Kate McGarrigle

I'm surprised I never heard of her--I saw an article about her in last Sunday's NYT Magazine (in memorium--she died in Jan. 2010).  I went on YouTube and listened to different versions of Heart Like a Wheel (Kate and Anna; Linda Ronstadt with Kate and Anna) and to Mendicino (with her children Martha and Rufus Wainwright).  Beautiful, thin voices sounding very much in the old Appalachian folk music tradition (Scotch/Irish)?  She's from Montreal, but reminds me of some of the voices from Nova Scotia.)  I couldn't stop listening--this is what I love about YouTube--one song leads to another.  I'd like to get the first album she did with her sister; I want to hear more songs from it first.

And then the family connections I explored by googling--her ex-husband Loudon Wainwright III, whom I've heard of but whose music I don't really know; Rufus and Martha and Lucy Wainwright Roche.  Loudon III's bio said his mother was a yoga teacher--given that he was born in '46, that must have been quite unique.  Made me think about my son being able to tell people that I'm a yoga instructor.  I think it sounds better than "former government executive".

I could listen (and sing) to music all day long.  But I've never been able to settle on a vocal style--my voice has too many problems with each style.  So I've probably messed it up more by trying to move from folk to pop to art songs to opera and back again. And I can't let go--I still want to figure out how to sing well consistently.  Something that has eluded me since late grade school.  A saga in itself.