Where The Mangoes Are

When folk guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke told Kate McDonnell, "Stop doing that, you're giving me a headache!" he wasn't really trying to discourage her from performing. After all, her original songs have earned her a first place win at the 2002 Mountain Stage NewSong Festival songwriting competition (among other awards), appearances on the syndicated Mountain Stage and World Café radio programs and at the Newport Folk Festival, praise from critics and fellow musicians, and an international following during her dozen years as a solo performer. It was only the sight, not the sound, of righthanded Kate playing her acoustic guitar lefthanded and strung upside-down that left him facetiously befuddled. And no one has any complaints about her abilities as a singer-songwriter - no less an expert than Tom Paxton has said Kate's music "has grace, intelligence, warmth and more."

Kate's songs and vocals are as distinctive as her self-taught guitar technique. "Where the Mangoes Are," her first CD for Appleseed and fourth solo release overall, continues her ascension into broader public recognition with twelve songs, all but two of them originals, that showcase her clear, tender soprano voice, her vulnerable but resilient lyrical outlook, and crisp, fingerpicked guitar playing.