New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Acclaimed singer-songwriter Kate Schutt launched her latest album, Bright Nowhere (Act I & Act II), a poignant, inspired and inspiring paean to human connection. Produced and arranged by Rob Mounsey (six-time Grammy Award nominee, two-time Emmy Award winning composer/arranger/producer/pianist), Bright Nowhere is available exclusively at artistShare.com as part of a package of rich offerings that includes video and photos of the writing and making of the album, interviews with the musicians and engineers, readings of poems that influenced Schutt's songwriting, and original essays on life, loss, and letting go. This package of behind-the-scenes media takes participants deep into Schutt's world of how she wrote unsparingly honest, gorgeously-crafted pop songs around a topic as daunting as death. Her lyrics and melodies transform love, loss, and letting go into something shareable, even sing-along-able. This music is candid and compassionate, heart-wrenching and, miraculously, life-affirming.
"It's been so moving and inspirational to be a part of Kate's Bright Nowhere journey. This is a work of artistry and humanity, full of thought, humor and heart, and above all deep sincerity. It needs to be experienced by anyone who has ever struggled to care for someone or to accept care from someone, to love someone or to be loved by someone. Kate has a story to tell; let's listen together." - Rob Mounsey, six-time Grammy Award nominee, two-time Emmy Award winning composer/arranger/producer/pianist
When I heard the lyrics, written and sung by Kate, on her new album Bright Nowhere, I realized I was listening to one of the next great American songwriters. Her ability to make every word count is amazing. Her ability to vocally translate every word to the deepest emotional experience is simply stunning." -Jay Newland, twelve-time Grammy Award winning producer/engineer
"Kate's newest album Bright Nowhere is the ultimate reveal, storytelling so emotionally raw and honest, yet, truly inspirational in its humanity and musicality. Listening to Kate perform these powerful and personal songs, allowed me to revisit my own accumulated losses, wallow in their sadness, which, then, manifested the pure joy of their lives and the profound impact on my very existence. To that end, Bright Nowhere is a lifetime gift for those of us still tethered to this mothership." -
Kevin Killen, eight-time Grammy-winning producer/engineer/mixer
Mounsey and Schutt assembled a dream team of engineers and players for this deeply personal set of songs. The album was engineered by
Kevin Killen, eight-time Grammy-winning producer/engineer/mixer known for his work with U2 and Bowie and it was mixed by Jay Newland, twelve-time Grammy Award winning producer/engineer, known for his work on Norah Jones's smash album Come Away With Me. Musicians include Grégoire Maret (Cassandra Wilson, Pat Metheny), Matt Beck (Matchbox Twenty, Roseanne Cash), Richard Hammond (Hamilton, Joan Osborne), and
Chris Parker (SNL drum chair, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis).
Bright Nowhere, Schutt's third album, takes listeners on an unflinching journey through the landscape of love and loss. This is the path Kate travelled when she put down her guitar and moved home to become the primary caregiver to her mother during her battle with ovarian cancer. The album takes on the emotional complexity of determiing what makes a life worth living. There's a soulfully candid look at motherhood, sparkling of anthems to sacrifice and showing up, and even contemplative jazz standard sounding explorations of the afterlife.
Schutt, who studied poetry at Harvard, drew inspiration for the album from her deep reading of what she calls "the literature of death." A number of poems helped her cope with the nearly five-year-long experience of caring for and losing her mother to cancer. "Bright Nowhere" finds its origin in Seamus Heaney's poem, "Clearances," ones of eight sonnets dedicated to the Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet's relationship with his own mother.
