LUCY KAPLANSKY

From the New York skyline to the hills beyond, Lucy Kaplansky’s music is wonderfully raw and rich with heartache and hope, featuring a voice “as sweet and pure as fresh sheets and ice water.” One of America’s premier singer-songwriters, Lucy first splashed down in New York’s Greenwich Village upon graduation from high school in Chicago. She found herself part of a musical community that included Suzanne Vega, John Gorka, Bill Morrissey, Cliff Eberhardt and Shawn Colvin. Lucy and Shawn soon formed a popular duo, with The New York Times predicting an easy route to stardom for the pair. But Lucy had other ideas. As her aforementioned friends and peers went on to sign record deals, Lucy left music to earn a doctorate in psychology. She eventually set up a private practice and become a staff psychologist at a New York hospital. Kaplansky continued to sing, though, adding harmonies on Colvin’s Grammy-winning Steady On, Nanci Griffith’s Lone Star State of Mind and Little Love Affairs, and four of John Gorka’s albums.

It was Colvin who lured Lucy back to music full-time with an offer to produce a record. They went into the studio and the old magic returned in full force. The resulting The Tide was released on Red House Records in 1994 to rave reviews and Lucy left her two psychologist positions behind.

Lucy’s second album, Flesh and Bone (1996) showed a performer and songwriter stepping into her own. Where The Tide had showcased Lucy’s formidable interpretive skills, Flesh and Bone emphasized her development as a gifted songsmith.

Lucy’s success took flight with the back-to-back hit albums Ten Year Night and Every Single Day. Both received the AFIM award (Association for Independent Music) for best pop album of the year and led to appearances on the “CBS Morning Show,” NPR’s “Weekend” and “Morning Editions,” “Mountain Stage,” “West Coast Live” and “Acoustic Cafe.”

In 1998, Lucy teamed with Dar Williams and Richard Shindell to form the supergroup Cry Cry Cry, celebrating the revitalization in contemporary songwriting by recording some of their favorite songs by other artists. The record and national tour of sold-out concerts introduced Lucy’s luminous voice to a whole new audience.

The Red Thread followed in 2004, weaving together themes of motherhood, home and family in the wake of her journey to adopt a daughter, Molly, from China.

Lucy’s latest album, Over the Hills, was informed by two major losses in her life, the passing of her mathematician/pianist father, Irving Kaplansky, and that of her mentor and friend, Red House Records president Bob Feldman. The title song reflects on the connections between generations and how we journey beyond the world of our parents. In “Today’s the Day,” the emotional core of the album, Lucy writes about saying goodbye to her dying father.