I am always impressed with your ability to tell a story about a song repeatedly and still make it seem fresh and almost spontaneous. With some other artists, the stories begin to sound 'canned' or are repeated verbatim (like an actor having memorized a script -- delightful the first time you see the performance and sometimes less so with repeated versions). You may have some similarities in your delivery but it never seems that rehearsed. How do you do that? How do you decide what stories to tell at a concert? (I especially enjoy your stories about your parents).

Thanks! I guess I try to keep the stories fresh for myself, find something new in them each time I tell them, and discard them when they start to feel stale to me. (That's also my strategy in general in doing shows, to try to keep it interesting for myself by doing different things every night, different song orders, different songs, etc.) I choose what stories to tell by seeing what audiences respond to. Plenty of times I've tried stories out and they've landed with a THUD, so I dumped them right away.

I heard you play in a group called the roommates at the stone church in NH; what were the names of the other two women and are you still in touch with them?

That's amazing! That was a long time ago. Their names were Judy Dunleavy and Jeanne Melchior, and I did run into both of them recently, after many years, and it was great fun reminiscing. We never actually recorded anything together.

I have a Greenwich Village folk festival CD on which you sing "Break A Train" by Cliff Eberhardt. Do you ever sing that anymore?

That's a great song, isn't it? I still do that song occasionally, and may end up putting it on an album one of these days. (As far as I know, Cliff never recorded it, and he couldn't even remember the song as of a couple of years ago, so he was pretty grateful that I did!)

Lucy, your professional career path is both unusual and very interesting. You're obviously extremely gifted intellectually and musically. After devoting so much time and effort to establishing yourself as a psychologist,what motivated you to make the jump into a full time song writing and performing career?

Thanks for the compliments! It's really a long story, but basically I always wanted to be a singer, and had started out as a singer in the early 80's, then decided I didn't want to do it anymore, and went back to school, eventually becoming a psychologist. It was only at that point that I figured out that singing was always my first love and that by leaving music I'd been running away from a bunch of things I was scared of (like fear of success, fear of failure, etc.) It was obvious to me that I needed to pursue music wholeheartedly, but I didn't do it full time for quite a while, because I needed to make a living (as a psychologist). Then, 2 1/2 years ago I gave up psychology completely.

Any thoughts you can share on Tom Intondi? He was one of my favorites, and I was deeply saddened to hear that he had passed away.

I sang with Tom in a group called "The Song Project" in the early 80's, and knew him very well over the years. He was a lovely person with a teriffic voice, and I miss him a lot.

I love your music. I saw you play at Lincoln Center in NY. You were wonderful. I was wondering what some of your favorite books are.

I've got a few all-time favorites, I guess: The Grapes of Wrath, Portnoy's Complaint, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Godfather, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, to name a few.

Hi Lucy. My wife, Lea, and I just saw your concert in Atlanta at Smith's Olde Bar. Lea was celebrating Day 6 of her 40th birthday extravaganaza "40 days and 40 nights of Birthday Bliss." Great concert. The teal t-shirt was also a big hit. First time we've heard you live by yourself. (Cry Cry Cry was too fun.) So here's my question...what was the cheryl wheeler tuning? DADEGB? And how can I get a copy of the lyrics of your dad's pi song for my brother-in-law, the mathematical musician?

The tuning you're referring to, which I use on "This is Mine" is DADEGD, and I did learn it from Cheryl Wheeler.

A lot of people have asked for lyrics to my dad's "Song About Pi". The thing to do is send your email address to me either through my web page or to my mailing list (which is lucy-kaplansky-announce@pobox.com), and I'll forward it to my dad, and he'll write to you to arrange to send the lyrics to you. And let me tell you, he's THRILLED that so many people are interested!

Why is it that most of the folk artists stay on the east coast? Do you draw bigger crowds back there? I saw you in Pasadena awhile back and the crowd loved you. When are you coming back?

I guess there are just so many more venues for this kind of music on the east coast. For instance, there are dozens around Boston alone. And there's alot more radio play, so it's definitely easier to draw crowds. Anyway, I had a blast in Pasadena and I'll probably be back in Southern California sometime in the spring.

Saw you last night in Westmont, NJ, along with David Wilcox and loved you. Thanks for taking those few minutes to sign my program. The littlest things make the biggest difference. I saw your touring schedule (including Cry Cry Cry) and I can't believe all the traveling you have to do. What is the hardest part about it and how do you cope with it when it gets to be too much?

The hardest part, by far, is being away from my husband. But the truth is I've always enjoyed traveling, since I was a little kid, so I guess in that way I'm pretty well suited to this career. And I try to make the most out of the time I have at home.

The version you did of Julie Miller's "By Way Of Sorrow" was my favourite track from Cry Cry Cry. Any chance of a duet with her in the future ?

I love that song so much, and I love her singing, and I'd love to do a duet with Julie sometime. In fact, that's a great idea for my next album!

When you first started playing, how did you go about building your audience?

A lot of the audience I had at first was the result of people hearing my first album, The Tide, on the radio, so getting my album on the radio was key, and I was lucky because my record company did a great job getting it to radio stations. I also got a fair amount of press around that album, partly because of my unusual background (being a psychologist and all), and that helped a lot. Other than that, it was just making a few new fans at every gig, and doing as many gigs as I could.

We are wondering, partly from the lyrics [of the song "Scorpion"], are you a Scorpio?

I'm asked that question a lot. No, I'm an Aquarius. And the scorpion in the song is actually the little creature that lives in the desert that spends most of its life in the dark (strange metaphor to use in a love song, I know).

Will you be doing a followup recording to Cry Cry Cry?

Honestly, I don't think anyone knows for sure whether we'll do another album. At this point we don't have any plans to do one.

Have you ever been "stuck" in your writing for an extended amount of time. If so - what did you do get back to it?

The way I get stuck (and it happens all the time) is I can't get myself to write at all. I get scared that I won't come up with anything good and I start avoiding it. The solution is always the same: I remind myself that I'll definitely never write anything good if I don't write at all, and that the worst that happens is I'll write a bad song. And then I make myself sit down and just start. And usually I'll keep going and end up with something. The trick for me is also to have faith that what I'm working on, even if it seems stupid or just doesn't seem to be going anywhere, will turn into something good if I keep at it.

My question is to do with "Still Life." I see a story, a powerful and beautiful story in that song. I wonder what inspired it, and if you have any plans to develop that into a short story, play, film or otherwise? I also wonder if you would ever compose music for a show?

Thanks for the compliments! My husband, Rick Litvin, and I wrote the song, and it was inspired by something our then 6 year old nephew said: his parents were divorced and he was looking out the window of an office building in Philadelphia, overlooking City Hall, which is an old, beautiful building with statues of people around the top. And he said: "I wish my family could all be together on my roof." That formed the beginning of the song. The rest is kind of a composite of different people we know. We don't have any plans to turn it into anything else. I'd certainly be interested in the idea of composing something for a show, but I've never done it before.

What has it been like for you to work with Nanci Griffith and in what way has she been an influence to you?

Singing with Nanci has been one of the most fun and rewarding musical experiences of my life. She's an incredibly great singer, and our voices just blend so well together. Plus, of course, I love her songs. Certainly one of the ways she's influenced me is that she's been an important role model for me: she's never compromised with her music, she's always made the music she wanted to make without worrying about commercial viability. I'm not sure you can say that about very many really successful musicians these days.

Have you toured before with Ellis Paul? What other performers have you most enjoyed sharing the stage with?

I've done a few gigs with Ellis, and it's been a blast. I think he's great. A couple of times we did an impromptu version of Shawn Colvin's "I Don't Know Why" as an encore, which really seemed to work well. I've had a wonderful time sharing the stage with a bunch of different musicians: John Gorka, Cliff Eberhardt, Jennifer Kimball, Richard Shindell, Greg Brown, to name a few. We've always sung together on something and it's been uniformly wonderful.

When is Dad going to open for Lucy?

It's amazing how many fans my dad has! No plans to have him open for me, but I'd love to drag him on the road with me some more so he could sit in with me. People certainly go nuts when he plays with me, and it would be an understatement to say that he enjoys it too!

What type of guitar are you using on the road nowadays?

I've been playing the same guitar since 1978, a Martin 00-18 that I think was made in 1974 or 1975.

I am 13 years old, and I was wondering, if I were to buy one of your albums, which would you recomend?

Thanks for your interest! Well, my personal favorite is my newest, Ten Year Night, which will be in stores on March 23. If you can't wait till then, my 2nd favorite is Flesh and Bone.

Who can we write to support [you] in getting to the Lilith Fair?

God only knows. I'll try to find out, but it probably couldn't hurt to write to Sarah MacLaughlan. Thanks for having the idea!

Have you ever sung with Robert Earl Keen anywhere? We really like the version of "Shades of Grey" on the Cry Cry Cry album and he's one of our favorite performers and a nice guy as well.

I'm sorry to say I've never sung with Robert Earl Keen or even met the guy. I think he's great and I hope I do get to meet him sometime.

The Cry Cry Cry tour bus sounds like a ball. What do you all do to relax while you travel? What movies and tv shows do you watch? Even more importantly, what music do you all listen to?

Well, I'll have a lot more to say about this when we've spent some real time on the bus, but so far we listened to Julie Miller, Steve Earle, and I can't remember what else. We watched one movie, the name of which escapes me: the one where Billy Crystal goes out west with Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby to be a rancher. And I must say it was incredibly funny (much funnier than I remember it being in a non-bus setting - I wonder if the bus increased its funniness. Who knows?) Anyway, ask me again in a month and I'll have a lot more to tell you!

Could and would you tell me specifically what degrees you have, in what, and where you got them from? Furthermore, would you provide any other information on your training in psychology?

I have a doctorate (specifically, a Doctor of Psychology, otherwise known as a Psy.D.) from Yeshiva University in New York City. I finished my degree in 1992, and practiced until January 1997 when I had to quit because I was too busy with music. Also, my undergrad. major was psychology.

What is the one album that you would own, if you could only own ONE?

That's an incredibly tough question, because there's so many, but I'd have to say Steve Earle's Guitar Town which I haven't been able to stop listening to for over a year. I just love everything about it - the songs, the production, his singing. It's also great for driving! There are lots of other albums I've been obsessed with in my life (eg, Blue by Joni Mitchell, The Roches' first album, Shoot Out the Lights by Richard and Linda Thompson, Grevious Angel by Gram Parsons) but I eventually got tired of them (after listening about a million times).

Would you ever tour with John Gorka again?

One of the best experiences in my life has been singing with John, on records and at gigs. I'd love to do gigs with him anytime, and in fact I think we'll be doing a couple in California in June (although I don't know if they're confirmed). There are no specific plans other than that to tour together, but anything's possible.

Who was your greatest influence growing up that inspired you to become a wonderful performer you are today?

Thanks for the compliment! Probably my most important musical influence (although I've never seen her live) was Joni Mitchell. My brother played me Blue when I was 14 and that changed my life - I wanted to sing like her, write like her, and play like her, and I certainly tried! I was also influenced alot by Mary McCaslin, who I first heard, and saw, when I was 17. I'd never heard anyone sing like her, sort of twangy, sort of folky, and she did the coolest, most inventive covers, like an incredible version of The Beatles' Things We Said Today. That may be where I got part of the idea to try to do other people's songs in a new way.

In what ways, if any, has your training in psychiatry given you unique perspectives into songwriting or interpreting the songs of others?

I think my psychological training has helped me be a more insightful person in general, about myself and how I function, about other people and how they function, about the human condition. I don't know if any of this has given me a particularly unique perspective, but it's certainly given me a more knowledgeable, sophisticated stance than I used to have when it comes to songwriting and singing in general. So I think about things I didn't used to think about, and I can tap into feelings I didn't understand before.

What kind of pickup do you have in your Martin?

I use a Fishman Blender system, which is a combination of a Crown microphone in the soundhole, and a Fishman pickup under the saddle. The blender (which I clip to my mike stand) serves as a mixer for the two. I love this system and highly recommend it - it gives a very natural sound and is incredibly easy to use. And it sounds good even when the sound system is bad.

Do you still stay in touch with Shawn Colvin?

I haven't been in touch with Shawn for a while, but I'm still a huge fan of hers.

My girlfriend is a geometry and calculus teacher here in Houston and we'd love to know if there is a recording of your Dad's pi song available.

Lots of people are interested in my dad's songs. I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to send the sheet music for any song anyone's interested in. Right now there aren't any recordings of his songs, but I may be able to put something together from tapes of my shows when I have a little free time (which won't be for a while). If anyone would like sheet music, please let me know and I'll put you in touch with my dad.