Kate Wolf was an American folk singer and songwriter. Though her career was relatively short, she had a significant impact on the folk music scene, and many musicians continue to cover her songs. Her best-known compositions include "Here in California," "Love Still Remains," "Across the Great Divide," "Unfinished Life," and "Give Yourself to Love." Born in San Francisco, she started her music career in the bandWildwood Flower before recording ten records as a solo artist. Her songs have since been recorded by artists such as Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris. An important mentor, friend and touring companion was Utah Phillips. She died in 1986, at age 44, after a long battle with leukemia. Her remains are buried at a small church cemetery in Goodyears Bar, California. In 1987, the World Folk Music Association established the Kate Wolf Award to honor her memory.
Wolf also appears on the 1973 album We Walked by the Water by folksingerLionel Kilberg. This album was re-released in 1995 under the title Breezes and credited to Wolf alone on the front cover. Her family has stated that Wolf did not consider these songs as representative of her work. Both Kilberg's We Walked by the Water and Wolf's own album Lines on the Paper are dedicated to the late Gil Turner, who Wolf and Coffin first met via Lionel Kilberg. Wolf subsequently recorded her own version of Turner's much-covered folk anthem "Carry It On." A number of these albums were done in collaboration with Bill Griffin.
Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle wrote "Katie and the Dreamtime Land" as a tribute to Wolf.
Greg Brown wrote and performed "Kate's Guitar," which is available on his 2004 album, In the Hills of California, recorded live at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival.
'Gaelic Americana' singer Kyle Carey covered Kate's song "Across the Great Divide" which is on her 2014 album North Star.
"Across the Great Divide" is the first track on Nanci Griffith's 1993 cover album called "Other Voices, Other Rooms." She is accompanied by Emmylou Harris.
Klezmer revival folk musicians Daniel Kahn and Sarah Mina Gordon premiered a Yiddish-language cover of Wolf's "Telluride" at the Yiddish Book Center's YidStock Klezmer Festival in July 2019.
In 1998, a tribute album entitled, Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf, was released by Red House Records. The album contains Kate Wolf songs performed by various artists, and the booklet contains tributes and remembrances about her.
