Lucy Kaplansky says she wrote “bad” songs as a teenager. Then she became a clinical psychologist and circled back around to become one of today’s pre-eminent folksingers. “I wrote a little bit in my early 30s, and then I quit music for a long time and became a psychologist. Then when I went back to music, my husband and I started writing music together, and it’s funny. I still don’t quite think of myself as a writer even though I guess I am. I think of myself more as a singer.”
Lucy does not think working with mentally ill patients as a clinical psychologist impacted what she writes or how she writes. “I don’t think it impacted anything about any of that. I do think the process of becoming a psychologist which involved learning about psychology, how people function, and understanding people’s conflicts made me a more insightful and perceptive person. That has affected everything in my life, including writing. That’s kind of the way I see it.”
She often co-writes with her husband Richard Litvin. “I’ve never written with anyone else, so it’s hard to compare, but I trust him implicitly. He’s a really talented writer, and if I might present him with something and he critiques it, I believe him. So, he’s a great writer and a great editor, and I would say that’s an incredible gift in my life.”
Sometimes they sit down together and throw lyrics at each other, or she may write something alone and pitch it at him. “It’s kind of both of those things and everything in between. So, I’ll write something and present it to him. We’ll bat it around together to write something. It’s kind of a continuum.”
She’s been performing and recording both as a solo performer and with other singer/songwriters since 1982. “I just kind of keep going. I try to keep writing songs. I try to keep doing good shows. You know, it’s my job. So, I just keep doing it, and try and try and do it well. And I feel lucky that I’ve been able to make a living and continue to make a living doing it.”
In 1983 she entered Yeshiva University where she earned a PhD in psychology while performing as a duo with Shaun Colvin. She recorded her first album The Tide in 1994 for Red House Records, arguably the best label for folk/Americana music. She would eventually record six albums for the fabled label, including Ten Year Night, their all-time best seller. But somewhat ironically, it was another psychologist who convinced her to take down her shingle and take the plunge as a full-time musician.
Lucy is as good a businesswoman as she is a singer/songwriter. One of the most important decisions she made in business was to leave her record label Red House. “It was just clear that making a record with a record company was just not a viable thing to do anymore. So it just made sense.
“I had the idea of making albums this way while walking my dog one day, and just doing it all myself. I called my husband and said, ‘What do you think of this?’ He said, ‘Just do it. Don’t overthink it.’ And that was it. I mean I like running my own business. It’s fun and I’m good at it.”
Lucy has a unique way of marketing her albums. “I decided not to have them streaming, and they would have to be bought through me at my shows or through my website, and I’ve sold quite a lot of them, these last two albums. Not as many as I used to back in the day when CDs sold, but enough to make some money on it because I’m doing it all myself. I’m making all the money on it.
“So, that’s my solution, but making my own albums is something I wonder about. Like, does it really make sense anymore? And I don’t know the answer to that.”
Lucy does sell albums at her shows. “And I did send both (my most recent) albums to radio. I did get some play on folk radio stations, but other than that, I mostly sell them at my concerts. When each of them came out, I publicized them on social media, to my e-mail list, and to a whole bunch of people who bought them online.
The creative muse is a fickle thing. “If you wait for inspiration, it ain’t gonna happen very often. I sit down at a certain time of day. It tends to be in the morning, the first thing in the morning because that’s when I’m not awake, and I think probably creative. Most of the time nothing much happens, but at least I try. So, it’s more a craft than waiting for inspiration. The artistic muse is a very delicate thing. That’s how it is with me.”
She plans to release her next album early in 2025. “You’re the first person I’m telling this. I have lots of unreleased live tracks, outtakes, and a few cover songs. A couple of the cover songs have been released on other compilations, but basically this is unreleased stuff. It’s all cover songs. It’s sort of my history. I’m not sure how far back I’m going to go, but as far back as 1982 for sure. So, it’s going to be almost like a retrospective, except it’s going to be unreleased stuff. I’m trying to put that out at the beginning of the year.”
Lucy plays the hallowed Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, New York on Friday, November 22nd.
