Biography

Contact:
Kathy Greenholdt
contact@KathyGreenholdt.com
773-673-1113

Album Release: Halos Are History, Kathy Greenholdt
October 6, 2017 (Release Date)

Comfort and Questions for Troubled Times

There is no doubt we're living through challenging days, and on her new release, Halos Are History, Chicago singer/songwriter Kathy Greenholdt turns to the past for lessons and comfort. Halos Are History offers up seven songs of brightly dark, spiritually-questioning songs that creatively straddle acoustic, rock, and Americana genres, thanks to inventive production by Steve Dawson of noted Chicago-based band Dolly Varden.

Halos Are History debuted with a sold-out concert at Chicago’s Filament Theatre. Folk deejay Tom Jackson of WLUW-FM named the album to his list of 2017 favorites. Richard Milne of commercial rock station WXRT-FM observed that, after being a non-musician for many years, Kathy has been “making up for lost time.” On-air, he said, “Kathy, I think this is your best record.”

The songs on Halos Are History were inspired by events in the lives of seven women – from 12th-century composer Hildegard von Bingen, to warrior Joan of Arc, to philosopher Edith Stein, who perished at Auschwitz. Kathy grew up Catholic, and while her religious beliefs are less formal these days, the seven women she chose as creative touchstones are all Catholic saints. The songs on Halos Are History explore spiritual thought, right versus wrong, and how wisdom is passed down through the ages.

Album Credits:
All songs written by Kathy Greenholdt (ASCAP), publishing: Bindweed Music (ASCAP).
Produced, arranged, and recorded by Steve Dawson.
Mastered by Peter Andreadis at All City Mastering, Chicago. Package designed by Kathy Greenholdt.

Musicians:
Kathy Greenholdt: vocals on all tracks, acoustic rhythm guitar on tracks 1, 2, 4.
Melissa Bach: cello on track 1.
Gregg Ostrom: trombone on track 6.
Steve Dawson: all other instrumental parts, including acoustic and electric guitars, lap steel, bass, drums and other percussion, harmonica, organ, mellotron, harmonium, Tibetan tingsha bells, and effects. (Water sound on track 3 is rain outside the recording studio.)

About Kathy Greenholdt:
In 2002, at age 38, Kathy learned to play guitar and wrote her first song. Since then, she has recorded seven collections of original music, receiving critics' praise for her songwriting and airplay throughout the world on commercial stations, public radio, and internet broadcasts.

Sample Press:
“A songwriter of supreme power” and “a singer of great promise.”
– Martyn Coppack, Americana UK

Kathy has “the ability to create music of a powerful nature—deceptively powerful.” And, “her voice is unlike any I’ve ever heard.”
– Richard Milne, WXRT-FM

“[‘Summer’s Through’] is just a gorgeously understated piece of songwriting….[Wake-Up Prayer] has been in the pile of must-listen-to-them-again CDs for ages….I ended up playing it five times in a row, so apologies to the nextdoor neighbor.”
– Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 2

Discography:
Halos Are History (2017)
The Pilgrim (2016)
When You’re Dead (2013)
Lowly Violet (2009)
Females on Fire, Vol. 3 (compilation, 2008)
Wake-Up Prayer (EP, 2007)
Wisdom Days (2005)
Guilty Game (2003)