Kate MacLeod - Black Waters

“Black Waters” provides the 2nd release for The Jean Ritchie Experience with Paul Hammerton and John Bryant joining Kate MacLeod on this song. This year Jean Ritchie would have been 100 years old. “’Black Waters’ is very important in her collection of original songs,” explains MacLeod, who began the song series with “Wintergrace.” “First released in 1971, ‘Black Waters’ offers an excellent example of a folk song, story song, and an environmental activist song. Jean spoke about her reluctance, when young, to be known as an activist, primarily because of her regional cultural background in which it might have been frowned upon by some in her family. But like so many of her songs, it's clearly a statement, practically unbridled. The song’s lyrics are from the standpoint of someone who's seen the destruction of their land. It also has the extra edge of stating how people can be misled or taken advantage of by a large company.

“The song doesn't state that she didn't support mining in general, but is a statement that the use of ‘strip mining’ is destructive and polluting. My favorite lines in the song are, ‘If I had 10 million or somewhere thereabouts, I’d buy Perry County and I’d run ‘em all out.’ I'm joined on this track by John Bryant on bass, and Paul Hammerton whose voice sounds as though he's a miner from right out of the coal mines. Paul and I share some lyric lines to create a conversation within the song. I've attempted to sing this with a plaintiveness that the story evokes, as if singing from the bottom of a holler out to the world. Each one of the lyric lines is a truth in itself, written with simplicity and clarity in much the same way John Steinbeck or Woody Guthrie could have written.

Kate MacLeod delivers original songs, instrumentals, and creative renditions of traditional and popular music. In concert, you might hear her singing a Scottish ballad or the 1971 hit “A Horse With No Name.” Since her first recording, produced by the late Charles Sawtelle of Hot Rize, her songs have been recorded by artists from California to the Czech Republic, including such noted musicians as Laurie Lewis and Mollie O'Brien. Kate has toured in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and the UK. The Far-West region of Folk Alliance International presented her with the Best of the West Award in 2019. In addition to her roots music, she is a versatile composer who received the 2019 Alfred Lambourne Friends of the Great Salt Lake Award for an original violin duet. Her music is well suited for film soundtracks and has been used in a variety of documentaries. In February 2022, Kate released Uranium Maiden, a collection of music inspired by the Utah region, music from out of the heart of the American West. Kate is. A mountain woman, she splits her time at home between Salt Lake City, UT, and Harpers Ferry, WV.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GKhpj5SvsY