Taos Lifestyle presents Kelly Hunt at the TCA
WITH A NEW RECORD AROUND the corner, Kelly Hunt will return to Taos Jan. 14 to give us a preview of what to expect from ‘Ozark Symphony.’
Given the fact that Hunt grew up in Memphis in a musical household (her mother was an opera singer and her father played sax), the title track seems apropos.
“The new record was made in Louisiana,” the eloquent and engaging Hunt said from her home in Kansas City. “Dirk Powell produced it and it has some different colors and a bayou flavor in it. The Ozarks have been the connective tissue of my life. There’s something about the Tennessee-Arkansas border; I’ve journeyed through them and this record is about those journeys and the core places in my life.” Hunt will play with musical and touring partner Stas Heaney, who joined her in 2019, after meeting at an Open Mic in Kansas City.
“It’s been a very organic evolution. When I decided I wanted to play music full time and was planning to hit the road, Stas quit his job and joined me.”
The two haven’t looked back, although they’ve had some interesting experiences playing on the road, like the time they were mistakenly doublebooked with a corn hole tournament. “We were scheduled to play and were on stage but the floor was full of people playing corn hole which has a distinct sound as the bags hit. Our fans were all crammed on the sides since there was no place for them to be.” Not surprisingly, corn hole tournaments are not on the top of Hunt’s list of favorite places to play. “Listening rooms and small theaters, where the full dynamic range of the music can come out, where you can create a little bubble together with the audience are my favorite places to play,” Hunt explained and spoke of the
KELLY HUNT WILL PLAY Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.
in the TCA Encore Gallery. Tickets are $12 in advance and $17 the day of show.
role the audience plays in every show. “I rarely play a show the way I wrote it because the audience shapes the songs I play next. I wonder sometimes how much audiences realize they impact the show. It’s collaborative and it’s a very mysterious thing to me but they play more of a part than they realize.” Hunt has been described as a folk singer and she certainly falls into the singer-songwriter genre. Her record, ‘Even the Sparrow’ was nominated by the International Folk Music Awards ‘2019 Album of the Year.’ JP’s Music Blog wrote of Hunt, “Folk wonderment … her music is aged beyond her years.” Hunt grew up taking piano lessons where she said she received the basics yet was always more interested in writing and composing, that is, until one fateful trip to Mountain View, Arkansas, when she was 17. “My uncle plays bluegrass banjo and Mountain View is the folk music capital of the world. I was struck at watching my uncle join in and listening to the unique sound of the banjo. I couldn’t shake this interest.” Shortly after, Hunt’s parents gifted her with her first banjo. “The banjo helped me discover and develop my lower range voice which suits me well.” Mary Domito’s Taos Lifestyle is presenting Hunt’s performance at the TCA. Domito is an enthusiastic supporter of musicians and has an astute ability for recognizing talent that may be on the verge of being discovered or perhaps may not have
Taos on their radar. “Kelly Hunt has a way of telling stories through song that resonates. They may be her personal experiences but she is able to draw you in as if you are the main character,” commented Domito. Hunt is looking forward to returning to Taos. When asked what message she would give to her fans, the musician responded with deep feeling, “The first thing that comes to mind is thank you. I think one of the challenging parts of this job is feeling that I’ll never be able to repay the people for what they’ve given me. Our first show in Taos has been one of my favorites and I am excited to play there again.”