During my interviews with the artists who were nominated for the 2010 Texas Music Awards, I looked at the profile of Katherine Dawn who is one of the prolific artists from the Lone Star State.  It was something about Katherine Dawn that made me think that she deserved to be interviewed.

When I visited her webpage and read about how she was a member of the musical group from Texas called “Cypress”, it brought back memories of the time when I was in high school in Venezuela when some classmates from Texas played on their tapes and 45 RPM vinyl records songs from the group “Cypress” of which she belonged to.

I also remembered the time in Venezuela when I visited classmate from Oklahoma. She played the songs from Cypress on a cassette tape. I think [this was 30 years ago or more] that the song “Carousel” was one of the songs in the cassette.

After graduating from high school in Venezuela and going to college in Ohio, her music was also played in a Texas Restaurant in the Ohio Valley. This event was during the “Urban Cowboy” fad of 1980-1981 with people masquerading as cowboys and trying to become “Texans”.

While I was in this restaurant [which was a birthday gift from other college classmates], I heard Cypress in the background. It was unforgettable to hear such a sweet sound during my birthday. Afterwards, everything went in the backburner until the 2010 Texas Music Awards.

I read about Katherine Dawn and her decision to form a musical group called “The Ladybugs” and to compile a 2 CD set of her greatest hits from 1978 to 2002. The album is called “KD 25 in TX”. While I have yet to hear the album, it was a pleasure to hear her music at her website.

I hear “Carousel” and the memories come back as I hear her voice. I often think about the first youth that is never lost except in the mind of the person. The song called “The San Marcos River” makes me think of the place of Texas around that river that must be beautiful and heaven sent. It has made me think of one day going to the Lone Star State with my family.

The interpretation of “Diamonds and Rust” [a Joan Baez classic] by Katherine Dawn is another example of how she is able to give songs a totally new meaning. It has also been an inspiration to the writer when writing articles.

Katherine Dawn has been one of the most consistent and disciplined singers in her more than three decades as a singer. She has also played with Texas groups such as Asleep On The Wheel and Johnny Bush. While she has been a success in the Texas Music scene, she has also been a success off the stage.

She [like the majority of Texas artists] is family oriented and willing to help a fellow person. It is something that is rare in a world where all that is glitter is not gold and many artists [Hollywood, New York, Conglomerate] appear like diamonds on the outside but with nothing on the inside.

Katherine Dawn once declared that she recorded her two CD set “KD 25 In TX” as a gift for her children as a legacy. She has left a legacy of Texas Music that has spanned two centuries and will continue to impress future generations.