The Venue Fine Art & Gifts is not only known for its paintings and sculptures. The space occasionally serves as the backdrop for musical events in a casual, unamplified format.
The gallery will welcome local musician Cathy ?Gutjahr at 5:30 p.m. today for its event “Bloomington Unplugged, A little Bit of Folk, Pop, Blues, and Jazz, and a Lot of Cathy Gutjahr.”
The show was originally slated for March but was rescheduled because of ?inclement weather.
Gutjahr said it is partially in celebration of a musical project she recently ?completed.
“I just finished a new CD called ‘Motorcycle Man’ and did a CD release show for it in February,” Gutjahr said. “I’m just trying to perform and promote it a little bit. I’ll be doing songs from my first CD as well and songs we like to sing.”
The guitarist will not be performing alone. Gutjahr said she will be joined by vocalist Christina Ondrik and Jacobs School of Music student Eli Schille-Hudson.
The Venue has hosted two or three of her shows in the past, Gutjahr said.
She is always impressed with how well-received her pieces are by the gallery’s patrons.
“It’s a listening audience, which is not always the case when you play in bars and restaurants,” Gutjahr said. “It’s not a bad thing because people, when they buy their dinner, don’t know you’re going to be there all ?the time.”
That close connection with the audience is an important part of her ?performances, Gutjahr said.
“It’s an intimate setting, and people are there to listen,” Gutjahr said. “For me, because I tell a lot of stories in my songs, it’s nice to sing for an audience that’s going to catch the whole ?storyline.”
Music has long been a part of Gutjahr’s life. She said she began playing ?piano when she was in third grade and guitar when she was in sixth.
She said she began recording her music 15 years ago. Now 50, she has an album under her belt and plans for subsequent ?projects.
Gutjahr said her decision to record came when she was playing at Players Pub and a fan of hers gave her some interesting advice.
“I was playing one of my songs, ‘Crazy,’ I had a gentleman come up to me and say, ‘You really need to record that song,’” Gutjahr said. “That was before I’d really done much recording ?at all.”
She has since seen the man at other venues she’s played and thanked him for his encouragement over ?the years.
Gutjahr said the recording process has become one that fulfills her in a special way.
“When you play a song and other people add the parts, that’s very addictive,” Gutjahr said. “It’s like ?painting a picture and you just have a few colors in and somebody else comes in and does the shading.”
Gutjahr said she looks forward to many aspects of the performance, but this time around she’s excited to play alongside other talented performers.
“My friend Christina, who sings harmony, puts a lot of energy into it,” Gutjahr said. “Eli is a fabulous musician. We do the song ‘Fever,’ he has this way of working the percussion on his guitar while doing the walking bass line. Everybody has a good time watching him ?do that.”
Gutjahr has shows ?April 17 and April 22 at Salt Creek at the Depot.
“I feel incredibly alive when I’m able to play music,” Gutjahr said. “I think we’ll have some good music, and we’ll have a lot of fun playing it.”
