Poet's Heart

by Kate Wolf

Description by OLDIES.com:

Renowned singer songwriter Kate Wolf was a major presence on the folk scene of the late 70's and early 80's. Before her untimely death in 1986, "Poet's Heart" was Kate's superb 1985 studio recording featuring the stellar "Carolina Pines", "Crying Shame" and "Slender Thread".

Product Description:

Personnel: Kate Wolf (vocals, guitar, piano); Alan Thornhill (vocals, guitar); Nina Gerber (guitar, harmonica); Martin Young (guitar); Bill Griffin (mandolin, bass); Mike Auldridge (dobro, steel guitar); Paul Salazar (fiddle); Kim Robertson (harp); Tom Lee, David Keif (acoustic bass); Max Wolf (percussion); Beth Weil, Peggy Nageotte (background vocals).

Recorded at Santa Barbara Sound Recording, Santa Barbara, California from

February to May 1985.

Personnel: Kate Wolf (vocals); Beth Weil (vocals); Alan Thornhill, Martin Young, Nina Gerber (guitar); Kim Robertson (celtic harp); David Keif, Tom Lee (acoustic bass).

Arranger: Bill Griffin.

Wolf's final studio album found her continuing to capably explore pretty much the same musical territory she always had, perhaps with a slightly heavier heart and somewhat more acute lyricism. She was still looking for new ways to modify her core approach, making imaginative use of dobro and steel guitar player Mike Auldridge, and Celtic harpist Kim Robertson. ~ Richie Unterberger

Kate Wolf's final studio album, 1985's POET'S HEART, is an accomplished, often beautiful album with an emotional intensity matching that of Joni Mitchell's BLUE or Gram Parsons' GRIEVOUS ANGEL. Those comparisons are chosen deliberately, because throughout her decade-long career, Wolf struck a middle ground between Parsons' hard-country, heart-on-sleeve emotionalism and Mitchell's cooler but no less passionate introspection.

On this album, "Carolina Pines" and "Muddy Roads" hew closer to the Parsons side, while the tender title track and the sweetly rueful "In China Or a Woman's Heart (There Are Places No One Knows)" are among Wolf's most beautiful and graceful lyrics. Although it's a tragedy that Wolf's career was cut short after only a decade, POET'S HEART is a worthy summation of her life's work.