Karen Mal

Updated on Oct 10, 2024

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Birth name Karen Mal Website karenmal.com Origin Austin, Texas Name Karen Mal		Years active 2001 - present Role Singer Labels Waterbug Record label Waterbug Records

Instruments vocals, guitar, mandolin Albums The Space Between, Dark-Eyed Sailor, Love by Lantern Shine, Mercury's Wings Genres Bluegrass, Folk music, Folk music of Ireland, Singer-songwriter Associated acts Fred Alley, Jonathan Byrd, Laurie McClain, Kelly Willis Similar People Will Taylor, Bob Livingston, Jonathan Byrd, Danny Schmidt, Andrew Calhoun

Celtic music songs karen mal plays wildwood flower

Karen Mal (born 1967 in Bristol, Connecticut) is an American singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas. She is best known for her strikingly open, childlike voice and her poetic and somewhat didactic songwriting. She is also known in the industry as a first-call session singer with a gift for harmony. Trained in theater and voice at Long Island University, Karen worked in regional theatre in Wisconsin for several years as an actor and musical director/composer before settling in Austin, Texas to play music full-time and focus on songwriting. She has been recognized professionally for her songwriting, including Portland Songwriters Association (2002) and has been a finalist in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk competition in Kerrville, Texas (2001 and 2002). She primarily performs solo and accompanies herself in a variety of traditional acoustic guitar and mandolin styles. Her recordings have featured her own songwriting, as well as material from the traditional Irish folk canon and classics from the 30's and 40's Great American Songbook. She also often appears on stage with other artists as a session player on mandolin, bass, guitar, and/or backing vocals.