Kate McGarrigle, who died of sarcoma last year, will be celebrated in a two-night tribute at New York’s Town Hall tonight and tomorrow, with performances by her children Martha and Rufus Wainwright, her sister Anna, Emmylou Harris, Antony Hegarty, Norah Jones, Teddy Thompson, and others. Tell My Sister, a three-disc set comprising Kate & Anna McGarrigle's first two albums plus previously unreleased songs, is out now. The Philadelphia Inquirer says it "captures the McGarrigles in their prime, when they made their own brand of frisky, tough-minded, and sexy folk music."
The late singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle—who died of sarcoma last year—will be celebrated in a two-night tribute at New York City’s Town Hall tonight and tomorrow night. Curated by producer Joe Boyd, the concerts will feature performances by Kate’s children, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, and her sister Anna, as well as Emmylou Harris, Antony Hegarty, Norah Jones, Teddy Thompson, and Jimmy Fallon, among others. Profits from the concerts will go toward creating the Kate McGarrigle Sarcoma Research Fund.
Nonesuch Records released Tell My Sister, a three-disc set comprising remastered versions of Kate & Anna McGarrigle's beloved 1976 self-titled debut; its equally praised 1977 follow-up, Dancer with Bruised Knees; and a collection of previously unreleased songs, including solo and duo demos, last week. Boyd, who produced the McGarrigles’ first two albums, assembled the material for the third disc in addition to serving as producer for the whole set.
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Kate's children, Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, recently stopped by the studios of NPR member station WNYC to appear on The Leonard Lopate Show to talk with Lopate about the Town Hall concerts and perform some of Kate's songs. Listen to the show here:
Anna McGarrigle was the guest on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross yesterday. She spoke with Gross about her relationship with her sister Kate and the music they made together. Before playing a track from Tell Me Sister, Gross says: "These are two sisters harmonizing beautifully." You can listen to the show online at npr.org.
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Time magazine's David Browne describes the McGarrigle's songs as "rueful, hearth-warm" music. The Philadelphia Inquirer gives Tell My Sister three-and-a-half stars out of four, noting, among other thing, the "often-luminous rarities" of the third disc. Through their music, "the sisters expertly updated North American folk and parlor-song traditions to their own original ends," writes Inquirer music critic Dan DeLuca. The new collection "captures the McGarrigles in their prime, when they made their own brand of frisky, tough-minded, and sexy folk music," says DeLuca. Tell My Sister "brings their music back to life and shows what a high standard the generation that followed has to live up to." Read the complete review at philly.com.
Also among the performers in the Town Hall concerts is Chaim Tannenbaum, a frequent collaborator of the McGarrigles and Wainwrights, who performed on the first two discs in Tell My Sister and The McGarrigle Christmas Hour. Tannenbaum is featured in a new article in Tablet magazine, an online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture, at tabletmag.com.
Glenn Berger, the engineer on Dancer with Bruised Knees and an apprentice during the making of the first album, has written about the recording process and reflects on what he learned from the experience on his blog, which you can read here.
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To pick up a copy of Tell My Sister, head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the complete set at checkout.
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