Voices On The Verge

Voices on the Verge functions in certain respects as a successor project to Four Bitchin' Babes. Though Erin McKeown, Jess Klein, Beth Amsel, and Rose Polenzani had each already enjoyed a measure of individual recognition, the folk-pop collective placed the four singer/songwriters in a lively, partly spontaneous setting where they performed one another's material, highlighting individual strengths while minimizing limitations.

The enterprise originated with a single concert at the Iron Horse, a prominent folk venue in Northampton, MA, during November 1998. Bostonians Amsel and Klein, Rhode Island-based McKeown, and Chicagoan Polenzani subsequently performed additional dates across the Northeast and Midwest throughout 1999 and 2000. Their first recording, Live In Philadelphia, captured three compositions from each participant before a modest crowd at Philadelphia's Indre Studios across two evenings in early 2001. Issued in October of that year, the album was followed by a national tour in early 2002.