Kathrin Shorr & Tim Burlingame of Sweet Talk Radio

UPDATE 7/29/10: Here is the link to the March interview on KRUU with Tim and Kate.  You can stream it there or download and listen at your leisure.

Last August, I was at a cool but noisy bar in Lyons Colorado, with billiards in the back, a stage set with an array of acoustic instruments in front.  A tall blond man and a slender brunette woman stepped up and somewhat unassumingly started to play, without fanfare or announcements.  As they slowly built volume and momentum, the people in the bar one by one stopped talking and turned toward the music.  By the time the duo was blending harmonies in the first chorus of the song, they had the room in the palm of their hand.

Sweet Talk Radio is the husband and wife team of Kathrin Shorr and Tim Burlingame.  With a sound that has been described as alt-folk or americana-pop, the seasoned musicians have that magic chemistry of two people who have each others backs, and are passionate about making music.  As they seamlessly traded lead vocals, guitar riffs and even instruments, they always gave the songs room to breathe.  The metaphors and imagery in the lyrics tumbled over my ears, painting characters and whole relationships with just a few well chosen words.

But Sweet Talk Radio is from LA, and I’m from Iowa, so what were we both doing in Colorado?  Oh, just that little thing called Rocky Mountain Song School that I’ve been going to the past couple years and seem to end up talking about quite a bit on this blog!  Tim and Kathrin were instructors in performance, and after that show I knew I had to take their class because they were so calm, solid and grounded underneath all the fun they were having on stage.

It ended up that I missed the first part of their class because I was in a mentoring session, but I got some invaluable insights out of the part that I did get to attend.  And it was amazing watching the other students blossom under Kathrin and Tim’s instruction.  For example, I never would have imagined that Sue Krehbiel was not a highly experienced performer based on her time at the front of the class.

So yeah, Sweet Talk Radio = great songs, great performers.  Here are a couple of videos so you can see what I’m talking about!

Breaking My Own Heart:

Writing in Pen:

If you’re reading this elsewhere, you may need to come to the actual blog to see the videos

Back home, I had their album “My Hallelujah” on repeat for probably a full month.  I was completely sold before I even heard that they’ve had songs featured in numerous television series and commercials, or that they’ve shared the stage with the likes of Shawn Colvin, The Weepies, Glen Phillips, Kelly Jo Phelps, and Kenny Loggins.

So yes, I’m very excited that Fairfield will get the chance to see them live at Cafe Paradiso, Saturday, March 20th at 8pm.  Des Moines singer-songwriter (and previous Lyrical Venus favorite!) Mary McAdams opens. $10 at the door.

Check out their website: http://sweettalkradio.com -from there you’ll find links to all their other social sites!

And of course, all Lyrical Venus Radio listeners from everywhere can get to know Sweet Talk Radio if  they tune in to KRUU-LP 100.1 FM or kruufm.com this Tuesday, March 15th from 9-10am Central!  Interview at 9:30am.

Filed under: female vocalists, folk, interview, Lyrical Venus Radio, music, musicians, new album, new release, singer-songwriter, Song School, video