Kate McGarrigle died Monday. It felt like losing someone in the family.
My first exposure to the McGarrigle Sisters came from an old lp, Dancer With Bruised Knees. I was smitten. The McGarrigle's never released a disk I didn't immediately buy.
They seldom went on the road, but several years ago, the whole lot of them played at the Birchmere and I was on the front row. Kate and Anna were there along with Kate's children, Rufus and Martha and Anna's daughter, Lily Lanken. It was like sitting in big warm living room with friends, talented friends. They sang and joked and told stories; the evening was memorable.
Her sisters Anna and Jane were with her at the end. Rufus Wainwright said of them, “They were brought up in a very close-knit and somewhat old-fashioned way, a nice ‘Waltons’ way, and so they could never be too far away from each other.”
Kate McGarrigle -- New York Times Obituary.
Cover Lay Down has a lovely tribute to Kate featuring the thing she loved best, her family singing.
