Cathy Fink earned widespread recognition through the numerous children's albums she created across multiple decades, yet she also stands out as a central presence in folk and country music shaped by feminist perspectives. Raised in Baltimore, she launched her career in 1973 during the peak of the folk revival by performing at Montreal's Yellow Door coffeehouse, where audiences quickly noticed her strong command of banjo and guitar along with her distinctive yodeling. The next year brought her first CBC broadcast, after which she appeared at every major folk festival throughout North America. That same year she formed a partnership with Duck Donald that lasted until the close of the 1970s. Her first recording arrived in 1975 with the Likeable Records release Kissing Is a Crime. Three years afterward she and Duck issued a self-titled album on Flying Fish, and in 1980 the pair delivered their initial children's project, I'm Gonna Tell.
After parting ways with Duck, Fink relocated to Takoma Park, MD, where she became deeply involved in the local folk, bluegrass, and old-time communities and performed more than 5,000 concerts. In 1983 she joined Marcie Marxer to establish the duo Cathy & Marcy. She returned to the studio in 1985 with The Leading Role on Rounder, marking her first adult-oriented album in some time, and began producing other artists the following year. Moving to Sugar Hill in 1988, she recorded Blue Rose; the next year Cathy & Marcy released their own self-titled album. She also produced a project for Great Dreams and, together with Marxer and Si Kahn, created cassette adaptations of the best-selling Harper & Row titles The Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon. A solo album appeared on Sugar Hill in 1991, after which she assembled 80 songs for the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill reading curriculum released as A New View in 1992. She produced Si Kahn's children's album Good Times & Bedtimes in 1993. Fink resurfaced in 1995 with A Parent's Home Companion and followed it two years later with Voice on the Wind.
In the years that followed, much of her studio work centered on the Cathy & Marcy partnership. Their 1997 collection Blanket Full of Dreams earned recognition from the American Library Association as well as Parent's Choice and Early Childhood News and received a Grammy Award nomination. The duo's 2000 release Pillow Full of Wishes gathered additional bedtime songs and stories. Early 2001 brought All Wound Up! A Family Music Party. A year later the pair issued Pocket Full of Stardust, a songbook playfully exploring rest and dreams. For 2003's Bon Appétit! Musical Food Fun, Cathy & Marcy turned their attention to food-related themes for children's enjoyment. Scat Like That: A Musical Word Odyssey appeared in 2005 and offered another playful survey of varied musical styles. Fink resumed solo work in 2007 with the Rounder album Banjo Talkin', then rejoined Marcie Marxer for the 2009 Community release Banjo to Beatbox, which featured guest Christylez Bacon.
