Sweet Life - Catie Curtis

Released Sept. 2008
Compass Records

Mmmmm, love Catie Curtis. Love her voice, love her lyrics. She's written most of the songs on this album herself. Really upbeat, from the the singable refrain of "Happy, to the honky tonk sound of "Lovely" to the wonderful "The Princess and the Mermaid", which is a celebration of relationships and family.

I can remember sitting in my dorm room at Barnard, a zillion summers ago (well, maybe 10 or 12), listening over and over to "Grandmother's Name", which is on her "From Years to Hours" album. (I've got my grandmother's name but she don't remember who I am.)

Catie writes in the liner notes for this latest album, "When I was 15 years old and living in Saco, Maine, I wanted to play guitar but didn't have one. Lynne Ramsdell, stage manager at a local theater, gave me an old Yamaha saying, 'You can have this if you promise me you'll learn to play it.' She left Saco shortly after that and I never got the chance to thank her for changing my life. I'd like to thank her now." I've listened to Catie Curtis for years and years, and never realized that she's a Mainer. And now I can totally SEE "River Winding", another of my very favorites, from her "Catie Curtis" album. (River winding, throught this milltown, my hometown is dark by four.......through the darkness, sometimes cursed and sometimes blessed.)

A great songwriter with a beautiful voice, I'd sure love to see her perform live someday.