Sung Locally - Catskills Summer Songs

Summerin' in the Catskills, baby
Singin' just for the thrill
Everyone knows all about you, don't they?
You're doin' it for the thrill

So opens the song “Mean Streets” from the Colorado pop duo Tennis. The song is the band’s tribute to the late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, who had grown up in the “mean streets” of the Bronx. Nyro had been a musical prodigy, writing her first song at only eight years old. She often accompanied her father in the summers to the Catskills, where he played trumpet at the many resort hotels. Rural life remained appealing to Nyro, who attempted to retire from music at 24 and work as a housepainter in Massachusetts, but Nyro would never choose the Catskills as her home. She ultimately returned to music and passed away at the age of 49 from ovarian cancer in her Danbury, Connecticut home. “Mean Streets” plays like a fun pop song, and the video depicting dancing cowboys plays up the fun with no reference to the late Laura Nyro. Still, the lyrics tap into the pressure Nyro felt during her career, her discomfort with fame, and the freedom she experienced “summerin’ in the Catskills” as a child juxtaposed against it all. 

The band Florist describes itself as a “friendship project that was born in the Catskill Mountains.” Two of its founding members, Emily Sprague and Rick Spataro met while living in Albany. The band pays tribute to the Catskill region on its 2015 EP Holdy on the song “Cool and Refreshing.”

 think of me by the creek in cut-off jeans

 holding onto something that has meaning to me 

I don't really think my life will ever make me

 as happy as Kaaterskill Creek

The cover for Holdy certainly looks like a shot from somewhere in the Catskills. While the EP was recorded in Brooklyn, Florist recorded their first album in a rented Hudson Valley home. While “Cool and Refreshing” may specifically mention The Catskills, most of Florist’s songs conjure peaceful Catskill escapes, something Laura Nyro may have appreciated.