Web Exclusives

Sheila E. Gets Funky!

Sheila E. and her band perform “Samba Funk” in this web-exclusive clip from her live show at The Kate!

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Rosanne Cash: “When The Master Calls The Roll”

Rosanne Cash shares the story behind “When The Master Calls The Roll” from her Grammy-winning album, The River & The Thread.

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Mary Lambert performs “Sarasvati”

Check out the full version of Mary Lambert performing “Sarasvati” from her 2013 album Welcome to the Age of My Body on The Kate!

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A CPTV Original series, The Kate presents bold performers with something to say.

By way of delicate beauty or razor-sharp wit, these artists captivate audiences with a revelatory charisma and irresistible charm akin to the feisty spirit of our muse, Katharine Hepburn.

Season 5 is airing NOW on PBS stations nationwide!

Check local listings for broadcast dates and times.

The Artists

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Photo Credit: Nick Sonsini

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe

“I just want to be remembered as quality. That’s my main goal, that you can still listen to the music and that it still makes sense, that it will be timeless.”

Photo Credit: Nick Sonsini

Kandace Springs

“I love the realness of jazz and soul. It’s timeless music and that’s what I want to bring to the world.”

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Joseph

“You’re not completely sure of how to get where you need to go, and you don’t have any kind of a map to help you. It’s just the universe looking down on you like, ‘Good luck, kid.’” -Natalie Schepman

Photo: Nick Sonsini

The Wood Brothers

“That is what music is for: to connect the disconnected parts of us, with each other and ourselves. I want to write something somewhat universal that connects people. Even if it is a dark and scary thing, if everyone can relate to it in their own way, then we have connected.” -Oliver Wood

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Marty Stuart

“The truth of country music, the real stuff, will prevail ….. generation after generation.”

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Delbert McClinton

“I feel so very lucky because I’ve been able to spend my life doing what I wanted to do, and I think, to get better at it. That keeps me standing pretty tall because I didn’t cheat, I didn’t lie, I did the best I could and it paid off.”

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Sheila E.

“I started all this as Sheila Escovedo, then became this persona named Sheila E. Now Sheila E. and Sheila Escovedo are the same person, still making music that comes from the heart.”

Photo: Nick Sonsini/Sonsini Media

JJ Grey & Mofro

“The best songs I’ve ever wrote, I never wrote. They wrote themselves. The best show I ever played, played itself and had little to do with me or talent.”

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Owen & Moley Ó Súilleabháin

“The beauty and ferocity of your questioning is the measure of the world that awaits you.” -Owen Ó Súilleabháin

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Gina Chavez

“If Americana really means music of the Americas, then that would be my music – the idea that it incorporates all of the Americas, so it’s in English and Spanish, and we use instruments from all over the entire continent.”

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Marc Cohn and Blind Boys of Alabama

“What’s the story? Where’s the poetry in this? To me, that’s always the motivating factor in songwriting.” – Marc Cohn
“We sing from the heart, and what comes from the heart reaches the heart.” – Jimmy Carter, Blind Boys of Alabama

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Desmond Child

“More than talent and ambition, the thing that really makes a difference is having curiosity. Wanting to learn and see what happens next, and then everything follows that.”

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John Oates

Americana Music is about all sorts of different music. It’s very free and open: a world where people just like authentic music.

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Black Violin

“You know, hip-hop and classical, in a lot of ways, are both party music for different eras.” -Kev Marcus

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Jimmy Webb and Ashley Campbell

Jimmy Webb with Special Guest Ashley Campbell

“You reach a certain point in your life where the things you do and say do make a difference.”

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Marc Broussard

“Performing is where it is for me. I love getting on the stage, I love putting smiles on people’s faces. I feed off of it.”

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Jarrod Spector and Kelli Barrett

“If it’s not deeply personal, it’s just a lounge act.” – Jarrod

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Nancy And Beth

“We are taking that idea of that old-fashioned entertainment that was so popular back in the day with musicals [like] Singin’ in the Rain, and we’re bringing it to this band with just a little bit more modern sensibility, and there’s kind of a wink involved.” – Megan Mullally

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Jane Lynch

“‘See Jane Sing’ is one of the most joyous experiences of my career. I love everything about theater and performing in front of a live audience is so rewarding.”

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Darlene Love

“I get such joy out of performing for people, and you can tell whether they like you or they don’t like you the minute you walk out on the stage.”

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Kiefer Sutherland

“I love to tell a story. The stories are actually mine and very personal.”

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Mary Lambert

“I hope people learn the power of vulnerability through my songs. I think vulnerability can save the world. Empathy helps people connect with each other.”

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Maurice Hines

“Theater is the ultimate. The one thing we think about is pleasing the audience and they give it right back, and when they do its heaven.”

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Rosanne Cash

“You combine the personal and the mythical and if you don’t come up with a song then you’re not paying attention.”

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Ana Gasteyer

The patter is real, the themes adult; the lyrics are timeless, and the music swings like crazy!

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Rickie Lee Jones

“No beret, no boyfriends, no badass bravado. I am who I am, the age I am. But what I have is music; that is what I am offering.”

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Jarrod Spector

Jarrod’s story is told with humor, tender moments and great singing.

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The Ann Wilson Thing

“I love the blues. The Ann Wilson Thing gives me an opportunity to rock the blues up close and personal.”

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Barb Jungr

“A fearless iconoclast who dives into the deepest waters of popular song to wrest exotic treasure from the ocean floor…” — New York Times

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Rita Wilson

“I would watch these artists on stage and ache from wondering, ‘How can I get up there? How can I get to do that?'”