UPDATE: Coty Hogue Jan. 18 Concert in Kirkland Canceled

UPDATE, 6 a.m., Jan. 17: The Coty Hogue concert at Parkplace Books Jan. 18 has been canceled due to snowy weather and icy roads.

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Original post:

COTY HOGUE is no stranger to struggle. The up-and-coming American folk musician brings stories of the personal trials and tribulations she’s faced during her voyage to the Pacific Northwest. Her songs are the perfect elixir for our woes as the country struggles in a fashion not too unlike the Great Depression.  

Hogue reached Bellingham, Wash., after a long journey from her small town in Montana. Her debut album “To the West” embraces the true essence of the genre. American folk music is a collective hymnal for the working class. Part song, part oral history, the music tells the stories of people's adversities and resulting growth both as individuals and as communities.

There has been no shortage of struggle over the last century to fan the musical flames of American folk. Since the turn of the twentieth century, folk music has been the anthem of the American Labor Movement. During the 1930s, when displaced workers fought for jobs amid the Dust Bowl that blew over the West, communities welcomed folk songs like those from Joe Hill and Woody Guthrie in an effort to escape life’s then dismal daily grind. 

Folk music again took the microphone during the 1960s. This time people were embattled with the Civil Rights movement (and the Vietnam War) and the struggle spawned its fair share of folk superstars like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.  Dylan’s 1963 protest song “Blowin’ in the Wind,” no better captures the sense of helplessness one feels in a storm of troubles: “The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.”

The stories told through these songs of the past seem all too familiar in today’s world. There is a daily struggle for jobs and security and people are once again uniting against these hardships.

It is fitting, then, that the Kirkland Heritage Society would present a free concert with the rising folk musician, Coty Hogue. Hogue will be sharing her music during a show at 7 p.m. on Jan. 18 at Kirkland’s , 348 Parkplace Center.

“Going to the West,” from Hogue’s debut album, reached No. 1 on the Folk-DJ radio charts this past summer. She’s been called the “Emmylou Harris of a new generation” and now, thanks to the Heritage Society, Kirkland can call her its own – if only for an evening. You can hear some of her music on her web site here, or the attached You Tube video here.

For as much as folk music is a way to understand and come to terms with struggle, it is equally a stimulant for hope. And marshaling hope in times of struggle is like hearing music when there is only silence.

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Trent Latta is an attorney and current member of the Kirkland Cultural Council and can be reached at TLatta@mcdougaldlaw.com.