Stolen from Terra Incognita

Albany Metroland July 5, 1996

Happy Rhodes may be the most prolific recording artist our area has ever produced, but she seldom performs live.

The young veteran singer/songwriter is now recording her 10th album, but her performance Sunday at the Tinker Street Cafe in Woodstock will be her first in the area since 1994.

Rhodes relocated to Woodstock two years ago with partner Kevin Bartlett, who heads the Aural Gratification label that releases her music and his; and her recordings have earned her loyal pockets of fans far from her original Albany home.

Rolling Stone magazine has described her as (new age singer) "Enya by way of (ambient music pioneer) Eno," while the ethereal atmospheres of her music and her four-octave-plus vocal range have also earned comparisons to Kate Bush.

One particular "Happy zone" is Philadelphia, where Rhodes' recordings have topped the pop charts. The song "Feed the Fire" from her 1991 fifth album, Warpaint, was the most requested song of the year on WXPN there. And it was in the City of Brotherly Love that Rhodes introduced her new performing trio recently in four sold-out shows at the Tin Angel.

Rhodes enjoyed these shows so thoroughly that she's now pursuing more live performances. She and her band will perform at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Tinker Street Cafe in Woodstock.

Accompanying Rhodes will be Bartlett playing guitar and keyboards, Quiet City bassist Carl Adami, and singer Kelly Bird.

Ritual Motion will open the show.

Admission is $7. For more information, phone 914-679-2487.

--M.H