“One of the most heartbreaking singers ever. Beautiful” – Devendra Banhart

“I consider myself her biggest fan.” – Josephine Foster

Kath Bloom grew up in New Haven, CT, where she studied the cello as a child and started playing the guitar when she was a teenager. Bloom collaborated with Bruce Neumann in the early ’70s, but it wasn’t until she met avant-garde guitarist Loren MazzaCane Connors in 1976 that she started recording. Bloom and Connors recorded six limited edition albums of fragile, simple folk and blues melodies, the majority of which were written by Bloom herself. Bloom stopped recording new material soon after her collaboration with Connors ended, when she and her husband Stan moved to Florida together with her child from a previous marriage to live amidst the orange groves, buying and rehabilitating old houses. Kath eventually received a series of small government grants to operate a number of different after-school programs in music and other arts for latch-key kids as well as a moms-and-babies music class, and had two more children of her own. While struggling to make ends meet, she wrote copious amounts of songs and poetry that went unrecorded at the time.

On April 7th, Chapter Music is releasing Loving Takes This Course: A Tribute to the Songs of Kath Bloom. Disc One features recordings of Kath’s songs by the likes of Bill Callahan, Devendra Banhart, Mark Kozelek, Josephine Foster, Scout Niblett and many more, while Disc Two features Kath’s original versions of the songs covered on Disc One.

And, to mark the occasion, (((folkYEAH))) and naturalismo are teaming up to present Kath Bloom’s FIRST EVER West Coast tour, with Little Wings & Lee Baggett supporting. It’s going to be a short run up the coast — but these are going to be intimate gatherings, a rare chance to see this amazing folk artist on the West Coast.

March 5, Santa Barbara, Muddy Waters
promoter link: www.clubmercy.blogspot.com

March 6, Los Angeles, McCabes Guitar Shop
venue link: www.mccabes.com/

March 7, Big Sur, Fernwood Resort
venue link: www.fernwoodbigsur.com/

March 8, San Francisco, Cafe Du Nord
venue link: www.cafedunord.com/

Tracklisting for Loving Takes This Course: A Tribute to Kath Bloom

1.  Come Here – Marble Sounds
2.  The Breeze/My Baby Cries – Bill Callahan
3.  When I See You – Laura Jean
4.  Finally – Mark Kozelek
5.  Window – Mick Turner & Peggy Frew
6.  Forget About Him – Devendra Banhart
7.  I Wanna Love – Scout Niblett
8.  Biggest Light Of All – The Dodos
9.  Look At Me – Josephine Foster
10.  Ready Or Not – Mia Doi Todd
11.  Fall Again – Corrina Repp
12.  It’s So Hard To Come Home – Marianne Dissard & Joey Burns
13.  In Your School – Amy Rude
14.  If This Journey – Tom Hanford
15.  There Was A Boy – Meg Baird
16.  Come Here – The Concretes

[ first listen ] Devendra Banhart – Forget About Him

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[ first listen ] Meg Baird – There Was a Boy

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