Curtis’ Flying Dream is carpeted wall-to-wall by songs that explore the many shades of ‘love.’
This year Maine bred Catie Curtis celebrates quarter-of-a-century as a recording artist. Commencing with the self-released, cassette-only album Dandelion (1989), Curtis’ studio recordings have appeared on a slew of labels – Mongoose Music, Guardian, Rykodisc, Sam The Pug, Vanguard and since 2006, Nashville based Compass Records. The late 2012 release A Catie Curtis Christmas celebrated the launch of this, now, Boston based musician’s latest self-owned label. Flying Dream is the sophomore release from Catie Curtis Records.
Production of Curtis’ ten-song, fan funded Flying Dream is credited to Kristen Hall, founder and former alumni of Atlanta, Georgia band Sugarland. Their collaboration, additionally, stretched to half-a-dozen titles bearing the credit Curtis/Hall. For the recording sessions, Curtis (vocals, acoustic/12 string guitar) was aided at Boston’s intriguingly named Woolly Mammoth Sound Studio by past collaborator Duke Levine (acoustic/electric/classical guitar, manjo, mandolin), plus Jaime Edwards (B3 organ, piano, keyboards), Richard Gates (bass), Jim Gwim (drums) and Hall (backing vocals).
The words (and old adage) “don’t look down” not only appear on numerous occasions throughout album opener Flying Dream, they constitute ‘the glue’ that holds this light and airy paean together. With conscious intent the narrator urges the listener to live an active and fulfilled life – “Trust enough to see where it leads, Fill your heart with the great unknown.” Four Walls is a travelling troubadour’s paean to the structure called home and to the person/persons we love who reside there. Curtis has performed her music at the White House on a number of occasions. The Queen recalls the occasion when she had to deputise for Queen Latifah who had yet to arrive at the venue. In the fourth straight Curtis/Hall collaboration Maybe Tomorrow, hopes and desires constitute the focus. A happy-go-lucky, pure pop delight, and first of two cover songs, Live Laugh Love, was penned by Hall and L.A. based songwriter Joanna Beacom. Complete with a reference to “Let’s find our yellow brick road,” Levine’s manjo propels this bouncy up-tempo number c/w an intricate solo.
Wound around the lines “And it’s all right if I’m wrong, And it’s all wrong if I’m right” the If I’m Right narrator admits that she can hardly sleep at night, is filled with doubt and constantly seeks proof that her partner’s love has faded. When You Find Love tills the same ground and proffers the possibility “Life is short, bittersweet, It’s all we get, I wish it could be longer, Take my hand and let’s grow old.” 
At the outset of Orion, the first of a pair of Curtis only compositions (here), the narrator reflects with regret the sharing of a confidence – “You used it against me.” Supported by Gwin, Aimee Mann sideman Jaime Edwards delivers, to all intents, a symphonic (keyboard) backdrop to the much covered Hal David/Burt Bacharach composition This Girl’s In Love With You. First performed in public by Herb Alpert during a tv special as This Guy’s In Love With You, the song gave the Tijuana Brass bandleader a surprise # 1 U.S. Pop Single for four weeks during June/July 1968. In terms of cover songs on this album, Catie’s laid-back take neatly balances the earlier and energetic Live Laugh Love. Having opened with Flying Dream, the analogous ‘life journey’ themed The Voyager closes this collection.
Penned solely by Curtis, (playing the disc on a computer,) the fading chords of The Voyager form an endless loop with the opening chords of the album title song. The sounds Hall elicited from the contributors to Flying Dream run the addictive gamut of folk, pop with the occasional excursion into smooth jazz. Mmmmm nice……..
Photo Credits:
Catie Curtis (Karan Simpson)
Brought to you from the desk of the Folk Villager.
