Acclaimed singer-songwriters Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell team up at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts

Acclaimed singer-songwriters Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell team up at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts

Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell, two of the most revered singer-songwriters on the modern music scene, will share the stage at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m.

Dubbed the "troubadour laureate of modern city folk" by The Boston Globe , Kaplansky has been perfecting her unique blend of rock, folk, country and pop since she started singing in Chicago clubs while in high school. She was preparing to leave for college in 1978, but decided instead to move to New York City to try her luck in the Greenwich Village folk scene. She was quickly embraced into the folk scene and, when she wasn't waitressing or bartending to pay the bills, she was performing in various duos and groups, most notably with fellow singer Shawn Colvin.

Image: Lucy Kaplansky Though she and Colvin were offered a recording contract, Kaplansky, who had found time to attain a psychology degree from New York University, decided to continue her studies, eventually receiving a Psy.D. from Yeshiva University and starting her own practice. Still, she kept one hand in music, singing back-up on albums by Colvin, Nanci Griffith and John Gorka. She and Suzanne Vega sang together on the "Pretty in Pink" film soundtrack and she lent her voice to several commercial campaigns including Chevrolet's "The Heartbeat of America."

With Colvin's urging and producing prowess, Kaplansky released her first album, "The Tide," and it kicked off a whirlwind tour and a slew of rave reviews. Soon she had to close her private psychology practice in favor of her new career. Her second album, 1996's "Flesh and Bone," received steady radio play and, a year later, she, Shindell and Dar Williams formed Cry Cry Cry, a folk group so popular that an initial six-week tour blossomed into more than a year of sold out shows across the country. Three more albums have followed, including "Ten Year Night" and "Every Single Day," which won back-to-back Best Pop Album honors from the Association for Independent Music.

In addition to collaborating with Kaplansky, Shindell has a long history of writing and recording solo efforts that showcase his meticulous craftsmanship and memorable voice. An expatriate New Yorker now living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Shindell has, like Kaplansky, been making music since he was in high school.

During college, he teamed with Gorka in the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band, and, after a stint living in a Zen Buddhist monastery, he headed to Europe, ending up the proverbial struggling musician playing for coins in Paris Metro stations.

Returning to New York, Shindell took a hiatus from music and enrolled in Union Theological Seminary with sights on the priesthood.

"I thought I would be a pastoral psychotherapist, someone who practices psychology in the context of the church," he said.

Image: Richard Shindell But between classes, Shindell was still writing, finishing what he calls his first "keeper song," an ode to the Virgin Mary composed on mountain dulcimer and called "On a Sea of Fleur de Lis." Other songs followed and he realized songwriting, not the priesthood, was his calling.

Shindell released his first album, "Sparrow's Point," in 1992 and several more have followed, including "Reunion Hill," which won AFIM's Best Contemporary Folk Album." Shindell has toured relentlessly and with some of folk's greatest musicians, including Joan Baez, who invited him on a 1997 tour.

Critics have long appreciated Shindell's style and talent. "(He is) a master builder of songs," wrote a reviewer for The Boston Globe, "always leading listeners toward the emotional essence of the moment or character he is evoking."

Tickets are $35 and $30. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-ARTS-396. For more information, visit www.quickcenter.com.

Posted On: 10-20-2005 10:10 AM

Volume: 38 Number: 79