Catie Curtis Eyes Road Rebound With Ryko/palm Debut

Catie Curtis is not the type to take an opportunity for granted. Fresh from recording her fourth album, My Shirt Looks Good on You (Rykodisc/Palm Pictures, Aug. 21), the singer/songwriter is excited about supporting the album with a fall tour.
?This is one of those big moments,? she says. ?I mean, you only have a few of them in your career. Every time a record comes out that?s actually being supported, you get to really ride the wave. That?s how I feel about heading into this tour.?
In the past, Curtis has not always had such an opportunity-at least not with full label support. Her previous home, Guardian, seemed to fold within minutes of the 1997 release of the critically lauded Catie Curtis.
Curtis, who first established herself playing coffee houses in Boston, says she hopes to be on the road supporting this album for between six months and a year.
?The longer I do this touring thing, the more I appreciate having a new record out and getting the support from a label to promote dates,? says the artist (who is booked by Paul Goldman of Monterey, Calif.-based Monterey International and managed by Tim Bernett of Boston?s Fitzgerald-Hartley). ?It sort of gets me in a place where I get very psyched up for the album release [and the ensuing] tour.?
Curtis, who is published by Rykomusic (ASCAP), wrote about one-third of the new album just before entering the studio. At the time, she was on the road opening for fellow singer/songwriter Dar Williams. Curtis says that being on the road with Williams proved instrumental in shaping the sound of the new record.
?Her audience really demands a very challenging lyric and some concepts. They?re conceptual listeners, and they?re not just about the groove. I feel like I was writing, at that time, for her audience, which I really liked playing for, because they demand that.?
The songs on My Shirt Looks Good on You are not as personal as those on her previous albums, as four of the tracks were co-written with various musicians and songwriters. The album?s title is meant to reflect the team effort, Curtis says.
?This is the most collaborative I?ve ever been on a record. This is the first time that I didn?t just go into the studio with a producer and arrange each song as a producer/artist team.?
Produced by Trina Shoemaker (Sheryl Crow?s The Globe Sessions), the album features former Morphine members Billy Conway and Dana Colley on drums and saxophone, respectively.
Two years after the death of Mark Sandman, the front man of the lauded Morphine-which also called Rykodisc and Boston home-Curtis, backed by Conway and Colley, pays tribute to the singer with a cover of Sandman?s previously unreleased ?Patience.?
Rykodisc president George Howard says Sandman?s death has left another mark on Curtis? career. ?When Mark Sandman died, Catie took a cue from that to collaborate more, because Mark was such a big collaborator.?
Much of the album?s spirit lies in Curtis? interaction with mandolinist Jimmy Ryan, a longtime collaborator who, with Sandman, formed the Pale Brothers. According to Curtis, the interplay between her voice and Ryan?s electric mandolin is the focal point of this album and a feature that her listeners will find distinctive.
?Everybody has heard electric guitar since the dawn of time,? Howard says. ?To hear somebody playing something slightly different will make people go, OThat?s a cool sound.? ?
?Kiss That Counted,? the first of three proposed singles, hits triple-A and college radio Aug. 6. To help promote the song and album, Curtis will make appearances at stations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic during August and September.
Curtis is also launching a new Web site (catiecurtis.com), to feature news updates as well as chat and merchandising information.