Press
Here are some snippets from the press…click the links to read full reviews.
The Alibi by Captain America 5/6/10
“…Standing out from the glut of undistinguished Americana singer-songwriters, Kate Mann commands attention with a band or alone in the spotlight. Both live and on her superb recordings, Kate’s voice is clear and crisp. Mann’s words cut deeply as much from her subject matter (the ache of escaped love and missed opportunity) as from her earnest delivery, with a bite like a long pull from a warm whiskey bottle under a pale and lonely moon. She’s been known to whistle on a tune or two with a sound that’s haunting like scratchy old 78 rpm records of long-departed Mississippi bluesmen.”
“Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down is singer/songwriter Kate Mann’s third album. I’d never heard of her and, to be honest, I wasn’t really expecting to like her for some unknown reason. Well by the end of the second track, “Robert Johnson Knew”, I was adding her name to my list of people I need to write about…”
VenusZine by Leah Urborn 4/19/09
“Kate Mann is of that rare breed who can sing mournful tales of love and loss — minus a pedestrian sense of desperation — and come away with all the perspective of a woman enlightened. Not simply sad and brooding, Mann’s newest release, Things Look Different When the Sun Goes Down, is a montage of solid Americana and well-placed fiddle with a thick southwestern flavor (not surprising, seeing as Mann grew up in the mountains of New Mexico)…”
FensePost by Ron Tremblath 4/24/09
“Kate Mann has a strange innocence in her voice that is nothing short of a genuine and blessed with grace. At times she sounds like a country girl type. At others, a woman of the earth. There is something positive to be said of an artist with a likeliness to someone you can’t quite point a finger at. In actuality, it is the craft that has been mastered, not some sort of mimicry. And Kate’s wonderfully prolific Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down is a triumph of craft(wo)manship…”
Campus Circle by Doug Simpson, 3/16/09
“Singer-songwriter Kate Mann grew up in the Southwest, and on her third effort, Things Look Different When the Sun Goes Down, that barren landscape echoes through tales of forfeited love, hindered hopes, deception and bad luck. Mann’s alt-country, folk and blues is comparable to likeminded artists such as John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and Lucinda Williams. Like those writers, Mann has an eye for details and characters…”
Hybrid Magazine by Susan Francis 4/13/09
Kate Mann’s music brings out a mass consciousness that provokes folks to look at their lives and wonder what they could have done differently. Such a theme can be quickly gleaned from the title of her new album, Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down released on her own label, Orange Dress Records.
411 Mania by Jasper Jones, 2/21/09
“Moody Americana” is the best way to describe the music of Kate Mann. She has the uncanny ability to draw listeners into the setting of the song. The music is very rustic and root-sy, as if Mann had sprouted straight out of the Earth. Although, her music seems very ethereal and spiritual at the same time. All these qualities mesh into a home-spun, haunting sound that keeps the listener quite intrigued…”
Portland Mercury by Ryan J. Pardo 11/20/08
“Kate Mann’s voice struts out of your speakers like a Southern belle dancing in the alleyways of a Nashville ghetto; her sway and cadence sashays over a decidedly Red-Stated influence, making songs like “Robert Johnson Knew” hot, even in the cold Northwest…”
Portland Tribune by Barbara Mitchell 11/20/08
“Kate Mann’s third solo album is full of the kind of rich, graceful folk that spreads warmth through your body like a big mug of hot chocolate on a chilly winter day.
Mann’s voice has a depth and soul that instantly grabs your attention, and it works especially well on slightly ominous numbers. Haunting and memorable, it’s also irresistible.”
Weekly Alibi by Simon McCormack 12/11/08
“ It’s been a while since Portland-based desert gypsy rocker Kate Mann called New Mexico home, but the Land of Enchantment still swims in her blood. Her latest release remains intimate even as it fills to the brim with acoustic and electric guitar, fiddle, cello, accordion, piano, saw and harmonica. Mann’s sleepy-eyed acoustic ballads sit at one end of the bar, while cello-heavy movers and shakers beg for another shot at the other. Things Look Different is an album that gets its point across with forceful grace.”
livemusicpdx.com by Jake Carlsen 12/18/08
“Her voice came streaming out over the speakers, bright, eager, bourbon soaked. The kind of voice that belongs with this Roots/Americana music. A voice that belongs to the wilder history of this country. A genuine voice that begs you to listen, move your ass to the music and dream of the open road…”
wigwambam by Captain America 9/08
“A lonester onstage with an acoustic guitar rarely commands the attention of a boozy crowd but her riveting voice & strong delivery of tops lyric content grabbed me immediately…”
Kate Mann Music 