Minnesota Sun Newspapers, Minneapolis, MN
December 20, 2000

Minnetonka resident Katy Tessman releases CD
By Colleen Timmer

Katy Tessman always wanted to be a performer, but it was her tall, nearly 6-foot frame that pushed her toward her solo singing career.

The 31-year-old Minnetonka resident said in high school she performed in plays and musicals as a stage actor but because she was taller than most of her counterparts she got all the "mom" parts, which generally were not the spotlight roles. "I'm a performer at heart," she said. "I'm comfortable being out in front, being the leader."

A few years after graduating from high school, her parents bought her brother a guitar and guitar lessons for Christmas. Tessman said her brother, who wanted to teach himself, refused the lessons, so she went instead.

Soon after she was not only playing the music she loved, like James Taylor and Simon & Garfunkel, she was writing her own songs. Partnering with a friend and fellow musician while at college in Moorhead, Minn., Tessman become the front woman and co-founder of the band Joe's Elevator and played all over the metro area. The band released a CD in April 1997 but shortly after broke up and Tessman pursued a solo career.

Although she said she enjoys singing and playing in a band, being a solo artist allows her a new freedom.

"Within each song, I'm able to think on my feet and just ebb and flow," she said.

Tessman performs in local coffee shops, bookstores and other small venues around the metro area.

The new CD: On Jan. 6, beginning at 7 p.m., Tessman will celebrate the release of her first solo CD "Fall," at the Fine Line Music CafÈ in Minneapolis.

The CD, which she produced with husband and percussionist Dave Stanoch and friend and musician Jay Moran, is an assembly of 11 songs written by Tessman between 1993 and 2000.

The Brooklyn Center native said the collaborative effort has been in the making for the past year and a half. All the songs were recorded in a studio in Madison, Wis., and between travel time and assembling the musicians who play on the CD, the process took a long time. A newcomer to the recording studio, Tessman said after each song she studied the sound to see how she could improve.

"I wanted it to be the best it could be," she said. "I didn't want it to be an amateur product." With more than 20 songs to choose from when making the CD, Tessman said she selected songs that would represent an array of emotions.

"I wanted to have separate moods so there is a peak-and-valley listening experience," she said. In the title song "Fall," Tessman sings of her relationship with Stanoch while a friend suffering from manic depression was the inspiration for the song "Figured Out." She said she drew inspiration for writing several of the songs from Minnesota. "I love this state, I think it's gorgeous," she said.

This energetic, self-described "project-aholic" said she enjoys doing many other things including helping book performance dates for Stanoch's jazz band Triplicate.

Tessman said she enjoys performing simply to entertain and communicate with people.

"I'm a very positive person," she said. She said she hopes when people listen to her music they "feel as good about it as I do. It's all about fun."

Photography by Jon Duder.