Katherine Bloom is an American

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology * Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or ...

songwriter based in

Litchfield, Connecticut Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorp ...

Biography

The daughter of oboist Robert Bloom,Allmusic
/ref> Bloom grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, where she studied the cello as a child and started playing the guitar when she was a teenager. Bloom collaborated with Bruce Neumann in the early 1970s, and started to record music with avant-garde guitarist

Loren MazzaCane Connors Loren Mazzacane Connors (born October 22, 1949) is an American guitarist who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors. His music has touched on many genres ...

in 1976. Bloom and Connors recorded multiple albums of fragile, simple folk and blues melodies, the majority of which were written by Bloom. She cites

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...

and

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list o ...

as inspiration in this period. Their collaboration ended in 1984 with the release of their final album ''Moonlight'', of which only 300 copies were pressed. Bloom stopped recording new material soon after her collaboration with Connors ended, and a period of financial hardship followed. A single mother, Bloom focused on raising her children, rarely playing shows outside of New Haven. She began writing songs and recording again in the early 1990s. According to a 2016 interview, Bloom first started touring in 2009, and she enjoys performing now more than she did earlier in her career. Film director

Richard Linklater Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies ' ...

discovered Bloom's music sometime in the early 1990s and featured her song "Come Here" in his 1995 film ''

Before Sunrise ''Before Sunrise'' is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The first installment in the ''Before'' trilogy, it follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) as they meet ...

''. Encouraged by Linklater's interest in her music, Bloom started writing new songs and released her first album in over 10 years, titled ''Come Here: The Florida Years'', in 1999. A tribute album titled ''Loving Takes This Course'' was released in 2009 and features artists such as Devendra Banhart, Bill Callahan, Mark Kozelek,

The Dodos The Dodos are an American indie rock band consisting of Meric Long and Logan Kroeber. History The Dodos began playing music together in 2005, when musician Meric Long, who had been gigging steadily in San Francisco as a solo singer-songwriter, ...

, and

Scout Niblett Emma Louise Niblett (born 29 September 1973), better known by the stage name Scout Niblett, is an English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Niblett debuted in 2001 with her first full-length studio album '' Sweet Heart Fever'', and ...

. Presently Bloom trains donkeys and plays with her band Love at Work, which includes longtime collaborator Tom Hanford and husband Stan Bronski, offering a musical programs for children and adults as well as playing solo shows in the Northeastern U.S. Bloom has been working with children since 1989. She lives in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Discography

; With Loren Mazzacane * ''Gifts'' LP, Daggett Records, 1978 * ''Fields'' LP, Daggett Records, 1978 * ''Hanford, Bloom And Mazzacane'' LP (with Tom Hanford), Daggett Records, 1981 * ''Listen to the Blues'' 7" EP (with Tom Hanford), Daggett Records, 1981 * ''Pushin' Up Daisies'' 7" EP, Daggett Records, 1982 * Round His Shoulders Gonna Be A Rainbow'' LP, Daggett Records, 1982 * ''Sing the Children Over'' LP, Ambiguous Records, 1982 * ''Guitar Pieces'' cassette, Daggett Records, 1983 * ''Sand in My Shoe'' LP, St. Joan Records, 1983 * ''Restless Faithful Desperate'' LP, St. Joan Records, 1984 * ''Moonlight'' LP, St. Joan Records, 1984 ; Solo * ''Come Here: The Florida Years'' CD, self-released, 1999 * ''Terror'' CD,

Chapter Music Chapter Music is one of Australia's longest-running independent record labels. Chapter Music has worked with a broad range of mostly Australian artists, in genres such as rock and roll, indie pop, post punk, country and western and folk. Between ...

, 2008 * ''Thin Thin Line'' CD,

Caldo Verde ''Caldo verde'' (, Portuguese for "green broth") is a popular soup in Portuguese cuisine. The basic traditional ingredients for ''caldo verde'' are finely shredded Portuguese cabbage or ''couve-galega'' (essentially a type of collard green), ...

, 2010 * ''It's Just a Dream'' CD, self-released reissue, 1996, 2011 * ''Here I Am'' CD,

, 2012 * ''Somewhere in California'' CD, Vow Records, 2014 * ''Pass Through Here'' CD,

, 2015 * ''This Dream of Life'' CD,

, 2017 * ''Bye Bye These Are The Days'' LP Dear Life Records, 2020 ; Compilations * ''1981-1984'' CD, Megalon Records, 2000 * ''Finally'' CD,

, 2006 * ''Sing the Children Over / Sand in My Shoe'' 2-CD,

, 2008 * ''Restless Faithful Desperate / Moonlight'' 2-CD,

, 2009 ; Tribute albums * ''Loving Takes This Course'' 2-CD,

, 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloom, Kath American women singer-songwriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Litchfield, Connecticut American folk musicians Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Musicians from New Haven, Connecticut 21st-century American women Singer-songwriters from Connecticut