LS: You've worked with Shawn Colvin for a long time, haven't you?

KM: I met Shawn at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. I think it was in 1995 when she was performing on the same show as James was. We just really hit it off. We were on the plane together, and she came to our rehearsals and ended up singing with us. That's how she got to know James. At first Shawn and I were simply friends, and I didn't really sing with her. Then gradually, she started asking me to sit in, and she had me come to Telluride for a New Year's Eve show. And then I had a really bad skiing accident with her. I tore two ligaments in each knee at the same time.

LS: My God!

KM: [sternly] Skiing with Shawn is a DANGEROUS THING! No, it wasn't her fault, I'm just kidding. I like to blame it on her because it makes me feel less stupid.

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: But the next year, her husband did tear his ACL ligament too. Coincidence?? We don't think so!!!

LS and KM: [laughter]

LS: And you've recorded with her?

Kate with Shawn Colvin.

KM: I sang on "Sunny Came Home" from A Few Small Repairs, and then I toured with her for the promotion of that album. For about a year and a half I did quite a lot of touring with her. It all fell neatly between what I was doing with James. We went to Europe and did a bunch of stuff in the U.S. I sang a little thing on her new record, too. We're still really good friends.

LS: And what about k.d. lang -- how did you hook up with her?

KM: I met her when I worked on the April 2000 tribute to Joni Mitchell in New York. She's truly an amazing singer.

LS: How did you get involved in that show [An All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell]?

KM: It was a really, really cool show, and I was so completely proud to be involved with that on any level. Larry Klein, Joni's ex husband and an incredible bass player, producer and writer, hired me to be the rehearsal vocalist for the band before the artists got there.

LS: In other words, you performed the songs so the band could practice before the arrival of the singers who were doing the show?

KM: Right. There were all these different artists singing a Joni Mitchell song during the show. Shawn was there, James was there, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, k.d. lang, Cassandra Wilson, Cyndi Lauper, Wynona Judd, Bryan Adams, Elton John, Diana Krall. It was really an incredible group of people. During rehearsal, I was the person to sing where the verses went and where the choruses went. And then I got to sing backup on the show.

LS: That must have been pretty fun!

KM: It was really, really, fun. I've always been a huge Joni Mitchell fan. It was one of those "pinch me, I cannot believe this is happening" experiences. Sometimes you do those kind of shows and they turn out hokey. But that turned out really well. Everybody's versions of Joni's songs were so interesting.

LS: For which artists did you sing backup?

KM: For Shawn, Mary Chapin Carpenter and James on a song they did together, for k.d. lang, Cassandra Wilson, Cyndi Lauper, and for the song that Wynona Judd and Bryan Adams did as a duet.

LS: And that's how k.d. lang knew your work?

KM: Yes. When she was looking for backup vocalists for her tour last year, Greg Liesz, a pedal-steel player, and Grant McAree, her sound man, who both worked on the Joni Mitchell show, recommended me to her. We toured the United States and Europe.

Kate with JT.

LS: Let's talk about the James Taylor Live album and the process of that.

KM: They did it in a really good way and didn't try to record just one or two shows. In a situation where it's just one or two shows being recorded, everybody can't help but get a little anxious when you know you're being recorded and it's a live album. We're not of the school where you fix everything. James isn't like that, and he didn't want to do a live album like that. He wanted to do a real live album.

So, they recorded something like 14 to 17 shows. George Massenberg, the engineer, helped get it all set up, and then Nathaniel Kunkel came out on the road with us. He's Russ Kunkel's son, and he's an amazing engineer in his own right now, a really incredible engineer. They had a separate board, and he would record every night. So we kind of forgot that they were there, which is the best way to do it. And then they took the long process of going through everything out there, because there were a lot of versions of the same songs.

LS: On "That Lonesome Road," is that you singing that solo?

KM: Do you mean the lyrics "carry on"? Yeah, that's me on that, and then Val comes in. Don [Grolnick] and James wrote "That Lonesome Road" together, so it's hard for me to listen to the Live album because Carlos [Vega] and Don are on it. It's just really hard because we loved them so much. You really get close, it's like a family. You may not spend a lot of time together when you come back into town, but those times you spend on the road are unique to that group of people. It's like a little city or something, and it's just hard to believe two such strong people in the group are gone.

It's really different now, but life goes on. I'm so glad that James is the kind of person who grieves but wants to carry on. To keep working and doing what he loves doing, trying to evolve and make new music despite the fact that such strong forces in his previous band are gone.

We had some moments of performing right after both their deaths that were really, really hard to do. We just tried to help each other through it. And there have been times when you're tired on the road after you've been out for a while, and you think, "I wouldn't have been able to do this if it hadn't been for these people."

LS: Tell me some bus or road anecdotes.

KM: James is on the singers' bus, so that's interesting right there. I don't think the average person, even James' fans, really knows what a wicked sense of humor James has. How completely silly and insane he can be. He can be like a little kid. After the shows, we'll get on the bus, and a lot of times we'll talk for a while and kind of unwind, or we'll watch a movie or listen to some music. But a lot of times, you'll be in your bunk trying to sleep, and you'll hear this whistling. This incessant whistling. And it's James, pacing up and down in the hallway between all the bunks, whistling some song. And he's a great whistler, so it's not like bad whistling. It's great whistling. But it's [mock aggravated] WHISTLING NONETHELESS.

And once he did this thing with a piece of bread that's really hard to explain. He calls it "breadman." All of a sudden, you hear him saying something, and you look out of your bunk, and he's got a piece of wheat bread on his face, and he's cut a mouth hole and plastered it on his face, so that the bread opens and closes with his mouth, and he's going, "BREEEEAAAAAAADMAAAAAAAAAN."

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: I don't know if you should include that in your article or not!

LS and KM: [laughter]

LS: I've heard the life of a performer on the road described as kind of like going away to summer camp, kind of insulated.

KM: Very. This is going to sound really weird, but after doing a long tour with James, to help me adjust to the culture shock of being back home, sometimes when I come home, I wouldn't literally come home. I would check into a hotel in town for a couple of days just to decompress because it's such a shock to come back. There's your pile of mail that you haven't seen. There's this to do in your house, and that to catch up on. And you don't have someone waiting on you anymore. You don't have someone telling you to be in the lobby at 10 a.m. When you're on the road, there's a certain safety and security in the fact that you know what's expected of you every day. You show up, and you do it, but you don't have to deal with everything else that's going on. There's something about that sometimes that's really nice and kind of escapist. And combine that with hanging out with people who actually enjoy doing music. But it's hard work too. A lot of people think it's always glamorous. It really is not glamorous when you're on the bus, OK???? [grins sarcastically]. Let's just be straight about that!

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: But it's a great life too. I've gotten to see the world. I've gotten to see so many amazing places and actually make money while I'm doing it, and I value that experience a lot. But yeah, it's insular. James is always referring to "the civilian life" vs. our life on the road.

For me, I think I've sacrificed a lot in my personal life to do what I do. I've sacrificed a lot of what people would call a normal life. My career's been great -- but it's been a trade-off. I just couldn't seem to follow the traditional timeline and fit that into my life and my work. So, I've had my share of crash-and-burn relationships. I've made bad choices, and I always put my career first. When I finally got sick of it and got a little healthier, I really let go of the expectations. I let go of the frantic need to "FIND SOMEONE." And that's when I met Todd. And now I have a real home life, which is really different for me. And it feels good.

LS: For those of us non-singers, would you explain how you figure out what notes to sing when you're singing a harmony?

KM: I can only say how I approach it. I think you either innately have musical abilities or you don't. I guess I was exposed to music so early that it was just part of me. I started singing harmonies to everything. I would sing along with whatever I was listening to. First I'd get the melody in my head, and then I started to think of harmonies to sing. I did choir and madrigal groups when I was in junior high, so I learned how to learn a part and stick to it even though someone was singing another note. That's a really important thing to be able to do.

A lot of people think they can sing because they can sing along with someone on the same note. But the minute one person switches to a different note, the other person just goes to THAT note. You might have a good ear, and you can follow along as long as someone's singing, but you have to be able to stick to your note. The more you do it, the better you get at it. That's how I started. And if you learn about music theory, you can also visualize the notes, and you can visualize them going up and down. If I'm learning a new part, sometimes I have to write it down to myself to remind myself where it's going.

LS: I guess it's very instinctual.

KM: I think a certain amount of it can be learned. If you didn't feel like you innately could do it, you could probably practice to develop it.

A song has a melody line with chords underneath that create a harmonic structure. Backup vocalists will use the notes in those chords to create a feeling. Like a minor chord will feel different from a major chord. There are certain notes in the structure of a song that add a lot of dimension.

The interesting thing about the combination of voices that we have with James is that Val's and Arnold's voices are similar to each other in tone and power, and David's and my voices are similar to each other's too in some ways. When all our voices are combined, they create a full sound.

LS: I've seen some JT concert videos from the early 1990s, and back then it would be you and Arnold on one side of the stage, and David and Val on the other. But now you all stand together.

KM: Actually, we kind of started out all together, and then on various tours, just to do something different visually, the lighting designer or somebody else would say, "How about separating the singers this year and putting them on different risers?"

LS: So it was just a visual thing? That's interesting.

KM: I think so, yeah, at the time. It was kind of fun when we were angled enough to see each other across the stage. When we are in a line, we have to make an effort to look side to side at each other. Sometimes I actually like being separated, because then I can see what the other singers are doing. Or, I can try to distract them, make fun of them, make faces at them.

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: Also, until we were using in-ear monitors, when we were in one line together it was harder to hear with monitors/speakers in front of us. If Valerie and I are on the same note, and our monitors are right next to each other, it's really hard to tell who's who, and it's really hard to hear what you yourself are doing. That can be a problem for us if we're not using in-ear monitors and we're all right next to each other. A lot of times if we do a TV show, they'll have one mix for all of us. You get spoiled when you have a good monitor engineer who's giving you what you really need to hear to sing as well as you can.

LS: In-ear monitors... are those the things in your ears that look like a hearing aid and have a wire coming out of your hair down your neck?

KM: Yeah. They're custom molded. They put this soft stuff to mold your inner ear canal. You really have to get used to it because they feel really strange. They go deep in your ear canal. And then it's kind of scary because you feel it's so close to your eardrum. But they have limiters on them so that the volume can't go past a certain level. They actually save your ears because you don't get the kind of feedback you can get from a regular monitor, which can be just shattering.

LS: So with in-ear monitors, you're hearing your voice better so that you can make sure you're singing what you want to sing?

KM: Yeah. The in-ear monitors are pretty amazing. You can get a great mix that sounds like a record in your head. You get whatever you need to hear pitch. I always get a little bit of the whole band. I may not get very much of the lead guitar, because guitar tends to be in the range of voice. So if I hear a loud guitar, it's kind of canceling out what I'm trying to sing. I'll get bass for sure, because bass helps me with pitch center. And then I'll get piano for sure, because it's a really good instrument to sing with. And I'll get some of James' guitar.

LS: And his voice too?

KM: Definitely his voice, yeah. And the other singers, usually a lot more of the guys than Valerie just because she and I are sometimes on the same notes. On certain songs, I'll get more of her if she's doing a part that I really want to hear. It just depends. But it's great because you can get effects in there too. You can get reverb and delay, and you can make it sound really good in your own little head [laughs]. Or really bad, depending on whether you're doing a good job that day or not.

LS: So while you're singing, can you hear any sounds other than what's being piped in?

KM: The ear monitors that we use have a little hole in them so that you can hear a bit of the live sound. But there's a certain amount of feeling isolated that you really have to get used to -- it's a trade-off. I think there is an energy that can get lost, especially when you first start using them. But the ability to hear your voice -- no matter what the conditions are -- is really worth it for singing backup.

LS: Let's talk about your visit to Rio in January [2001] with James for the "Rock In Rio" festival.

KM: Rio was amazing. This was my third time there, and it was nice to go back. I appreciated things about it more this time for some reason, even though our visit was so short. We just went down there and had that day with sound check that night, and then we did the show the next night and flew home the next day. But this trip made me remember how much I love Brazilian music. I fell in love with it again. And the Brazilian people are so cool and warm and open -- and WAY too gorgeous for words.

We performed on the opening night of the entire festival, and there was a lot of variety of artists there this year, everyone from Britney Spears to Brazilian artists like Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil. Nascimento and Gil and a Brazilian singer named Daniela Mercury performed before us, then we did our set, and then Sting did his.

LS: Oh wow.

KM: We went on at something like 11 p.m., and the concert didn't end until around 3 a.m. But I think the audience that night was about 180,000 people. I've performed for big crowds before, but I'd never looked out onto that many people.

LS: What was it like?

KM: It was really moving. And they do this thing in Brazil where instead of holding up lighters, they wave white handkerchiefs, which symbolizes "peace."

LS: There was a file on Napster of a lot of the songs that James performed, and on "You've Got a Friend," it sounded like the audience was singing along.

KM: Oh yeah, big time! It was pretty awesome to look out at that many people, I have to say. It definitely moved me, especially to see their response to James. And when we did "Only a Dream in Rio," particularly during the section that's in Portuguese, they were really getting into it. You could see the swaying of the arms with the white handkerchiefs. It was really cool.

LS: With 180,000 people, was it like a concert in Central Park or something?

KM: They had this big field, with huge tents for sponsors and the artists, and a really big, elevated stage. There was this sea of heads as far as you could see.

LS: Were they in seats?

KM: No, they were standing on a lawn, and it was flat.

And they REALLY love James Taylor down there! Even the younger people REALLY love him. It was cool to see him get that kind of recognition from people in the hotel and people in the street. He was mobbed like a big celebrity star everywhere. I think it's always nice to feel like a younger generation of people is appreciating your music. It was nice to see that happening so naturally. It was nice to see him liking that, although it was a bit overwhelming when they were literally following him everywhere around the hotel. He couldn't get a cup of coffee without cameras in his face.

LS: So you performed that night, and you left the next day?

KM: Yes. It was too short -- you just don't want to leave! I did get a chance to go up to the Corcovado, though, to see the big cement statue of Jesus. That was amazing.

LS: Is that the one James refers to in "Only A Dream in Rio"?

KM: Yeah, the concrete Christ. It's on top of this huge mountain. It's an amazing sight. When you get up there, you see all of Rio down below you, including the coastline. And when you look up at this statue from the bottom, it's just HUGE. You look up from the base of the statue into the sky.

LS: Can you see it from anywhere in Rio?

KM: Pretty much, I think.

LS: Who built it?

KM: I don't know the history of it. [self mockingly] That's typical of me, to go to some historical site and go, "Wow this is cool!" but not know anything about it.

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: James told me that he and [percussionist] Luis Conte visited a percussion school for kids where they learn to play drums all year long preparing for Carnaval. Luis played percussion with the kids. James said it was just amazing. He said you just CANNOT keep from getting up and dancing when you hear this. There's no way NOT to.

We also ate at a restaurant where they had this traditional Brazilian dish called feijoada. It's sort of like a stew, and it's my least favorite kind of food because I don't eat red meat. But part of traveling is trying to taste stuff.

LS: So did you eat it?

KM: Well, sort of. I kind of ate the beans and the rice and the greens -- that all tasted like red meat.

LS and KM: [laughter]

LS: Well, that must be hard, maintaining a normal eating schedule when you're on the road.

KM: Yeah. But James is really good to us and we get to express our preferences. There's always vegetarian choices backstage at the venues. And we get to put in requests for things to have in our dressing rooms.

LS: That's nice!

KM: Oh yeah. There's a list called a rider, and it's what all the venues get that explains what we need in the dressing rooms. A lot of times, bands will put something on their rider that's a fake request just to see if it will actually appear.

LS: What's the weirdest thing that anyone on the James Taylor tour has asked for?

KM: For a while there was a big request for pitted dates, and nobody knew where it came from. Nobody ever ate them, and they would just appear every time.

LS: That's funny.

LS: When I interviewed David and Val, I asked both of them how the set list comes together. And [laughs] David said, "I don't get involved in it," and Val said, "I don't get involved in it." But they BOTH said that YOU really get involved in it.

KM: Yeah, it's kind of an old joke. [grimacing] Do I have to admit that???

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: When James picks his set, he'll have written some new songs, so he'll obviously want to do those. And then he'll have a full list of his complete discography, a list to choose from. And then he has the complete history, so he knows the set he played the last time he was in a particular city. Then people will have various suggestions.

He makes these file cards of choices that he's considering and things we've started rehearsing. As we get to the end of rehearsals, we start trimming down the set. He puts his file cards out on the top of the grand piano, and he lays them out in what he thinks might be the order. And when Don Grolnick was alive, Don and I would immediately be at the piano, looking. We'd say, "Ohhhhh, you're not going to lose that one???" "No, you've got to do THAT one!" and "You can't NOT do THAT," or "I think that would be better there."

LS: And he's open to that?

KM: (grinning hopefully) Well.........

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: It's kind of become a joke over the years. It started with Don, and then I kind of weaseled my way in there -- in my inimitable fashion. And then I couldn't NOT comment on things I felt strongly about. But it became this thing where they would hide from me. They would start to do the set, and I'd [cranes her neck].

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: I'd see them across the room, and it would be like radar. They're discussing the set! And I'd race over there. So now it's gotten to the point where it's a joke, because when James works on the set, he goes into a completely different...

LS: Room? [laughing]

KM: He'd probably like to fly across the country to work on the set!

LS and KM: [laughter]

LS: You're leaving in a couple of weeks, and you're going to be gone for at least four months. What are you doing? How do you get ready for that?

KM: I have an assistant who helps me when I'm gone and basically runs my entire life, like all the paperwork. She used to check on my house, too, but that's different now that Todd lives here.

Practically speaking, the first thing you have to do before everything else is to make sure that your wardrobe case is packed. That leaves on the truck usually at least a week earlier than you're leaving.

LS: You mean that you have to pick out your clothes that you're going to wear on stage?

KM: Yes. And we're also in the great position of being able to bring other stuff if we want. Like I'm going to bring my bike. That's the kind of stuff you can put on the truck in advance to go out and meet up with at rehearsal. Then, during the tour, we put our bikes under the bay in the bus.

LS: Do you get a lot of opportunity to exercise on the road?

KM: Yes. It's a well-known fact that James had his addictions for many years, and I think when he got sober one of his passions became working out. So it's a high priority for him to be able to work out on the road and to have a situation that pushes him and inspires him to do that. In fact, from 1992 to 1995, the assistant tour manager was also a trainer. When we'd go to different hotels, she would book a room, or she would find the nearest good gym and reserve the workout room. And she would teach a class every day. Sometimes aerobics, sometimes yoga-type stuff. Or stretching. We got into step aerobics for a while, and then spinning bikes and step benches. I had always worked out a lot, but I had never had the luxury of having a trainer around to push me and teach me things that I didn't know, and it changed my life. Meeting James and working with James has really changed my life in many positive ways.

LS: What happened after 1995?

KM: It's evolved to where James works out himself, and we all work out on our own. We don't have the trainer, but we have someone who finds out which are the good gyms, where are the good bike trails, and what places have good hiking. James is very much into hiking and biking and roller-blading. He's also extremely accident prone, but we won't go into that.

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: So after you get all the wardrobe trunk things together and make sure that's on it's way, then you have your little bus bag for all your stuff that you want on the bus, like comfortable sweats, and books or CDs, or whatever you have. And we've all developed our own packing strategies. My packing strategy is to bring WAY TOO MUCH.

LS: Do you change your vocal preparation routine -- or do you start one?

KM: When I'm getting ready, I start vocalizing more. I tend to vocalize in the shower, that's my thing. I do these "buzz" things, and they kind of make your lips tingle so it's easier with water running.

LS and KM: [laughter]

LS: That's part of your vocalizing? That's interesting!

KM: Yeah, my little personalized vocalizing tip: do it in the shower! [chuckles] People would probably laugh at that, but that's what I do.

KM: I've been really, really lucky. There are so many talented singers in this town, and I've just been lucky. It's hard to believe you can actually make your living just opening your mouth.

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: It's a strange concept. You know, this just sounds really corny, but when you've lost people like I have, and we all have in James' group, the thing that always ties you together and gets you through it is that connection of music. And that's helped me in my own life too. The fact that my father was a composer and that I know his music will live on is a good feeling. To know that it got passed on to me is one of those things that's sort of bigger than all of us. That to me is something to be passed on through generations. It's a healing thing. And working with people like James and Shawn and k.d. has been really powerful. It's been really contagious, and it's helped me a lot in my life to have that light around me, to be as close to it as I can. [Thinks for a moment.] I guess those are my...

LS: Concluding remarks?

LS and KM: [laughter]

KM: Yeah.

LS: Thank you very much!

Special thanks to Alex Magno Breder for his invaluable assistance with information about Brazilian culture.