She took the name of her group from a baseball cap advertising a tractor company.
"She" is Chan (pronounced Shawn) Marshall, the Atlanta-born, New York-based singer/songwriter who, with the help of a few sidemen friends, makes up the "group" Cat Power.
Cat Power isn't really a group. It's primarily Marshall with her guitar and voice -- and some backing musicians.
Marshall could be called an indie rock star, or, more accurately, an anti-star.
"I'm not an artist," she told Spin Magazine in 2000. "I'm so basic."
Marshall's music reflects her self-image. But don't get the idea that it makes her songwriting anything less than music made by someone who believes themselves complex.
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Marshall's six CDs as Cat Power have been praised far and wide for their spare sound and raw intensity. That description has also been used to describe her latest disc, You Are Free.
The CD, released recently on indie rock label Matador Records, has 14 songs that fuse old-time folk sounds with modern sensibilities and Marshall's keen lyric writing.
Calling Marshall, 30, a folkie is a little too simple. Sure, her sound brings folk singers like Joni Mitchell to mind, but her songwriting varies far beyond the usual folk styles. The disc's opener, "I Don't Blame You" features only Marshall's voice backed by piano.
Other songs feature blues guitar progressions that could've come directly from the Bayou country -- like a P.J. Harvey with kinder, gentler demons. A few other feature full trio arrangements.
You Are Free is her first disc of original material since 1998's Moon Pix. Cat Power's most recent record, 2000's The Covers Record, was a collection of cover versions of songs by Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Nina Simone.
Cat Power plays the Launchpad Friday with Foma and Shine Cherries. Tickets are $8 in advance from Natural Sound or $10 at the door.
