Cathy Richardson
Saturday, Jun. 18 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)
Seeing Cathy Richardson sing is an experience that is difficult to explain. Critics have described the effect in ways such as: witnessing a space shuttle launch, a force of nature, kinetic, unleashing a tsunami from her iron-lungs, haunting, stunning, breath-taking power, unbelievably powerful, or simply stated, WOW. Some have even gone so far as to dub her the "best female voice in rock today."
And it's no wonder, what other singer out there can you name who has the chops (or the balls, for that matter) to stand in for both Janis Joplin and Grace Slick in their iconic bands?
Yes, it's true, GRAMMY Nominee and four-time DIY Music Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actress and designer Cathy Richardson independently released and sold over 30,000 copies of her seven solo albums and relentlessly pummeled the Chicago club circuit for years. Over the last decade, her career has taken a few colorful turns that steered her out of the local scene and into the International spotlight, smack in the middle of the rock n’ roll history that inspired her to rock.
Richardson's real life rock n' roll persona led to her discovery for the role of Janis Joplin in the original Off Broadway cast of the show Love, Janis where she channeled the late music legend to rave reviews in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Arizona. The San Francisco Chronicle said, "when Richardson pours her magnificent, flexible voice into one of Joplin's signature numbers... the experience is more real than any live recording ever captured." In 2007, she toured the US with Janis’ original band members Big Brother and the Holding Co. on the Summer of Love 40th Anniversary Tour.
Headlining that tour was the legendary classic rock band Jefferson Starship, led by founding member and Rock Hall Inductee Paul Kantner, who took note of Richardson’s show stealing performances with Big Brother and, consequently, asked her to join them the following year. Music critic Greg M. Schwartz at Bullz-eye.com named Richardson Breakout Artist of 2008 for her work with Jefferson Starship, who released their first album in over a decade, Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty and toured the US and beyond, from Tokyo to London.
2009 ushered in the 40th Anniversary of the famed Woodstock Music and Art Fair and Richardson, who was born in 1969, once again found herself in the spotlight standing in for another one of her musical heroines (this time the inimitable Grace Slick) on the Heroes of Woodstock tour. Headlining major venues across the United States and Europe, including the site of the original Woodstock in Bethel, NY on the actual anniversary, Richardson sang with Jefferson Starship playing the set that Jefferson Airplane played when they headlined the original Woodstock in 1969. Grateful Dead keyboardist TC (aka Tom Constanten) sat in nightly for mini-Dead sets and the occasional Janis cover. A film crew documented the Woodstock reunion tour for a forthcoming 3D concert film experience called the Road to Woodstock. What a long, strange trip, indeed. Richardson continues to tour with Jefferson Starship about 60 dates a year.
Richardson fans will likely be thrilled her by her next major musical endeavor- The Macrodots, an amped up, hard-rocking collaboration with San Francisco guitarist/songwriter/producer Zack Smith. Their self-released debut album the Other Side, has been receiving critical acclaim and despite playing only a handful of shows, so far, they’ve already sold over 1000 copies. Richardson and Smith have put together a stellar cast of superstar players for the live show and to collaborate on new material- Jude Gold on guitar (besides being a monstrous player, he’s the Director of the Guitar Institute in LA and a longtime editor at Guitar Player Magazine) Greg Panciera on bass, Steven Gillis on drums (a veteran of hit hard rock act Filter) and Anne Harris on fiddle. On West Coast shows, Jefferson Starship drummer Donny Baldwin takes over the kit. For more on the Macrodots, visit http://www.themacrodots.com
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