That's How It Used To Be by Terry Kitchen

Ginder's Coal" to the prairie lilt of "Jumping Fences" to the world beat of "Thin Blade of Grass." While each song is anchored by his deft guitar work and his immediate, honest vocals, Kitchen and his excellent supporting players paint detailed soundscapes, from mandolin/Dobro Americana to bossa nova saxophone ("Night of a Thousand Lanterns"). Also included as a hidden track is an a cappella version of the Beach Boys' "In My Room." Musicians include John McGann (mandolin, from The Wayfaring Strangers), Alizon Lissance (keyboards, from The Lovedogs), Larry Finn (drums, from the Berklee School of Music), Brice Buchanan (slide guitar & harmony vocals, from Terry's '80s rock band Loose Ties and now Firefly), Sarah Telford (harmony vocals, Firefly) and Carl Clemens (tenor sax, wood flute). Kitchen himself also adds harmonica, lead guitar, Dobro, bass and keyboards. In keeping with its ecological theme, the CD is packaged in a cardboard sleeve rather than a plastic jewel box.

That's How It Used to Be follows 2002's Right Now (which reached #34 on the national folk DJ chart), 1999's blues for cain & abel (a deeply personal collection of songs of doubt and faith which includes his bluesy rendition of the Beatles' "Let It Be"), 1997's blanket (which was voted #21 best CD of that year by Folk Digest) and 1995's I Own This Town.

Born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, Kitchen grew up first in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then on Easton, PA's College Hill (home of Lafayette College, setting for his song "The Greatest Game They Never Played"), where he was surrounded by the music and spirit of the 1960s. As a bored teenager in the '70s, Terry roamed the small town streets of Findlay, Ohio (the inspiration for "I Own This Town") before escaping to Los Angeles for college (Occidental) and music school (The Guitar Institute of Technology ? walk down Hollywood Boulevard til you get to Elvis Presley's star, and it's the first door on the right...). He moved to Boston and fronted the '80s original pop/rock band LOOSE TIES (whose video was played on MTV exactly once) before settling on the intimacy of acoustic music as the most natural setting for his songs.

For the past fifteen years Terry has performed on the New England and national coffeehouse and folk festival circuits (including Club Passim in Cambridge, Cafe Lena and the Postcrypt in New York, Godfrey Daniels in Pennsylvania, and the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, and the Falcon Ridge, Telluride and South Florida folk festivals) and shared the stage with such artists as John Gorka, Cheryl Wheeler, Dan Bern, Vance Gilbert, the Nields, and Susan Werner.

In addition to his songwriting Kitchen has written 2 plays, a children's novel, and collection of autobiographical stories. He's worked as a summer camp counselor, union steward, ice cream scooper and bicycle messenger, has a brief but distinguished FBI record for anti-nuclear protests, has finished last in a Boston Marathon, and was once mentioned in a Harlequin romance novel.

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