovery included the musician’s decision to produce for the first time in her career. It was Mattea behind the controls of “Right Out of Nowhere.”

 “I’ve always had a lot to say about a project, but I’ve never had to be the person whose butt is on the line,” she notes. “Every time I would meet a producer to talk with them about the project, I kept coming up with a feeling that I was supposed to do it myself, and if I didn’t do it I would somehow regret it.”

Mattea’s most recent song was one she wrote after the Sago Mine disaster. Both of her grandfathers worked in West Virginia coal mines, and the singer wanted to pay tribute. The morning of the memorial, the musician gathered some of her friends in Nashville to perform “The Slender Threads that Bind Us.”The video was played on “The Larry King Live” show during a special episode that honored the twelve victims of the tragedy.

“Everybody was so grateful to be able to do the smallest thing to extend their hearts to these families who had been through so much,” says Mattea.

The musician still has plenty of family in the mountain state, and visits whenever she can. Her brother Joe lives near the family’s childhood home, and Mike lives just across the river. “He likes to call his house the West Virginia embassy in Ohio,” Mattea says with a laugh.

Other than her music and family, it’s her spirituality that drives the artist today. She is a voracious reader, and cites Madeline L’Engle’s “Walking on Water,” as a recent favorite.

“It’s about the creative act, and what a spiritual leap of faith it is,” says Mattea. “She talks about the tension between listening to the voice of the work that is calling out to be made, and the reality that we all want to be accepted. I’ve been absolutely terrified sometimes, but I haven’t let it keep me from doing anything I’ve wanted to do, because that is where the divine enters our lives. The fear doesn’t go way, but the divine is an antidote to it.”