CATHY YOUNG: Days Like These

Cathy Young

Days Like These

© 2003 Meadow Vision Music (659057420226)

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A unique blend of melodic acoustic rock, pop, country with memorable hooks and soul-searching lyrics that reach out and grab you, leaving a lasting imprint on the heart & mind, and crossing the boundaries of musical genres.

tracks

1 Mission
2 Days Like These
3 Bethany's Garden
4 Take Me Or Leave Me
5 The Wire
6 Little Song
7 Hey Baby
8 Follow My Heart
9 I'll Be There
10 Into The Wilderness
11 Be Still And Know
12 Eyes On You

notes

Life has lead Cathy Young in a variety of directions - but always back to music at its core. Raised in a musical family, (her father was a singer & violinist, her mother a songwriter and pianist,) Cathy started playing piano at the age of four. She learned to play the guitar in high school, and soon was writing and performing her own original songs. Attempting to be practical, she went to college and earned a business degree (but she hung out with the music majors most of the time - they were a lot more fun.)

After college, Cathy played for four years in the Christian rock band, Manna, which played throughout New England. In 1997 after several job/life changes, she decided to go solo, and started performing locally as a solo acoustic act. She has appeared on local TV and radio shows and hosted an open mike that drew a regular crowd of musicians, both amateurs and professionals, on a weekly basis.

The singer/songwriter is best known for her variety of original songs, each one unique and memorable; everyone who hears her play walks away with a different favorite.

Cathy's music is as diverse as the problems we all face; and no one understands better than Cathy how music can imitate life... and life can imitate music.

Cathy has just completed her long awaited CD debut, Days Like These. Recorded at NRS Recording Studio in Catskill, NY, she co-produced the 12 original tracks with multi-talented Scott Petito, who plays extensively throughout the CD and has worked with James & Livingston Taylor, Rick Danko, and many others. Her CD, which took over 2 years to complete, is a mirror of her own experiences: love, hardship, hope in the face of adversity, and new beginnings. Cathy has the unique ability to weave a tale of personal experience into a song, and have the listener come out feeling as if she has spoken to them personally. Asked to describe her music, it's hard for her to pin it down. Her songs float somewhere between rock, pop, country, and folk, but with a style all her own. You'll just have to listen for yourself...

reviews

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  • Cathy Young "Days Like This"
    author: Rod Ames

    When I listen to a new artist, I insert the CD and will listen to it four to five times, maybe even six times. Sometimes it just takes that long to get into the groove of what the artist is trying to project. Not this time. Ms. Young’s songs are refreshing and all her own. The arrangements are all impeccably designed and come together to create a beautiful rendition of what was originally born in her head. Each track is carefully laid out to create a mosaic of songs about love, love lost, fantasy, tragedy , spirituality, and hope, all of which we as listeners, have felt at some point in our lives. She connects with us. This is a very successful debut recording by this young artist from Rhinebeck, NY. The musicians she has recruited for this venture are all masters at their respective instruments. For instance on Bethany’s Garden, Mike Demicco’s guitar adds not just his talent for guitar but also compliments and adds a bluesy feel to the drama of the lyrics in the desperation of the protagonist’s search for the wild roses that bloom forever in Bethany’s Garden. That’s not all though. Rachel Handman on violin takes it to a higher level of drama and ties everything together. You can feel the desperation, the anguish, and the torture of what our hero has gone through on her journey with the wailing violin in the not so distant background. Ms. Young’s voice shows a lot of range and I don’t mean just in octaves. The manner in which she almost whispers the lyrics help us to want to find out what happens to our hero. I love a song that tells a good story and this one does that. We care about the character in this story and it’s the lyrics and the way they are delivered that enables that to happen. It all works. The fifth track is a jewel called The Wire. It’s a little tune about leaving your comfort zone, what ever that happens to be, and walk The Wire. No safety nets, simply putting one foot in front of the other to accomplish what ever it is you are trying to accomplish. No one is making her walk the wire; no one is pointing a gun to her head as she puts it in the song. She’s doing what she has to do. It’s another song about moving forward and not looking back, no matter what lies in the path ahead. It’s a song of hope and fear and overcoming said fear. Again, like in Bethany’s Garden, the song is beautifully arranged and produced. Mr. Demicco’s guitar is there in all of its glory and again gives the song a very bluesy feel to a song, ironically enough, about hope. On this particular tune Scott Petito’s talent on the Hammond organ only adds to the flavor of the song. Finally, on Into The Wilderness, we get another message of hope but more on a spiritual plane than one from experience. I guess you’d say our experiences are extremely closely related to our spiritual growth. This song is about that. One foot in front of the other, one day at a time I can see the reason but there’s no rhyme. No turning back from the journey, now that it’s begun Oh God, what have I done? Walking into the wilderness No path ahead I can see Walking into the wilderness Trusting you to guide me. I believe this to be a song about recovery. Recovery from what life throws at us and using our faith to carry us through these experiences. I’m not a very religious person, but this song did touch me spiritually. In that respect it is probably my favorite tune on the record. I love the lyrics but mostly I love the simplicity of the words, and Ms. Young’s delivery of them. We are reeled into the song by a profound and jazzy Latin beat you can’t help but tap your foot too. Phil Russo adds his expert saxophone talent to this tune adding to the complexity of the arrangement. Of course Mr. Demicco is there with his guitar along with Mr. Petito on the Hammond, and Peter O’Brien on drums. This is a fine and carefully arranged tune and I was surprised, but adored the abrupt ending to it. It all fit. Overall, I loved this record. There are nine additional songs on this record and if space would have allowed, I certainly would have reviewed them and given them all excellent remarks. However, the three I chose to write about here all stood out to me. If I had to, I would compare Cathy Young to someone like Mary Chapin Carpenter or Nicolette Larson, but only if I absolutely had too. My belief is Cathy Young can stand on her own.

  • some of the best songwriting I've heard!
    author: MS.D

    I can't wait to hear what Cathy Young does next! She has a beautiful voice, and from the first song, your hooked!! I will be listening on the radio for you!!!

  • album with a lot of hope for the future
    author: Martin

    Every song merits a 5 star rating. Thank god for the internet, as we get a chance to hear really good vocals this side of the atlantic for a change.

  • refreshing and clean
    author: steve

    A new local artist will soon be a national sensation.... I've always seemed to be able to predict a star in the making, and you are the next one

  • Fantastic Work of Art
    author: Bruce & Diane Orkofsky

    This is a beuatiful collection of songs by Cathy Young and they are all great. We know Cathy and we do expect to see more of her beautifully written songs released on more CD's. Cathy you have arrived... :o)

  • Refreshing, broken the mld of most of what is on the radio now
    author: Ruth

    It's refreshing to hear an artist break the molds of folk, pop, country and create something completely new. Each song is fresh and different. I am looking forward to hearing more from Ms. Young.

  • author: Joe C

    This CD is a true treasure from Cathy Young. Her songwriting is only surpassed by her beautiful voice. These songs should be an inspiration to everyone. There's a new star on the horizion and her name is Cathy Young.

  • Brilliant simply brilliant !!!!!
    author: Nigel Corfield

    A fantastic debut album from an extremely talented young lady with a great future. The music is a mix of rock, pop and country and lyrics reflect her past and look to the future. Personally I hope her “Mission” is to produce another album. - Nigel Corfield - Tamworth, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

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