Kate McDonnell’s original songs have earned her a first place win in the Mountain Stage NewSong Festival songwriting competition (among other awards), appearances on the syndicated Mountain Stage and World Café radio programs and at the Newport Folk Festival, praise from critics and fellow musicians, and an international following during her dozen years as a solo musician. Kate’s songs and vocals are as distinctive as her self-taught guitar technique – although righthanded, she plays her acoustic lefthanded and strung upside down. "Where the Mangoes Are," Kate’s first CD for Appleseed and fourth solo release overall, continues her ascension into broader public recognition with twelve songs, all but two of them originals, that showcase her clear, tender soprano voice, her vulnerable but resilient lyrical outlook, and crisp, fingerpicked guitar playing. Two songs on "Where the Mangoes Are," "Mercy" and "Softhearted Girl," have both won first place honors in the Plowshares Songwriting Competition and the Susquehanna Songwriting Contest in 2004, a third, "Go Down Moses," took first place in the 2002 Mountain Stage NewSong Festival, and a fourth, the darkly seductive "Lemon Marmalade," was a finalist in the 2003 Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest. While "Mangoes" opens with the breezy road song "Tumbleweed," driven by Marc Shulman’s electric guitar fills, much of the CD concerns the rollercoaster of love – its highs ("Go Down Moses," "Lemon Marmalade"), lows ("Softhearted Girl," Steve Earle’s "Goodbye Song"), and in-between terrors ("Mayday," "Fires"). Other aspects of the human experience – troubled friendships, death – are addressed in "Hey Joe," "Luis," and "5:05." There’s also a cheerful acoustic-blues arrangement of the traditional "Railroad Bill." Sympathetic accompaniment in styles ranging from fresh acoustic folk-pop to personalized Americana by the CD’s producer, multi-instrumentalist Scott Petito, lead guitarist Shulman, Mindy Jostyn (accordion, violin, harmonica, backing vocals), and drummer Sam Zucchini illuminates and burnishes Kate’s deft guitarwork and beautifully expressive voice on this embodiment of the contemporary folk/singer-songwriter genre at its finest