The Bixler 108 Listening Room Presents

Kate McDonnell, Friday, August 4

Kate McDonnell joins the long list of singer songwriters performing at the Bixler 108 Listening Room in Unionville, MO. Born and raised on music in Baltimore, MD, Kate has captivated audiences all over the world with her award-winning songwriting, her unusual deft guitar style, and her jaw-dropping voice. Kate comes from generations of musicians on both sides: her maternal grandfather (trumpet) and great grandfather (trombone and viola) performed with the National and Baltimore Symphonies. Kate’s father sang in operettas and her mother continues to play the piano just as her own mother did. All three of Kate’s siblings have the musical gift, so at any given night around the dinner table, they were bound to break into song.

As a precocious fouryear-old, she heard a Joan Baez album in her mother’s collection. Her reaction? She picked up her mom’s guitar, taller than she was, and started to teach herself how to play--as a left handed, upside down and backwards. Eventually Kate started listening to Leo Kottke, Mason Williams,

Steve Howe, and others and at 16 she learned to play Duane Allman’s Little Martha, and her skies opened, which was a surprise to no one other than Kate. She then teamed with her twin sister to perform around their Baltimore hometown during their high school and college years. Later she partnered with guitarist Freddie Tane, at one time a member of Bill Haley’s Comets. McDonnell-Tane released two albums in their 3-1/2-year career and opened shows for stars such as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Judy Collins. Kate also found time to join an all-female trio, Colossal Olive, which gigged in Massachusetts, where she lived at the time.

In 1989, Kate started writing her own songs and gaining recognition including winning awards at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas and the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in New York State. In 1992 she released her debut solo album, “Broken Bones,” to much critical acclaim.

Kate’s first of seven European tours came in 1998, coinciding with the release of her second album, titled “Next.” In

1999, Kate appeared on the internationally syndicated “World Café” radio show, performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington and appeared at the folk world’s premier event, the legendary Newport Folk Festival. Another career high point followed in 2001 after the release of her third CD, “Don’t Get Me Started,” The Swiss label Brambus Records picked up “Don’t Get Me Started” for overseas release and it was soon on the top five list for U.S. and international folk airplay.

2005 marked Kate’s 4th album entitled “Where the Mangoes Are”. But in 2006, Kate made a sharp turn to pursue studies to become a child therapist and has spent the last decade working in day-treatment programs, residential programs, and inner-city schools. But music was never backshelved. She continued to write with her songwriting partner, Anne Lindley. And she hit the studio in the summer of 2020 to record her 5th album, “Ballad of a Bad Girl”. This collection of 11 songs comprises two cover songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Unionville First Christian Church

Sunday Services ~ 8:30 am, 10:45 am & 6 pm

Sunday School ~ 9:45 am

Weekly Fellowship:

Monday ~ Ladies Quilting ~ 9 am

Monday Night Bible Study ~ 6 pm

Tuesday ~ Ladies Bible Study ~ 9:45 am

Wednesday ~ Bible Studies ~ 6 & 6:30 pm and Richard Thompson, with the balance being original pieces. She is back on the road and very excited to bring her new songs to her fans, old, new, and yet to be.

This current tour is brief, as Kate is driving in from New York to perform two concerts: at the Bixler 108 Listening Room in Unionville, MO on Aug. 4 and at Howard Dolnigoff’s house concert series in Kansas City on Aug. 5. Word has gotten out that the Bixler is a great place to play at.

There is never an admission charge at the Bixler, but donations are gratefully accepted and help support and bring artists like Kate McDonnell to the Bixler. For more information email Tom Keedy at thebixler108@gmail.com or call him at 660-6267803.

Building Taken Down After Collapse

A crew from Red Rock Demolition, Kidder, MO, was on site Sunday, June 30, to take down the former Skelgas building on north 17th Street. Two walls of the building had collapsed on Saturday prompting the demolition. The building had served not only as a Skelgas dealership, but as a Masonic Hall and an implement dealership. If you have information regarding the history of the building, please contact The Republican.