The Boston Globe declares that “New York songwriter Lucy Kaplansky is becoming the troubadour laureate of modern city folk.” Her latest album, Over the Hills, is a collection of songs that explore love and the dark, winding road that leads us there. Her new life as a mother has not hindered her musical life but has enhanced it, deepening the emotional depth of her songwriting. Singer-songwriter Edie Carey opens the show.

Lucy Kaplansky started out singing in Chicago bars. Then, barely out of high school, she took off for New York City. There she found a fertile community of songwriters and performers — Suzanne Vega, John Gorka, Bill Morrissey, Cliff Eberhardt, and others — where she fit right in. With a beautiful flair for harmony, Lucy was everyone’s favorite singing partner, but most often she found herself singing as a duo with Shawn Colvin. People envisioned big things for them; in fact, the New York Times said it was “easy to predict stardom for her.” But then Lucy dropped it all. Convinced that her calling was in another direction, Lucy left the musical fast track to pursue a doctorate in psychology. Upon completing her degree, Dr. Kaplansky took a job at a New York hospital working with chronically mentally ill adults, and also started a private practice. Yet she continued to sing.

Lucy was often pulled back into the studio by her friends, who now had contracts with record labels (and wanted her to sing on their albums). She harmonized on Colvin’s Grammy-winning Steady On, on Nanci Griffith’s Lone Star State of Mind and Little Love Affairs, and on four of John Gorka’s albums. She also landed soundtrack credits, singing with Suzanne Vega on Pretty in Pink and with Griffith on The Firm, and several commercial credits as well — including “The Heartbeat of America” for Chevrolet. Then Shawn Colvin — who was itching to produce a record — hooked up with Lucy, her ex-singing partner. They went into the studio, and it all came together. When Lucy’s solo tapes got into the hands of Bob Feldman, president of Red House Records, he was blown away. Suddenly, Lucy was back in the music business.

Several albums later, Kaplansky’s voice continues to remain in high demand by her peers. She can be heard on albums by Bryan Ferry, Nanci Griffith, John Gorka and on the Greg Brown tribute album Going Driftless (also featuring Ani Difranco, Iris Dement, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gillian Welch, Eliza Gilkyson and others). She teamed with Dar Williams and Richard Shindell to form supergroup Cry Cry Cry, the three choosing to celebrate the amazing revitalization in contemporary songwriting, and recorded some of their favorite songs written by other artists. The resulting album, Cry Cry Cry (which the New Yorker dubbed “a collection of lovely harmonizing and pure emotion,” and to which Entertainment Weekly gave an A rating), has been an astonishing success in stores and on radio. A national tour of sold-out concerts by the trio served to introduce Lucy’s luminous voice to a new expanse of eager listeners. Lucy’s new life as a mother has given her new and different topics to explore and are accurate and amazing reflections on the universal themes of love, joy, loss, and dreams for the future, through reflections on family.

Singer-songwriter Edie Carey is known for her unmistakable honeyed voice, her intelligent, heart-grabbing songs, but perhaps most especially for her warm, engaging presence on and off stage. As much a part of her show as the music itself, Edie’s wry and often self-mocking humor makes audiences feel as though they have just spent an evening with a very close friend. Edie has been performing more than 180 shows a year at festivals, colleges, and listening rooms in the US, Canada and the UK since 1999. Her just-released fifth album, Another Kind of Fire, as well as her last CD, was funded entirely by her very loyal and steadily growing legion of fans. Edie has shared stages with Sandra Bernhard, Jonatha Brooke, Catie Curtis, Leo Kottke, Lucy Kaplansky, and is a regular headliner at Cambridge’s legendary Club Passim, Schuba’s (Chicago), Cafe Montmartre (Madison), CSPS (Cedar Rapids), Tractor Tavern (Seattle), Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles), and The Living Room (New York City). Since 2000, she has been working as a full-time performing songwriter, touring rigorously to promote all of her independently self-released records.

On Lucy Kaplansky:

“as warm and tasty as cinnamon tea, as hopeful as daybreak” Rolling Stone

“A truly gifted performer . . . full of enchanting songs.” The New Yorker

“Her voice is as sweet and pure as fresh sheets and ice water.” New Country

. . .

Edie Carey is gifted with one of those voices that could sound great singing anything. So the mystery and beauty on her [third] studio full-length is how she maintains an intimate, delicate approach on her elegant, if low-key singer-songwriter folk-pop. Economic instrumentation forces all your attention toward the gentle story-telling, rich with humanity and insight . . . Vulnerable and pleasing, Carey draws us into her world, where we find we have a lot in common. Paste Magazine

New York-based, country-tinged chanteuse Edie Carey is blessed with a soaring voice and damn fine songwriting skills. Her latest CD, “When I Was Made,” was an Album of the Year finalist in the Independent Music Awards in 2003, and for good reason: It’s a charmingly unassuming collection of lithe ballads that are devoid of self-pity but loaded up with heartfelt revelations. Philadelphia City Paper