Mae Robertson

IN WHITE LIGHT

In 2005, my friend Cathy Friedman invited me to perform a benefit concert celebrating mothers and daughters to raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama. This cause was close to my heart for several reasons: my friend, Rachel Bissex, who wrote this album's title song, had recently died of breast cancer; Penny Nichols, who sings most of the harmonies and Irene Young, who took all of the photos, had both recently been diagnosed (I'm happy to report that both are now cancer free); and my mother-in-law, Jennie Robertson, was a longtime breast cancer survivor. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to lend my voice to the cause.

The first concert was held in 2005 at The Virginia Samford Theatre, which was named for my mother, and my daughter Cally joined me on the stage that evening. For me, it was literally a celebration of mothers and daughters. This recording is a joyful extension of these concerts, which have become a continuing tradition.

In White Light includes 8 songs that have never been released – 4 of these are sung by me and 4 are sung by Cally. The other 12 songs were released on previous albums I recorded. I want to give special thanks to Cally for lending her beautiful voice to this project. Her contribution is immeasurable.

If you click to the music page, you can hear samples of all of the songs.

Although Mae Robertson's voice is not everything on Meet the Sun Halfway, it is the main thing, and the strange thing is that it is not what she does with it but what she does not which sets her apart. She does not, for instance, step beyond her comfort zone nor does she participate in vocal octave Olympics. She bypasses the trills and vibratos and tricks of the vocal trade for the honest and true, the voice as pure instrument, and the end result is, to be honest, brilliant. In letting her voice speak for her, she allows the music to take center stage and without the ego and the drama prevalent in so many singers of today, she carries you away without a struggle.   (Read entire review in Press Info Section)

I saved this part for last because, as hard as I try, I cannot seem to separate Mae Robertson from Karen Carpenter, for though their voices and spirits are far enough apart to avoid comparisons, they are also far enough together. Sometimes when I hear Robertson's phrasing, at times so delicate it is transparent, I hear Karen Carpenter—not the voice, but the way she could take a song like Klaatu's Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft and while being true to the original, turn it into a Carpenters song. Mae Robertson does that, perhaps because her interpretation of her music shares with Karen's a certain purity of spirit all too rare in today's digitized and compartmentalized Internet-driven world.

In the end, it comes down to this. When Mae Robertson sings, it is meditation for the soul. Her voice almost breathes you to a different world in which beauty and light and good make everything right. I think we could all use a little more of that and Meet the Sun Halfway delivers. And then some.

last updated Friday, September 25th, 2009 @ 6:04 PM