With folk music, Kessler shares her journey through life

Interview by Karissa S. Wang
From The Patriot Ledger, September 20, 1993, p. 13

Her songs, she said, are about "where you fit in the world---not only between individual relationships but also the bigger picture. And, as a woman, where everything has already been defined and heavily socialized fo you, your choices are more dictated in a lot of ways."

Kessler, 31, grew up on New York's Long Island and is a graduate of Cornell University. She didn't set out to become a folk singer, she said, but she spent much of her adolescence in her room with a guitar and a record player. Popular music helped her find herself, she said, and she sees music as a way to reach others on the shared journey through life.

Kessler said she draws much of what she writes from her past experiences, such as her recent difficult divorce, or the expectation she grew up with that by now she would be living in suburbia and raising a family.

"Music has always been the single thing that has moved me most in my life," she said. "Through music I became attuned to a sort of inner self. It gave life to that inner life, and people appreciate that when they relate to a song."

Although Kessler's fans constantly thank her for her songs, she said she is the one on the fortunate side of the relationship.

"It is very healing to sing for people. I think when people come together for music, they're relating. It's very validating to have your ideas listened to and your feelings validated. But it's also a gift for the audience to have it in the forum of a song."