Singer-Songwriter Margaret Glaspy Performs “Unplugged” at the Kate

Press release

OLD SAYBROOK, CT - The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, “the Kate”, welcomes Margaret Glaspy: Unplugged on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 7:30 pm.

For the first time, Margaret Glaspy is presenting a solo acoustic show filled with songs from her past and present. Freshly off the heels of her third full-length album, Echo The Diamond, the music emerged from a deliberate stripping-away of artifice to reveal life for all its harsh truths and ineffable beauty. Like the precious gem of its title, the result was an object of startling luminosity, one capable of cutting through the most elaborately constructed façades.

“That record came from trying to meet life on life’s terms, instead of looking for a happy ending in everything,” says the New York-based musician. “The whole experience of creating it felt like effortless catharsis.” Glaspy will be bringing a re-imagination of these songs as well as those of her favorite songwriters to the stage with ‘Margaret Glaspy: Unplugged’.

Glaspy first started writing songs at age 15 and soon began honing the potent balance of sensitivity and incisiveness that now imbues her music. In bringing Echo The Diamond to life, she adhered to a process meant to preserve and amplify her unfettered expression. “If I sit down with a guitar and stay in the same spot for about 15 minutes, I usually have a song at the end,” she notes. Drawing from an eclectic mix of inspirations — Sonic Youth, Vivienne Westwood’s punk-influenced approach to fashion, Tom Waits’ music, the 1985 Japanese Western film Tampopo — Glaspy’s influences show in her ability to turn a phrase with edge and humanity all in the same gulp.

Ryan Lerman opens the show. As an instrumentalist, Lerman spent his 20s touring the world as a bassist for Ben Folds, guitarist for Michael Buble, and string arranger/musical director for John Legend. As a songwriter, his compositions have been recorded by Vulfpeck, Buble, and others. As a scene builder, he’s one half of the creative team behind YouTube sensations Scary Pockets and ‘stories’.

For information and tickets, visit www.thekate.org or call 860-510-0453.