String guru Katie Glassman expands her voice

(This story was updated May 29 to update the concert location and contact information.)

By Quentin Young

How did it take so long for Katie Glassman to be a singer?

Judging from her latest album, you’d think singing has always been her thing. But she has built her reputation on her violin and fiddle playing. Dream A Little Dream, which Glassman released in March, showcases her trifold talents. There’s the fiddle, of course. But singing and songwriting, too. Go to the second track, “Good Times Gone By,” for a demo of the full Glassman. It contains one of the most idiosyncratic vocal performances of the album, and it’s one the catchiest songs.

Glassman recorded the album with her band, Snapshot, and the four-piece plans a CD release show in Longmont at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 30.  The show is a house concert, and audience members will receive the address upon purchasing their tickets. “It’s like a rural speakeasy,” Glassman said.

Glassman’s Longmont performance will kick off her summer concert schedule.

She will play Avogadro’s Number (970-493-5555), 605 S. Mason St. in Fort Collins, on July 6 and A Midsummer Day’s Dream Strings Camp at Flatirons Strings Academy (303-908-2493), 3745 Martin Drive in Boulder, on July 7.

Glassman has been invited to perform at an upcoming TED Talk in Denver, and she said her band might try out some of its planned TED material at the Longmont show.

“Dream A Little Dream” is an expression of Glassman’s lifelong affection for western swing music. You don’t hear this kind of music played live in Colorado very often, and Glassman is a trustworthy interpreter of the genre, a danceable, jazz-infused form of country. Her reverence for its tradition, which goes back to the 1920s, is apparent throughout the release, even as Glassman pulls it in a modern direction.

She released her first album, “Snapshot,” in 2012. The recording features 16 guest musicians, which allowed Glassman to get a feel for potential members of her eventual band. The group she assembled after the recording features Eric Moon on piano and accordion, Greg Schochet on guitar and Charlie Mertens on bass.

“I love my band,” Glassman said. “They’re my dream band.”

She and Mertens have known each other since they were classmates at the Denver School of the Arts. Schochet was a member of Runaway Truck Ramp in the 1990s, and today audiences know him better as a member of the Hi-Beams, Halden Wofford’s honky tonk band. Moon is the official organist of the Colorado Avalanche, and he performs with Rob Drabkin, Ron Miles and other popular Colorado musicians.

“He’s one of the most tasteful and wise musicians I’ve ever played with,” Glassman said of Moon.

Glassman has been collecting accolades for her violin and fiddle playing since at least 1998, when she won a National Junior Fiddle Championship.

“It basically took over my life from when I was 9 years old,” Glassman said. She was drawn to Texas-style fiddle and western swing from an early age.

It wasn’t until an arm injury a decade later, when she thought her performing career might be over, that she developed her other musical talents. With encouragement from Lyons bass player Eric Thorin, she focussed on her singing and songwriting. Her arm healed, and she invoked her expanded skills for “Snapshot.”

In 2004, she graduated with a degree in music performance from the University of Colorado-Boulder and became the first violinist to earn a certificate in jazz studies. Last year, she won the prestigious RockyGrass fiddle competition.

Contact Quentin Young at qyoung@times-call.com or 303-684-5319.