How do you describe yourself and your music, and where would people go to find out what your doing?

Of course this answer changes every day… but I’m really an acoustic guitar player, singer, songwriter. And you can go to www.CatieCurtis.com for the current details.

Are playing guitar and songwriting ONE to you, or do you see them as separate disciplines?

To me they are very intertwined. I hardly ever write a song without a guitar. I do songs on piano, but most of my songs are on guitar - and I never write songs w/out an instrument, or just sing a melody to myself - I just don’t do that. The guitar sets the tone. Whatever I’m playing on guitar will lead me to a certain vibe, a certain kind of sonic character and personality, and that will lead me to the lyrics and melody.

How often do you write new music? Describe your process…

I tend to go in seasons. I want to be always writing, but my writing isn’t very fruitful if I’ve just finished a record, or returned from touring a brand new record. I’m touring a new record right now, and that’s why I’ve started playing the mandolin. In order to move on past a current record, I need to step into a new direction.

So tell me about the new record…

The new record is called “Dreaming in Romance Languages” [Vanguard Records]. The core of the arrangements are two acoustic guitars played by myself and Kevin Barry, a great guitar player who’s toured with Mary Chapin Carpenter and many others. He arranged the second guitar parts, the real interesting guitar parts [laughs], that work with my rhythm playing. And there’s also organ, drums and bass, too.

Recently I’ve had to go back and learn what Kevin played for his guitar part so when I go out solo I can capture the vibe of the whole tune. It’s nice, because he has that gift of being able to write really interesting acoustic riffs. The last tour I played with just a keyboard player as a duo, I had to comp the two guitar parts that are on the record. So I basically sit down with my own record and learn to play them live. It’s called stealing from your studio musicians! [laughs]

Counter point on guitar is an art, and often two guitars get in each others way. Parts that work together require some effort…

Yeah, yeah… You have to find something that compliments the melody. I have a good sense of rhythm, but I don’t have a great sense of writing riffs. It’s been fun to be able to perform Kevin’s counter point riffs.

What guitar are you playing these days?

I have been playing a Larrivee mahogany dreadnaught for the last year and a half, and it has Elixir® Strings on it, of course.

How did you discover Elixir® Strings?

At the Telluride Bluegrass Festival right when they came out (1997?). I just love them! Before Elixir®Strings my mandolin player would pick up my guitar to jam on it and he had what he calls “toxic sweat”. He would pick up my guitar, play it and the strings would be dead. Then I started using Elixir®Strings and I said “go ahead Jimmy, play my guitar - you can’t kill these strings!”

How old were you when you learned to play?

I was 15, and I thought I was too late at that point [laughs]. There was a guitar in my house growing up but it was completely unplayable. It was like an old Sears guitar with rusted strings and action so high you couldn’t possible push them down. No guitar picks or anything, but it was something my parents had sitting around. Something about seeing it, and I wanted to make it play. I think it instilled a longing to learn guitar. Then when I got one I was so excited - it was playable! I really took to it when I was 15. Even then I didn’t take lessons at first. I had a couple friends that played, and we taught each other a couple chords and learned songs off of records.

If you were to encourage a new player, what would you say?

Try to make room in your life to play your instrument on a regular basis. Keep your guitar out where you can reach it, keep it on a peg on your wall so you will see it and play it. If you have kids, play for your kids. Just try to play daily if possible. It doesn’t have to be for hours and hours, even playing it 15 minutes to a half hour every day will help you get better quickly. Then work on learning songs by playing along with records… that was how I eventually learned to play guitar.

Any amazing or amusing performance stories?

When I worked with John Jennings on the Acoustic Valentine record he used a Martin Backpacker travel guitar to play lead on a bunch of things and it sounded so great! I had one and sold it… its so hard to play because it slides under ya, and I just eventually got tired of it and sold it. But doing that record I realized it’s a great guitar for overdubbing. It’s really punchy … it really stands out in the mix. A very cool instrument to have. And then there’s the last string-breaking experience I had. It turned out to be a really great performance because I was playing a duo with Julie who’s a keyboard player, and all through the tour I was meaning to give her a chance to play something of her own. But people would be requesting songs and I just often did not give here a chance to play. We were playing a gig in Milwaukee and I broke a string. I sat down on the drum riser on the stage and asked her to play something while I changed the string. While she played a song, the people were really engaged with watching her sing and me change a string. A lot of people came up after and said “I’ve never actually seen anyone change a guitar string on stage, usually they go in the background and do it”. I think it’s a big mystery how a guitar string goes on a guitar… it was a very down home moment … just honestly showing how I have to change my own guitars strings and im going to do it in front of all you …

What’s next for you?

Well, there is some change in my life. We adopted a baby this year and we’re going to try to adopt another. I’m still the primary bread earner in our family, so I’m trying to achieve that balance of work and family. But I’m the luckiest person on earth to be a mom and continue touring, which I never thought I’d get away with. So I’m very psyched about getting to continue playing. I’m just back from a month-long tour, and next month I’m going to do a 2 1/2 week run. I’m generally good for going out for 2 or 3 days and then be home for a couple of weeks. In the mean time I’ll continue to write some stuff on the mandolin, practice it more, and then start performing on it soon.