BY AMY WOOTEN
Long Night Moon, the title of dedicated grassroots folk singer Catie Curtis' latest album, is the full moon in December, bringing light to the darkest month of the year.
The title track is fitting, considering Curtis and her partner were awaiting their newly adopted daughter and they were having difficulties getting her home. In a time of darkness, the couple needed that glimmer of hope.
Long Night Moon is a highly personal album for Curtis that tackles issues like motherhood while still staying true to her political roots. The song People Look Around—a song about the devastation and divisive political landscape that came out of Hurricane Katrina—was the grand-prize winner in the International Songwriting Competition.
Curtis will be in town Nov. 25 at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln. Call 773-738-6000 or see the Web site www.oldtownschool.org .
Windy City Times: Are you still kind of walking on clouds from winning the International Songwriting Competition for People Look Around?
Catie Curtis: I've kind of moved on, but it was a great day. When I found out we won, I really fell over and couldn't believe it. It was nice.
WCT: For the new album, what was it like working for Mary Chapin Carpenter?
CC: We're buddies because I've opened for her for two different tours she did. She was just really sweet. It's one of my favorite tracks actually because I love how she sounds on that.
WCT: She's got an amazing voice.
CC: She does. She's got so much feeling to it. I think she's a really special singer.
WCT: So for this album, how has motherhood impacted your songwriting or changed your outlook on life?
CC: Well, I guess in general, I was a little worried that being a mom would get me hyper-focused on plastic toys and things like that. [ Laughs ] I feel like instead, as far as a writer, it's gotten me more interested in the state of affairs in the world because I really want my kids to inherit a planet that is sustainable. I also find sometimes, as a writer, that having the time to work on music is such a break from parenting that sometimes I don't want it to have anything to do with the kids at all. At least half the songs on the record really are not about them and not about parenting, but are really more about intense relationship stuff or philosophical stuff that adults go through. But then there're a few songs, like Passing Through and New Flowers, and even Long Night Moon, which I wrote when we were in the process of trying to adopt our second baby and we were having trouble getting her home. I actually wrote that about her.
WCT: How much time do you spend on the road, and does your family ever come with?
CC: I would generally say no. I've tried to change my tour so instead of going out for weeks at a time, I just go out for three or four days, and then I return back home so I'm at home for a week with the kids. It's been really easier to integrate family into my career because I don't tour with a band and the whole bus. I just go out independently, which means I'm free to go out and do these short runs. I used to feel like, 'What if I want to have kids and I'm on the bus?' Now I don't have to do it that way. My music works really well in a solo or duo format, and it just makes it possible for me to have a life, as well.
It works me for me very well. I can be spontaneous and change up my set, come back and see my family all the time. I really have a sweet life because of where I wound up, which is kind of under the radar, a grassroots, folk thing.
WCT: You've always been an out musician from day one. How do you think that has impacted your career? Do you think it's pigeon-holed you, or do you prefer it this way?
CC: Earlier on, it pigeon-holed me a little bit. But I actually think things are changing in our culture, and people are less defined by their sexuality now. I also think because I'm a parent, I'm sort of reaching and crossing that bridge to people who are straight parents. It's really hard to say. Obviously, whatever the answer is, I wouldn't change a thing.
WCT: You're audience is pretty diverse anyway, right?
CC: Yeah. It kind of depends on the town. The more progressive the town, the more diverse my audience is. The more conservative the town is, the more gay my audience is. If the town is really conservative, it becomes something really special for the gay community to come out to.
WCT: When did you begin your music career? Was it at a fairly young age?
CC: I started playing the guitar when I was 15, and I really didn't get going with a national tour and a record that had any kind of promotion behind it until I was about 30, which was 10 years ago. I started playing fairly young, but it took me a while to get my career off the ground. Even now, it's just been this steady build for me. Of course, early on, I was like, 'Let's make things happen fast!' I was a contemporary with Lisa Loeb, and I look at the tour path she's been on, and I frankly wouldn't want to change places with her because I feel like to go on that ride, and then to have to come back is almost like a has-been. It's kind of difficult, where for me, doing this slow-but-steady career has been terrific and easier to handle. For me, it's still like you never know what might happen.
WCT: What's next? Do you have any plans in the making?
CC: There's a station in Denver that's never played my music before that started playing People Look Around. I'm somewhat curious to see if stations are ready for more political music, and if the time is right for that. Not just for me, but wouldn't it be cool if that started happening in general on the radio? It's hard to say if that's really possible.
I have a tendency to think pretty short-term about what I'm doing musically because I just never know what the future will be. My goal is always to always make time for writing so when I'm touring, even if I'm promoting a new record, I like to be working on new stuff and feel fresh and inspired about what I'm doing. I never like to feel like I'm just out there to promote a record, but I'm out there to sing songs and tell stories about what happened that week. That's kind of how I sustain it for myself. Just trying to keep it current and keep it real. I feel like what I want to do is what I'm doing. …I just hope I can keep doing it. [ Laughs ]