Recipe
Take one part writer / Add one part actress / Mix with three decades of singing preparation / Blend in a compulsion for expression and shake (gently, please) / When the ingredients are implanted in a romantic female, the result is a singer/songwriter with compelling, edgy vocals, who will transmit beguiling melodies and evocative lyrics / That singer/songwriter is Cassandra House / Serves an infinite number of music aficionados.
Writing our May festival issue, I was researching YouTube videos for summer festival acts yet unknown to me. Cassandra’s studio performance for the song “Tidal,” from her debut EP, Night Owl, was transfixing and I decided immediately to ask for an interview and feature her in our June 2016 issue.
Roots
Cassandra House was born in Patchogue, NY, in 1986. She grew up there, one block away from Fadeley’s Deli Pub, a Long Island hippie hangout. After numerous stays in other locations, she returned and lives there now. Hear parents tell her she started singing at around a year old, even before she started to talk (she thinks perhaps a Christmas carol became stuck in her mind). She has two older brothers, both around 20 years her senior. One, a drummer, played in a semi-famous “hair band,” The Lost Boys. At the age of 3, she saw him play in that band at the famous Sunset Strip nightclub, The Roxy.
She grew up more like an only child, since both adult brothers left home while she still was a toddler. This sparked a need for self-sufficiency in her life and in her approach to music. Her drive to perform provoked a tenacious mind-set. “When I was younger I was very much a ham and wanted the camera on me; I always wanted to be singing some song.”She was in choir from the second grade onward and was in the school talent show every year.
The Creator Emerges
At age 14, she got a guitar, knowing she could make music without relying on anyone else. “If I wanted to be self-sufficient, I knew I’d have to accompany myself. I tried very hard to learn the piano, but something about it didn’t click with me. I was highly influenced by early ‘90s stuff — there was a lot of Jewel going around. Everywhere all of a sudden, women had guitars.
Her craft was born at the juncture of angst and adolescence, that weird place that invites over-dramatization, but seems a rite of passage for every artist. She wrote a lot of poetry and some short stories. “I always felt like I had to say something — get something out. I always wanted to sing — that never changed. At some point a light bulb went on that I could combine the two and have a serious outlet of expression.”
She cobbled together a group of friends for the ninth-grade talent show to perform as a band. No one knew how to play, so they spent weeks learning their instruments and one alt-rock cover song. They pulled it off, but when the talent show was over, Cassandra — with her guitar — was the only one to stick with it. She continued writing songs about her personal experiences and other characters, some made-up and some based on school literature. In 10th grade, she played some open mics and got a once-a-week mini-set at a restaurant. Additionally, her musician brother had returned home and had built a recording setup in the basement. He helped Cassandra create a demo CD.
At her mother’s urging, to be certain that music and songwriting was what she wanted, she attended a one-and-a-half week Berklee College of Music'summer songwriting camp after the tenth grade. The experience added fuel to the fire of her songwriting ambition.
Choices
Cassandra’s career issues became murky due to her plethora of talent. The pendulum of her life direction began swinging between acting and singing. She’d been selected to perform in jazz choir and had begun performing in plays — both musicals and straight plays in community theater. Nevertheless, she pushed forward with music and, after graduating high school, entered the Berklee program. While it was inspiring, she left after a year. She’d written a lot of songs and made friends with amazingly talented people. The daunting challenges of music theory and the virtuosic talents of other students planted seeds of doubt. She left Berklee, but stayed in Boston for a year to study theater at Suffolk University. She roomed with Berklee students and continued writing songs while studying acting.
The Returning Wanderer
In the typical fashion of a youthful searcher, during her 20s, she hopscotched between Greece, Italy and California. In between jaunts, she came home to continue university studies. While interning at a theater in California around 2007, still writing songs, she began to finally realize, after a series of frustrations, that acting wasn’t going to work for her. Returning home, she noticed that Patchogue had blossomed into an active singer/songwriter scene, full of open mics, far beyond what existed during her high school years. Testing the waters, she played her songs and received some positive responses. She met Dave Marsh, bassist for the band Miles To Dayton (Acoustic Live cover feature, March 2013) who introduced her around and encouraged her to hone her material and record (when she plays with her band, Dave is her bassist and Jonathan Preddice, also of MTD, is on cello). In 2012, she released Night Owl. This month she’ll be in the studio to work on a new CD, working with Ben Wisch, who’s produced albums for Richard Shindell, Cheryl Wheeler and a host of other luminaries.
Cassandra is grateful to the Grey Horse Tavern of Bayport, N.Y., for the opportunity to open for Todd Schaeffer (Railroad Earth), Shannon McNally, Andy Falco (Infamous Stringdusters). She also opened for Lucy Kaplansky at Soulful Sundown Coffeehouse in Manhasset, N.Y. Her most auspicious appearance was opening for and appearing onstage to sing along with Amy Helm. She’ll be opening for Amy again on July 31 at Hotel Indigo in Riverhead.
It’s ironic that Patchogue, with its dearth of places to play during Cassandra’s teen years, is home to Great South Bay Music Festival where she’ll be appearing again this year on Sunday, July 17, at 2:10 p.m. on the main stage. Acoustic Live also will feature her in our unplugged showcases on Saturday, August 6, at 3:30 p.m. at our booth at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Visit her website to find out about other upcoming performance dates for this exciting performer.
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