Her father, Don West, was likely a big influence on her as she grew up. He had been a southern poet and a coal mine labor organizer.
This is episode 17 of Caffe Lena: 60 Years of Song. Thank you to Sarah at the Caffe for compiling the list of artists and songs for this feature.
Her family's politics were a lifelong influence. Hedy West wrote liner notes for 1967's Old Times and Hard Times, from self-imposed exile in London. They were a personal statement on the corrosive effect of the Vietnam War. She wrote "We'll be controlled by manipulated fear". While living in Stony Brook, New York, in the late 1970s, she donated her time and talents to numerous benefit concerts for unfashionable causes — as did her fellow Appalachian-on-Long-Island, Jean Ritchie. And in 1976, she made her way north to share her music in Saratoga Springs.
Recent Caffe Lena discovery, Kaia Kater comes to us from Canada. She grew up around folk music, her mother produced many music festivals while Kaia was growing up. Certainly the music at those festivals was a great influence, but she also cites Nina Simone, Erykah Badu, and Lauryn Hill. Plus, her family's history in Grenada plays a big part in the stories she communicates to us through her music.
Caffe Lena: 60 Years of Song, a production of WEXT Radio.