Appalachian Festival Capstone Concert Features Kaia Kater
On Sept. 15 at the Frostburg Palace Theatre, special guest Anna and Elizabeth opened the Kaia Kater performance, telling stories by singing several songs. They created scrolls, renamed as “crankies”, to tell their stories. The scrolls were rolled across a wooden machine. The first story was a true story about Miss Lella, a woman in her 80’s who they visited and admired so much. They admired her soul and her music up until she died. 
Charnese Bishop
Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrella.
Anna and Elizabeth then brought out a recording of Margaret singing on a record in 1943 and played along to her tape and continued to sing after it had played. They ended their segment of the show with another scroll and asked the audience to sing with them. The audience joined Anna and Elizabeth singing, “I Don’t Want to Die in the Storm.” The audience was so pleased and satisfied with their various songs. The uniqueness of these amazing ladies will never go unseen.
Kaia Kater, a Canadian banjo player came on stage with vocalist and bass player, Andrew Ryan. Before singing “Harvest and the Plough,” she said she would give the first couple to dance to the song a free CD of her music. Two volunteers went to the front of the stage and started dancing as the song began. She then performed an instrumental tune called “Signs and Wonders” and followed with a cover called “Everything is Free” by Gillian Welch.
Kaia Kater and Andrew Ryan
Kater currently has two albums called Sorrow Bound (2015) and Nine Pin (2016) available. She introduced her song “Saint Elizabeth,” which is on her Nine Pin album. Elizabeth is her grandmother’s name. She continued to tell everyone that her grandparents recently celebrated their 50th anniversary, and then said, “that’s a very long time to be together, I can’t even commit to the same dish soap.” The audience spilled in laughter.
Stringband and Percussive Dance Group joined Kaia Kater to the stage, and the group tap danced as the Stringband played. The crowd was in love.
Stringband and Percussive Dance Group
Kater then sang a unique French tune called “Misère,” which translates to “Misery,” and followed with her song “Meridian Ground,” a tribute to her island Grenada and her family. Kater ended her performance with a cover called “Swim Good”, by one of her favorite artists Frank Ocean.
Her album Nine Pin and Sorrow Bound is out now on Apple Music. Be on the look out for her new album coming out early in 2019.
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