Cat Power, Top 100 2021

Not nearly as prominent as in earlier years, the Top 100 2021 still retains a Cat Power presence. The song Wanderer that closes out her latest album of the same title and is listed for the third consecutive year. The decision of who to couple Cat Power with in the double portrait series was not as easy as you would think. The recording of the song in 2018 was truly a solo effort. Cat Power (Chan Marshall) wrote the song, played all the instruments and did the vocal parts as well. She also produced the record. I settled for Adeline Jasso who is part of the touring band for the series of concerts following the Wanderer release. She plays guitar in the band. I figured it would make an interesting juxtaposition as the look of Jasso is somewhat reminiscent of how Cat Power herself appeared earlier on in her career. Jasso was the guitar player when I saw Cat Power live in Tampa in 2019. I could have potentially met Cat Power following that concert as a friend of a friend is also a friend of Chan Marshall. I did not pursue to meet her then, I did not feel I would have anything to talk about. (Of course I feel pretty self-conscious about it as I have painted Cat Power about 75 times over the years.) This friend of a friend is the artist Kalup Linzy, a wonderful video and performance artist whom I met a few times. He is also the source of the photograph I used for Cat Power's portrait. I used that same photo for the Cat Power portrait that was still due for the Top 100 2020 as well. The drawing represents To Be a Good Woman at number 78 in that list. To Be a Good Woman is from the 2002 album You Are Free. Both To Be a Good Woman and Wanderer are highly ranked in my "all time" list of songs. The drawing (that I did before the painting) follows the original mid-action pose in the photograph that I changed to a more natural pose that you see in the painting.