September 11, 2009—Last summer I devoted a posting to the Katie Pearlman Band and their performance some time ago at Lee's Campground, which is downloadable on the archive.org site. I was taken by the strong songwriting, Katie’s soulfully appealing vocals, and the loose Jamband feel the group brings to the stage. After reading my posting Katie very kindly let me know of her website (www.katiepearlman.com) and its extensive holdings of live mp3s featuring the band on various gigs. There is much to listen to there, and the “document as you go” nature of the recordings means that some nights have better balance between the instruments and vocals than others (mostly good), but a listen through the collection gives you a good handle on the repertoire and the full breath of Katie’s music.

When I first heard the Campground download, I didn’t realize that Katie was the drummer in the band. She’s solid there and helps drive the band into the grooves they deliver. That’s all particularly clear on the mp3s we speak of today. Most importantly these mp3s reaffirm to me her talent and the direct hipness of the band.

There is also Katie the solo artist to be considered and appreciated. There’s a new album of Ms. Pearlman in this light as well as some mp3s that showcase this part of her music. I’ll do another posting on that soon. In the interim I once again recommend you listen to this band in action, live, on the mp3s and flac downloads and/or through their CD releases. There’s a classic quality to the music, and it’s cool listening for sure.

- Grego Applegate Edwards

This article and more can be found on http://www.gapplegate.com/musicalblog.html