Kate Campbell

Location: R.A. Fountain

Our promo for this concert

Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Kate Campbell will perform at Fountain General Store on April 28.

Based out of Nashville, Tennessee, Campbell is touring to promote her 14th CD, 1,000 Pound Machine, which was released April 3. 

Campbell, the daughter of a Mississippi Baptist preacher, has recently been named a winner of the prestigious Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for last year’s recording, “Two Nights in Texas.” The award will be presented on June 9.

She has performed at the Cambridge Folk Festival in England, Merlefest, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and the Port Fairy Folk Festival in Australia. She has also been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Live from Mountain Stage.

Campbell has been releasing what one critic calls “finely crafted singer/songwriter” records since 1995. She writes “crafty melodies that never resolve in the way you’d expect,” and delivers them in an “understated voice” with a “strong Southern accent” that’s been compared to artists as varied as Janis Joplin and Allison Kraus.

Her Fountain show will also feature a question and answer session moderated by Fountain General Store proprietor Alex Albright, who directs ECU’s creative writing program. “Campbell’s lyrics are poetic and literary,” said Albright. “As a writer, she’s drawn comparisons to Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Eudora Welty. I’ve been using a couple of her songs for years in creative writing classes as examples of different story-telling techniques, and she’s been gracious in adding the q&a component to her show.”

Campbell accompanies herself on guitar and piano. At Fountain, she will be performing on the store’s 1906 (recently tuned) Stieff upright piano. “It’s the perfect instrument for her to use for promoting her Thousand Pound Machine record,” said Albright. “That’s what they say these models weigh.” 

Campbell has one other North Carolina date on this tour, April 27 in Durham.

Tags: acoustic Americana, alt country, original, piano