On Friday, January 17th, Taps at the Guardhouse presents Judith-Kate Friedman in solo performance from 6-8pm. As a songwriter and folk artist, Friedman celebrates themes of liberation and transformation through song. With graceful fingerstyle guitar accompaniment or a percussive groove, Friedman’s lyrics invite courage and tenderness with the goal of connecting us more deeply with each other and ourselves. Her concerts are intended as celebratory events. Bluesman Guy Davis once remarked: “Judith-Kate Friedman’s voice has all the power of a hurricane delivered in a lullaby.”

As a young songwriter in San Francisco, Judith-Kate Friedman wrote and performed songs in folk clubs and toured internationally with a Vocolot, an a cappella ensemble. To this day, she also works as cantorial soloist. Over thirty years, Friedman created a non-profit, Songwriting Works, which is currently in the process of releasing its first CD consisting of songs collaboratively composed by mostly elders living on the Olympic Peninsula. The organization works “to bring the power, vitality, and fun borne of music-making to elders across the cognitive and health spectrum.”

In the ‘90s, the Ladyslipper Catalog, produced by a North Carolina-based non-profit focused on women’s music, highlighted Friedman’s release at the time by writing: “This is a quintessential folk album, with everything a folk album should have: impassioned vocals, eloquent and poetic songwriting, beautiful melodies, poignant vignettes, political commentary, tender love ballads, sparkling acoustic accompaniment. Judith Kate has been taking her music on the road to women’s and folk audiences for years now… she splashes all the vibrant colors of the rainbow into your mind. Thoughtful, finely crafted, and a pleasure to savor.”