Whiteville native Kathryn
Caine Ogden will reign as
queen over this November’s
Pecan Harvest Festival. Ogden
returned to her hometown
last year after living
in Charlottesville, Va., for
20 years. She is a critically
acclaimed songwriter, singer
and painter.
Ogden, using the stage
name Kathryn Caine, has
recorded 10 CDs, eight of
them solo recordings of her
own original pieces. Two
discs were collaborations
with other musicians.
"Whiteville” was the
name of the first CD. Her
two best-received CDs are
titled "Down Home Girl” and
"When I was His Wife.” In
addition to solo performing,
Ogden has directed church
music and backed up other
singers. On her ninth CD,
"The Gospel According to
Kathryn Caine,” she wrote
every song, played all of the
instruments and also engineered,
produced and mixed
the entire project.
When the festival committee
asked if she would
accept the honor, "At first I
thought they were joking!”
Ogden said. "I never thought
anyone would choose me for
something like that.
"When I realized they
were serious, I said of course,
I’d be honored. I’m excited. I
can’t wait,” she said.
Family
Ogden is the fourth daughter
of Dr. William and Lou
Ogden. Her sisters Kea, Gray,
Mary Mac, Genie and Anna
along with only brother Bill,
grew up singing gospel and
folk songs "all the time.”
Although the Ogden family
lived in Danville, Va.,
during part of her childhood,
"Whiteville has been
the one stable place that’s
always been home for me” because
of summertime visits
to grandparents and aunts
and uncles. She remembers
helping out at Dr. Ogden’s
orthopedic office, "just down
the street from our house.”
Now Whiteville is home
again for her. In the past
year, she has discovered "a
tremendous calming effect,
a sense for now of peace. I’m
happy to be here.”
She is the mother of
15-year-old Izzy and 14-yearold
Evans, both students at
Whiteville High School.
"My life is family, music
and art,” said Ogden.
Two articles by Ogden
have appeared in 954 magazine
describing in words and
images the changes that Parkinson’s
disease brings to the
individual diagnosed with it
and to his or her family.
Ogden is familiar with
Parkinson’s, having observed
her father deal with
its effects for several years.
Her final article in the series
will be in this November’s
954 issue.
"I could not be more
thankful” to be back home
and close to family, said
Ogden. "My children love it
here, too, so that makes me
happy.”
Izzy helps coach soccer for
the Parks and Recreation Department
and was a varsity
player last year for WHS. She
plays both flute and piccolo
in the marching band.
Evans plays junior varsity
football for WHS. After playing
French horn since sixth
grade, he taught himself
bass violin within the last
year.
Evans "has an innate ticker”
when it comes to rhythm,
his mother said. "He has
a great ear; he’s always on
pitch”
Ogden, her children and
her high-school friend Travis
Rayle put on a concert Saturday
at the Arts Council Center,
performing original and
classic Americana numbers
for an audience of about 50.
Izzy sang the lead on most
of the numbers with poise
and skill beyond her years;
a high moment in the program
occurred when Evans
pulled out a harmonica and
wailed a very competent riff
on it, earning enthusiastic
applause from the audience.
Music
During Saturday’s performance,
Ogden paid tribute to
the musical legacy her mother
and father handed down
to her and her siblings. "My
sisters Anna and Genie and
I grew up singing this song
(‘Green Pastures’),” she said.
"In church youth choir, Anna
was the disciplined one, and
I was the one who always got
sent home for misbehaving.”
Now Ogden, Izzy and Evans
provide worship music
at Whiteville’s First Presbyterian
Church for Sunday
services and special events.
The admission cost of $5
per person Saturday evening
went to support the Arts
Council. Ogden’s parents listened
from the second row. At
one time, Ogden apologized,
"I’m sorry, Mommy, I know
you hate this next song, but
I’ll do a different one after
it.”
The song Lou Ogden
didn’t care for was one her
daughter wrote at the age of
19, titled "Whiteville.” It tells
the sordid story of a jealous
girlfriend revenging himself
on her cheating lover.
"I know it’s a terrible,
terrible song, and I’m letting
my daughter sing it, but the
old music was full of those
things. Men sing that kind
of thing. It just seems different
when a woman sings it,”
said Ogden.
As Ogden’s disclaimer
put it, "In bluegrass and
country music, you have a
lot of cheatin’ and killin’
and cryin’ in your beer. But
we don’t want anybody to go
shoot anybody, OK?”
Some of her compositions,
such as "I believe,”
were expressions of her
Christian faith. "(You only
wanted me) When I was His
Wife” – a ballad that Ogden
assured the audience "is not
about me” – even made a wry
commentary on the cheatin’
side of life from a believing
and moral point of view. In it,
a woman reproaches the man who tried unsuccessfully to
get her to commit adultery.
She tells the would-be lover,
who is now engaged: "You’ll
put a ring on her finger, and
she’ll say ‘I do.’ But be careful
who you covet, and watch
your best man. ‘What goes
around comes around’ is
going to get you in the end.”
Art
Several of Ogden’s portraits
of her parents appeared
with her 954 articles.
She earned her bachelor’s
degree from the College of
Charleston and is working
on a master’s degree from
UNC-Pembroke.
She would like to teach
studio art on the college level
someday. "Hopefully I’ll be
singing at the same time,”
she said.
"The best job I ever had,”
said Ogden, was teaching art
and music appreciation to
6th- to 8th-grade students at
the Village School in Charlottesville
for eight years.
"I think it’s one of only two
all-girls middle schools in the
country,” she said. "I loved
teaching there.
"I’ll always be working on
something,” said Ogden. "If I
had my druthers, I might be
in Nashville, singing. If I can
get my kids raised, everything
else will come later.”
Ogden is practicing for
the parade on Nov. 4. "I have
my wave down pat,” she said.
Coming Home
"Life happens, and you
don’t know what the future
holds,” said Ogden. "Sometimes
what you get is what
you need. It may not be what
you want, but it’s what you
need.”
Comparing Whiteville to
the larger cities where she
has lived, Ogden said, "Small
towns, I think, are consistent
in the sense that they don’t
really change that much.”
And she would not want
Whiteville to change much.
"People here are tolerant.”
She thinks the atmosphere
contributes to "family consistency
and resilience.”
All that allows an individual
to "settle down and
get on with things.”
As Izzy told her mother,
"This town has so much
heart.”
Ogden has always felt
rooted in Whiteville, but,
she said, "Now my children’s
roots are officially here,
which is even better.”
Some of Ogden’s music
can be heard at https://kathryncaine.bandcamp.com/track/im-coming-home
