Cathy Bolton uses music to touch the soul
Making connections
Cathy Bolton uses music to touch the soul
| CAPTION: Kelly Fosness/Daily Mining Gazette Local musician Cathy Bolton is seen on the Houghton Waterfront Wednesday. She will be performing at Daniell Park in Laurium Thursday evening. |
BY KELLY FOSNESS, DMG Writer
L’ANSE — Bringing light and inspiration into the lives and hearts of those she meets is a gift Cathy Bolton will never take for granted.
“Music is not about the competition, fame and fortune of it,” she said. “It’s about touching hearts in a different, and special way. I love the big stage, but it’s the intimate rooms where I can look into their eyes, see their tears and feel their chills — that’s what I love.”
On Thursday, Bolton will be performing an outdoor concert at Daniell Park in Laurium at 7 p.m. And because she likes to feel close to her audience, Bolton said rather than setting up on stage, she’s hoping to perform directly on the ground near her fans.
Growing up in Baraga County, Bolton started singing at the young age of 6. As time passed, she learned to play the guitar and by 13, Bolton gave her first public performance.
“By the time I reached junior high, I wondered ‘Where do I go?’” she explained. “‘Do I continue in this path?’”
Inspired by the works of Bob Dylan, and later Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, she went for it.
“They’re making a living at it, so I decided to do it,” she said.
Moving away from her hometown, Bolton landed in Minnesota where she continued her solo career before joining with a local pop/rock band, performing selections from some of her favorites including Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez and Judy Collins among others. Bolton spent a part of her life living in Wisconsin and southern Oregon. She was performing on a local level, occasionally traveling to Nashville to open for recording artists Dan Seals and Toby Keith.
For the past nine years, Bolton has been traveling around the country, Canada and Australia with Neale Donald Walsch, the author of “Conversations with God,” performing prior to his lectures. Bolton said she’s blessed by the souls with whom she’s crossed paths including actor and friend, the late Dennis Weaver, who asked her to write music to accompany his poem “Dream Your Eagle.”
To date, Bolton has released seven easy listening/inspirational albums, with her latest “Angels and Eagles,” coming out last week.
The title track, Bolton said, is a tribute to her late husband Tim, one of the first loves of 30-some years.
“Music is my saving grace,” she said. “It is a gift that moves through me. Everything we do, everything we are, are our gifts from the Creator. I think everything is a gift that we deliver and mine happens to be music.”
Bolton said much of the music she writes includes positive messages about life. She also enjoys performing inspirational covers like “I Believe I Can Fly,” “Angel,” “You Raise Me Up,” and a number of John Denver hits like “I Want to Live,” and “The Wings that Fly Us Home.”
Bolton has been making a living off of her music for the past 14 years. She said one of the reasons she enjoys it more and more each day is because of the people she meets and the hearts she connects with.
“I believe we are all in this life together,” she said. “One of the things I tell my audiences during the show is that ‘I couldn’t do what I came to this lifetime to do if it weren’t for you, and you couldn’t do what you came here to do if it weren’t for me. We connect the circle. For me, my music connects me with people.”
Referring to one of her favorite songs, “The Wind Beneath My Wings,” Bolton said it’s that feeling of “connectedness” that keeps her going.
“Because we are the wind beneath each other’s wings,” she said.
For more information about Cathy Bolton or to purchase her music visit www.cathybolton.com. Her music is also available at Good Times Music in Houghton, the L’Anse Sentinel and during performances.
Kelly Fosness can be reached at kfosness@mininggazette.com
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