John Ziegler
Maybe it's her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University and her years of practice as a psychiatrist in New York City that give Lucy Kaplansky an insight into the human condition that most of us aren't in touch with and sets her apart from the pack of singer-songwriters whose insightful observations strike a chord with listeners.
Or maybe it's simply the clarity and precision of her writing and delivery, with her sure-handed guitar playing and luminous voice, that makes everything seem to hit the mark dead-on and resonate so solidly.
Whatever the reason, Kaplansky showed a capacity crowd Saturday evening at Sacred Heart Music Center that she is one of the premiere traveling troubadours who spend a hefty chunk of their lives in airports, planes and away from families to come 1,500 miles and share her art with us in Duluth on a frigid January night.
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Fighting a cold and sucking on throat lozenges gave her angelic voice an added (slightly thicker) texture. Kaplansky's two-set night included old and new songs, done on guitar and piano, and not unlike her recordings, was close to a 50/50 mix of originals and covers.
Unlike most performers who follow their introduction with something up-tempo to get both their hands and the crowd warmed up, Kaplansky began the show with a glacially paced version of "The Banks of Loch Lomond." Her quick ear and unique sense of musicality made this tune with its familiar lyrics -- "you take the high road and I'll take the low road" -- into a slightly somber dirge that was fresh and worlds apart from any previous
incarnation.
Her own classic "Ten Year Night" was a concert highlight and should be anyone's introduction to her music. Like all great songs, its triangulation of lyric, melody and rhythm is simply perfect. The title was given to Kaplansky by her husband and song collaborator Rick Litvin, and around it she created a love song of immense beauty and vivid imagery that is serene and timeless.
Kaplansky's ease with the crowd and her immediate rapport was done so skillfully that it disguised the fact that it takes years of constant gigging to become as smooth as she is.
Through the course of the night she let us in on her dad (Irving Kaplansky, a noted mathematician and composer), her daughter's fascination with "Star Wars," how she recently discovered Facebook, that she's from Hyde Park, Ill., which (because of the new president) has increased her "coolness" factor tenfold, and reminisced about her first Duluth show at Amazing Grace several years ago (in the middle of a snowstorm) that was attended by people on either snowmobiles or snowshoes.
Not unlike her singing partner from the early Greenwich Village days, Shawn Colvin, Kaplansky has an almost magical ability to inhabit other writers' material. Her albums and concerts always brim with covers that are exquisite and often unlikely choices.
Her version of the Beatles "Let It Be" was worth the price of a ticket. Taking an ultra deliberate tempo, she let the tune breathe and gave it a sense of peace and serenity that the original didn't have. Her piano was played so far behind the beat that it had a kind of hypnotic quality, and her sumptuous voice just enveloped McCartney's text. It was stunning and unexpected.
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Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" simmered like a pot on low boil with her restraint accenting, rather than detracting, from the well-known imagery.
"Speaking With the Angel," a tune that Canadian Ron Sexsmith wrote for his infant son, was gorgeous and morphed into Kaplansky talking to her young daughter.
Even a cover that she was just learning and had to be read from the sheet music (Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah") was done with entirely different accents and turns of phrase, showing just how nuanced her interpretations really are.
It may have been said most succinctly by the late Bob Feldman (the former head of her St. Paul-based label Red House Records) who after hearing tapes of Lucy Kaplansky for the first time said, "Man, I was just blown away."
