Kate Early, “Mr. Versatility's Daughter,” was born during the twilight years of the old Irish enclave on Chicago's West Side. On her father's side, she springs from a long line of short musicians, union laborers, farmers and ancient Irish and French royalty…or so family legend has it. Her mother's side provided a much shorter line of slightly taller musicians, and many North Atlantic fishermen, both Tory Islanders and Newfoundlanders. At the present time, the distaff branch of the family tree boasts several Royal Canadian Mounted Policemen; further back, it includes a Scot forced from his home during the Highland Clearances and a wild young Irishman who killed a British soldier for blood vengeance, then fled across the waters.
Gene Early, Mr. Versatility, was a popular pianist and singer from the end of WWII until the early 1970s, playing in nightclubs, bars and restaurants in Chicago and Northwest Indiana. Many kinds of music were heard in the Early house – pop, Broadway, Irish, jazz, folk, operetta, swing – and the radio seemed to always be on. As a childhood treat, Kate was permitted to stay up late on Saturday nights to listen to “The Wandering Folksong” and “The Midnight Special” on WFMT Radio until she began to fall asleep at the kitchen table. She heard excerpts from the University of Chicago Folk Festival during these Saturday night broadcasts and decided that one day she would go to that school so that she could participate in the festival. Years later, Kate took a degree at the University of Chicago and served two terms as Co-President of the Folklore Society, which presents the annual Folk Festival. She still advises the Folklore Society.
Although Kate took piano lessons for ten years, her preferred instrument has always been the vox humana, the human voice. She began singing in her class chorus at age seven, and at age 13 sang on WOPA Radio with a local church choir. She cut her first records at age 15 as a featured soloist with her high school chorus. The crowning glory of her high school years, however, was portraying Lady Thiang in a production of “The King and I.” Kate had many years earlier taken to heart her father's dictum to never imitate other singers, but to make a song her own. Since she possesses a warm folk mezzo rather than an operatic voice like Dorothy Sarnoff, who created the role on Broadway, Kate stepped out onto the stage on opening night and sang Lady Thiang's signature song “Something Wonderful” like a pensive love ballad. Kate remembers that her father came back to hear her sing it again the following night because he was so proud of her.
Since college, dance has also formed an important part of Kate's life in the arts. At the University of Chicago, she learned English country dance, morris dance and barn dance. More recently, she has taken up bellydance. She also continued to sing at sessions at Tommy Nevin's Pub and at None of the Above Coffeehouse. In September 1993, one of her morris teammates invited her to join a new group called “The Bitter Pills,” combining improv comedy with music in a production called “The Incredibly Sad Music Show.” A sort of contemporary commedia dell'arte, the plan was to come together to perform only sad songs that were at odds with the comical characters and situations that developed. TISMS was an interesting, if short-lived, experiment in performance art. Several other members of the ensemble still perform music, most notably Lawrence Peters.
A few months after the demise of The Bitter Pills, on a trip to the Hunter Mountain Celtic Festival with traditional/Celtic musicians Phil Cooper and Margaret Nelson, Kate was invited to join in on a couple of songs. Since Kate had been doing so at private sessions for some time, and has a good ear for harmony, her appearance with the duo was well received and she was invited more and more frequently to join Phil and Margaret on gigs. Kate has performed with them for nearly 13 years now, and has appeared on seven recordings with them.
More recently, Kate has begun performing as a member of Sass! Trio. She enjoys singing songs by her favorite contemporary writers and sharing some of the Americana in her repertoire. And she always likes to hear what wise, witty or dotty ditties Susan Urban and Sandy Andina have cooked up!
Kate’s debut solo cd, “Mr. Versatility's Daughter,” is eclectic - a crazy-quilt pieced together from favorite songs in the treasure-house in her head - with the participation of some wonderful accompanists, including guitarists Dave Clarke, Phil Cooper, and Bob and Micky Holdsworth.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!! May 2008 bring you perfect health, great joy, abundance and love. Have a wonderful Birthday! I will be raising a wee dram in your honour :o)
I listened to "Mr. Versatility's Daughter" on a short road trip last weekend. Well done! "Funny Valentine" has always been one of my favorite songs, and you did a particularly beautiful job on that. Plus, I really liked all of the little stories about your dad. Glad we got to hang out @FARM! You are indeed beauteous! :-)
Looking forward to catching up and having a visit in a couple of weeks. Are you still coming to the festival? Yep, my CS collection has grown by leaps and bounds...I now have over 20 of them!
