Kaia Kater and Leyla McCalla

#4205: Soundcheck Sessions With Kaia Kater and Leyla McCalla

New Sounds | Jun 5, 2021

Hear music from Montreal-born folk singer, songwriter, banjo player, and guitarist Kaia Kater as well as music by multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla, a New York–born Haitian-American living in New Orleans. Listen their in-studio performances and interviews recorded for our Soundcheck Podcast series.

Kater grew up surrounded by her family’s ties to folk music and Appalachian music in West Virginia. Her music often touches on social issues, and her latest album ranges even wider, including her family’s Grenadian-Canadian background, while still drawing upon old-time banjo music. Kaia Kater and her ensemble perform some new tunes from her record, Grenades (Smithsonian Folkways), in-studio.

Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (cello, banjo, guitar) Leyla McCalla, a former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, draws from traditional Creole, Cajun, and Haitian music, as well as American jazz and folk in her music. On McCalla’s latest record, Capitalist Blues, using no cello at all, she explores connections between New Orleans and Haiti as well as political issues, both national and those local to New Orleans. Leyla McCalla and her band perform some of these songs in-studio. -Caryn Havlik

Program #4205: Soundcheck sessions Kaia Kater and Leyla McCalla (First aired 2/13/2019)

ARTIST: Kaia Kater
WORK: When Sorrows Encompass Me Round [1:00]
RECORDING: Sorrow Bound
SOURCE/INFO: kaiakater.com

ARTIST: Kaia Kater
WORK: Meridian Ground [3:47]
RECORDING: Live, in-studio
SOURCE:  This performance not commercially available. The song appears on her record, Grenades, via Smithsonian Folkways
INFO: folkways.si.edu

ARTIST: Kaia Kater
WORK: Canyonland [4:14]
RECORDING: Live, in-studio
SOURCE:  This performance not commercially available. The song appears on her record, Grenades, via Smithsonian Folkways
INFO: folkways.si.edu

ARTIST: Leyla McCalla
WORK: Capitalist Blues [2:58]
RECORDING:  Live, in-studio
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on her record, Capitalist Blues, via Jazz Village
INFO: smarturl.it/LeylaMcCalla2019

ARTIST: Leyla McCalla
WORK: Lavi Vye Neg [3:10]
RECORDING:  Live, in-studio
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on her record, Capitalist Blues, via Jazz Village
INFO: smarturl.it/LeylaMcCalla2019

ARTIST: Leyla McCalla
WORK: Heavy As Lead [5:32]
RECORDING:  Live, in-studio
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on her record, Capitalist Blues, via Jazz Village
INFO: smarturl.it/LeylaMcCalla2019

ARTIST: Kaia Kater
WORK: Everly [4:54]
RECORDING: Live, in-studio
SOURCE:  This performance not commercially available. The song appears on her record, Grenades, via Smithsonian Folkways
INFO: folkways.si.edu

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