An Angel With Scorched Wings

Sometimes it is difficult to comprehend just how awesome my life truly is. I get to sit around, listen to the music I love, read the books that I enjoy, travel wherever I feel like and basically just live an unencumbered life. This also occasionally includes my driving to a bar five minutes away to meet the woman of my dreams. Well, the woman of my dreams who is technically happily married with four kids but it’s the concept that’s important. Let’s not get technical here.

I’ve told this story a few times but it might explain just why I have such strong feelings for a rather unknown country singer. I first saw Kelly perform in 1998 at the American Music Festival at Fitzgerald’s in my hometown of Berwyn, Illinois. I wasn’t there to see her. In fact, I had no clue who she was. All I knew was a paragraph preview I had read that day in which a writer described her voice as being that of “an angel with scorched wings.” That’s just the way music critics write.

Well, I’m pretty well known for giving any act one or two songs to win me over so I went to the front of the stage to watch Kelly and her band (which included at the time Jon Dee Graham and Amy Farris, both of whom are awesome performers I discovered that night). My first thought as she took the stage was that she’s really pretty. About a verse into the first song I thought that she had a really pretty voice. By the end of the first song I wanted to marry her, preferably before the encore. That’s just how stunning the performance was.

There is just something about her voice that while sweet with a nice country lilt does have that edge of someone who has seen the dark side of life. Even a love song can be tinged with sadness and regret and it makes for some wonderful music. There have been many times in my life where the only thing that has kept me going is listening to What I Deserve over and over again. The title track might be my favorite song ever and it’s the only one that sends chills down my spine every time I hear it performed. With lyrics like “I have done the best I can but what I’ve done is not who I am” I don’t know how you couldn’t be moved.

So a few months ago when I found out that Kelly was going to be touring for the first time in five years and playing Davey’s Uptown I was just thrilled. I never expected to get to see her play in a venue that small again and hell, I was just happy to see her play live without having to fly down to Austin. She had a new band but continued her tradition of having a fiddle/mandolin player who I immediately fell madly in love with. That would be the woman with the bright red hair in the out of focus picture. I’m pretty sure her name was Eleanor. No matter what, she finally puts a face to one of my two standard daydreams.

(Explanation on that: Whenever you see me blanking out or lost in my own little world, I’m typically in one of my two Walter Mitty lives. One of which has me playing in a band, well, actually two bands. See, in the first I play guitar and sing lead with the love of my life playing fiddle and singing harmony. I get to do all of my Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, alt country stuff that I love and could at least theoretically sing. Then for the second set I strap on an electric guitar and play lead while the love of my life takes up lead vocals and does a classic Liz Phair/Blake Babies sort of thing. Hey, stuff like this helps makes meetings go a lot faster.)

The set was surprisingly tight for someone who has not been on the road in years and who is now best known for her appearance in a Claritin commercial. She played most if not all of the new album but she also played all of the great songs from What I Deserve, a number from her self-titled disc but only one from Easy, which was a little surprising. She had the same voice that hits you in the heart and Kelly seems a lot more confident on stage now. In the past she was one of those singers who always kept her eyes closed but now she is much more engaging and much more comfortable with being the center of attention. Maybe it’s due to the fact that on many of her new songs she puts down the guitar and just sings. I’m not sure if I’m entirely behind it (part of me is always drawn to the whole girl with a guitar vibe) but it does make for a bit more rocking sound. I definitely don’t fault her for trying to change her style a little bit.

So of course I stayed after the show to get my few moments to talk to her. I wish I could say that I said something brilliantly witty but I didn’t. Thanked her for coming to KC, mentioned how I used to see her in Chicago back in the day and just thanked her for her music. She signed the CD booklet for her self-titled disc for me (a disc that it took me six years to find and I had to go to a neglected corner of a store in Lawrence to find it) which is awesome. And as the picture shows, I got to have my picture taken with her. At least now there is undeniable proof that I did smile once while living in KC. Honestly, this was the coolest night that I have had all year.

Now, if I could just run into Natalie Portman at the grocery store… Even without that, is my life awesome or what?