Waterside Theatre To Host Evening With Kathy Mattea [Concert Preview]

Two-time Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Kathy Mattea is one of country music’s most distinctive and critically acclaimed artists. Over the course of more than 20 years in music, she has sold over seven million albums, won two Grammy Awards and was twice named Country Music Academy Vocalist of the Year.

Her top 10 list includes, but is not limited to, “Walking Away A Winner”, “Eighteen Wheels & a Dozen Roses”, “Train of Memories and Love at the Five & Dime”. Most artists take fewer and fewer risks as they get older, but Kathy Mattea is a striking exception.

She didn’t play it safe while she charted mainstream country hits—16 of them reaching the top ten—and she’s not about to start now. Four years ago, Mattea, one of the most sure-footed country-pop song interpreters of her generation, caught everyone off guard with an album of old-timey Appalachian mining songs called Coal.

The 2008 Grammy nominated album was her first step to discovering this vast and rich genre of music that producer Marty Stuart allowed was “in her blood,” taking her back to the lore of family stories and to her place and her people.

In 2012, Kathy released a collection of songs that celebrates the Appalachian culture of her native West Virginia called Calling Me Home. For this new album Kathy has gathered songs and stories of bravery, pride and grief that further define and describe the life and times of her home place.