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'Easy': Kelly Willis
Singer/Songwriter
Thursday, Nov. 14, 2002; Noon ET
Washington Post music reviewer Arion Berger described Kelly Willis’s voice as "a diamond -- deceptively delicate, sparkling, amazingly durable." On her five solo albums, the country music singer and songwriter has married the slight twang of that amazing voice with smart songs of heartbreak, longing, wonder and, occasionally, joyful fulfillment.
Willis, who grew up in the Washington area, but now lives in Texas, was online at Thursday, Nov. 14 to talk about her new album, "Easy," her upcoming show at the Birchmere and life as both a full-time mom and musician.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Philadelphia, Pa.:
You are going to be here on the 18th, I see, at the Tin Angel. I understand the place is historic and attracts many big names in a cozy setting, yet there are few seats. Do you know if one can still get tickets for your show? If not, will you be performing in the Philadelphia area again soon?
Kelly Willis: It is a very intimate setting and much more personal show than most clubs. I don't know about the ticket situation there so I'm of no help. I wont be back through for a while though because I'm abaout to have twins in March and I predict no one sees or hears from me for at least 6 months!
Tulsa, Ok.:
Did you grow up in Oklahoma? Did you find the schools encouraging of your talent there? The teachers I recall would soon give you swats than listen to a student sing. Didn't you begin singing when you were young? And did you escape getting swats?
Kelly Willis: I was born in Oklahoma(Lawton). My family is from a small town called Sentinel and I spent many holidays and summer breaks there. My father was a career Army officer though, so we travelled a bit and I didnt grow up there.Even so I consider myself an Okie!
I began singing profesionally when I was 16 but my parents especially my mother, werealways singing and encouraging us kids to sing or play the piano.
I must say, I am glad I didnt have to deal with swats!!
Washington, D.C.:
How can we get Toni Price to bring the Hippy Hour to the Birchmere?
Kelly Willis: I don't know!! I heard she doesnt like to travel too much but it sure is a great show. I'll tell her someone asked next time I see her!
Dallas TX:
Kelly - I've been a big fan of yours for a while now. I love seeing you live. My question is, It seems you have become more at ease on stage after the release of "What I deserve"... do you think you are more comfortable on stage after "Easy"?
Kelly Willis: What I deserve was a record I was so proud to be playing live that i think my confidence grew from it. plus the crowds were bigger and more respnsive wherever I played and that makes it so much more fun to play. My experience with Easy has been different because I have a 21 month old at home and I'm just so happy to be OUT! So it feels like I'm at a party or something! But I have also been somewhat sick with this pregnancy and that has been a bit of a challenge.
Oak Park, Ill.:
Kelly, your recent show at Chicago's Old Town School was great -- but how come you don't play "Fist City" live anymore?
Tom
Kelly Willis: I love that song and Loretta! I juast have too many songs from my various records now to fit them all in to a 75 minute sho. And frequently I'l have a bass player who hasn't learned EVERy song of mine so if he cant play it it is best not to force it.
I will try and work it up again! Thanks
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada:
Hi! Kelly,
I hope it is true that you are planning on recording a Christmas album.
It is nice to see that your new album "Easy" is doing so well as you deserve this.
Kelly Willis: thanks! My husband (Bruce Robison) and I are working on a Chritmas EP right now but it looks like we wont have it ready until next season. We always do shows together right around the holidays and thought it would be fun to have a little recording of the songs we do. But, we just didnt have enough time to finish it up for this year.
Virginia:
Kelly, really love your work. it seems to me that a disproportionate number of the finest singer/songwriters in the "thoughtful country" genre are women - yourself, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kim Richey, et al. do you find that to be the case? and why?
Kelly Willis: Well, first of all thanks! I think that there are more men out there making "thoughtful country" music but I think people are more willing to accept it from a woman. I think it comes across as vulnerable or something and people arent as willing to accept that trait in a man.
Marshall, VA:
Kelly - Is there any hope of ever getting hold of the Fading Fast EP? I have scoured all the used sections every indie store in DC and LA...what's my best bet?
Kelly Willis: I'd say look on ebay! And be willing to ay a stupid proce for it. We only made about 2000 copies of it and it was only available in Texas stores or online. Try visiting texas and looking is used bins at record stores!
I have always held out hope that I could buy the EP from A&M and rerelease it. but I havent put much effort into it. Maybe thats something I'll do while I'm housebound with the twins!
D.C. :
Hi Kelly --
I'm a D.C.-based songwriter, now struggling to make it in Nashville, and I'm curious about your songwriting "learning curve." I've heard a lot of professional songwriters say that they had to write a lot of mediocre songs before they started writing great (i.e., commerically viable) songs. Did you have that experience as well? And, if so, can you share any insight as to what helped you, as a songwriter, take your writing to that higher level?
Kelly Willis: Well, I wouldn't call my songwriting commercial! but I did have to write alot before i felt that they were songs I wanted to put my name on.I began co-writing in Nashvlle and found it to be an awful experience but I wrote with Paul Kennerly a few times and he helped me alot. He just had his own unque style of writning and never compromised it. He encouraged me to do the same. Eventually I just wrote my quirky little songs and stopped worring about it.
washingtonpost.com:
Just a quick reminder for Washington area fans that Kelly Willis will perform at the Birchmere on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Boston, MA:
Kelly,
Great new Album! Easy's only competition for time in the CD player is Charlie Robisons' Step Right Up.
It has been a few years since you visited visited us in Boston (maybe because the Mama Kin crowd wasn't all that nice) so I am travelling to the New York show. Will we hear a cross section from all your albums? A request for Red Sunset.
Thanks, Bob
Kelly Willis: thanks! I will be doing about 8 of the songs from the new record andabout that many form What I deserve Pluas afew of my favorites from the older records. I'll see about working up Red sunset. We dont do it often but I think we could. My bass player on this trip has previously expressed dislike for the song(he is acountry purist and not into rockabilly) so it would be my pleasure to make him do it!....He is my brother in law. Its always been one near and dear to my heart because I've been playing it since I was 17!
Austin, TX:
What is your favorite song to play live? I've seen you in concert twice now and for me, I think the most "fun" song is Heaven's just a sin away! Thanks
Kelly Willis: Most definitly "Heavens Just a sin a Away" Its a great song and the crowd loves it. I call it elbow raising music!
Dublin, CA:
Kelly,
I just wanted to say that your music is incredible. I was introduced to you by a friend of mine in Austin, which only led to me discovering more and more about the Texas music scene. You, Bruce, and Chalrie Robinson are some of my new favorites. Now, thanks to the web, I pick of some of the streaming casts like KGSR and Radio New Braunfels.
Do you have any upcoming plans to do some shows here on the West Coast, specifically through the San Francisco/Santa Cruz area? I know Robert Earl Keen gets out here from time to time, but it seems tough to see people like you live!
All the best!!!
Kelly Willis: I wish so much that I was going to get to San Fran this time around but the tour budget wont allow it.(Maybe you could mount a campaign addressed to Rykodisc). I thought we would be there in early December but it just not looking good. thaks for listening to us on KGSR and Radio New Braunfels KNBT. there are truly wonderful radio stations.
Capitol Hill, DC:
Congratulations on your and Bruce's new nephew! (and your own impending additions!) Since you have a relationship by marriage with the Dixie Chicks, have they ever approached you about recording one of your songs (or vice versa), as they did with Bruce's "Traveling Soldier"?
Kelly Willis: Charlie and Emily had their baby on Monday night and the whole family was there. It was so special! Gus is abeautiful boy.
I have never tried to mix our careers with our family life. It just seems like something that needs protecting. Bruce and I were stunned when they cut Travelling soldier. And more than a little excited! We just learned that it will be their next single. they do a brilliant version of it.
Austin, TX:
Kelly, what song that you've written are you the most proud of?
Kelly Willis: I think there are a couple that I'm proud of for different reasons. What I deserve captured a moment in time for me and was my most personal song for quite sometime. Reason to Believe and Talk like that are close runners up.
Washington D.C.:
Hello Kelly:
I've really admire the bands you've toured with in the past. Who will be joining you on this tour?
Kelly Willis: Well, most shows will have local bands on the bill if anyone at all. but I do know that in NYC Jim Lauderdale will be on the bill! I LOVE his music.
Pulaski,TN:
first off, I'm a big fan. I plan to see you live for the first time Saturday in Nashville.I was just wondering,do you ever play "get real" or "world without you" live? What are the chances of hearing those at 12 & Porter in Nashville Saturday(it is Saturday, right?)
Kelly Willis: Yep Saturday night. I'll try and play get reall that night. we have that one in the playlist. I never play World w/o You. I mean I have but no one in the band knows it. Bruce makes me play it when I do a solo show with him sometimes. I would have to knock some other slow song out of the set . It seasy to wind up with too many slow songs!! thanks for mentioning it. See you at the show
Conway, AR:
let me get this straight - you brother-in-law is your bass player? Is this another Robison brother yet to hit it on his own?
Kelly Willis: His name is John Ludwick and he is married to Bruces sister Robyn. Its a musical family! All the unheard of Robison boys are under 2 at this point!
Washington, D.C.:
It seems you are destined to have a career that is much more Nanci Griffith than Shania or the Dixie Chicks. Many of your fans are very happy about that -- are you?
Kelly Willis: I am thrilled with it! I have always wanted a careere like Nanci's or Steve Earle or Iris Dement. I never understood the shania world of music and obviouly couldn't make it there. I have strived to make music tha my peers respected. Its much more exciting for me to try and do that than be a covergirl.
Washington, D.C.:
Hiya Kelly,
I used to catch you and the Fireballs at places like Twist & Shout. Glad you're still at it!
At the Americana Music Conference last month in Nashville, you said nice things about your old Fireball bass player. Do you keep in touch with the old band? Will you ever do a rockabilly reunion with them?
Kelly Willis: I keep in touch with Mas Palermo(my ex husband) and Jim Gray. (Drums and bass) Jim married one of my good friends from high school recently! I doubt we would ever do a reunion becasue everyone lives so far apart and I have no idea if the others(epecially John Sherrick who I havent seen in over 10 years) would be interested. It sounds like fun though!
Arlington, VA:
Hi Kelly.
I saw you many years back at the old Birchmere. You really featured Bruce during that show letting him play most of his songs from Wrapped with you accompanying him (I think you had a crush on him back then). I still have a copy of the original Wrapped signed by both of you. It was a great show. Will he be playing with you next Tuesday?
Kelly Willis: I do have a crush on Bruce! I'm also a big fan of his songs and love to hear them. People often say that I look adoringly at him when we play together which i'm sure is true but I also think he is soooo tall(6'8") that I have to look up at him and that seems like I'm moony over him!!
He won't be with us that night though. He'll be home watching our son.
Grantham, NH:
Hi Kelly!
I grew up in Austin and I consider myself a BIG Kelly Willis fan. You know, you've always had a fantastic voice, but the funnest part of listening to each new album is how your "voice" seems to emerge, more and more, with each one, through your writing and song choices.
Do you make a conscious choice to push yourself past your last efforts and not regurgitate the same stuff? Or is it just that by the time you're creating something new you're a different person than you were before?
Kelly Willis: I always want to improve my voice and I think performing consistently is the best way to do that. My voice HAS changed over the years.
This last record was frightening for me because I didn't realize just how exposed my voice was going to be on these acoustic recordings. I had to step up to plate on this record. Yikes.
that said, I dont try for perfection. I think a singers personality is in the quirks.
My songs and my style have emerged as I have emerged. Just moving along realizing what I do and dont have to do...getting OLD. Etc...
Los Angeles, Calif.:
Kelly,
I was wondering if you've continued to do political events in Austin -- I remember you doing an event for Ann Richards in New York City and one for Jackie Goldberg a number of years back -- and if so, for which candidates?
Kelly Willis: I will do fundraisers for politicians I like. I've done several for ann richards. she is the greatest! And one for bill clinton and some other smaller names. Obviously I'm a democrat so Ill do gigs for them if I can. I have been asked to do gigs for people I don't support and generally they are republicans and offer LOTS more money than the democrats! I turn them down but I guess you could say it pays to be a repubilican!!
Of course I try to support people regardless of their party affiliation. One of my best friends is a hard core republican and we love debating whatever issue is current!
Bethesda, Md.:
What is the beginning process of your songwritting -- is it strumming a guitar? Or something else?
Kelly Willis: I usually write songs in my head. Finding a melody and some initial lyrics. then i sit down and use a tape recorder and sing or hum the song into it. After I have it written I figure out how to play it on the guitar. Sometimes I can't actually play what I have written! thats the only way I learn new chords!
Dupont Circle:
Hey Kelly! I often learn of a new and
interesting singer/songwriter when an
established musician mentions their
name in an interview. So can you drop
any names of people in Texas, or
anywhere, that we may not have heard of
yet. Thanks!
Kelly Willis: Susanna Van tassel, Damon bramblett, Gwil owen,Bob Shnieder,Slaid Cleaves to name a few.
Appleton, WI:
With an ever expanding family do you anticipate a "Family Tour" in a year or two?
Kelly Willis: We actually do dream of touring as a family someday and probably will. It is excrutialting to leave my son for more than 4 days.It would take a lot of organization to pull it off but I think it will happen eventually!
Kelly Willis: Thank you all so much this has been a blast. I wish I could get to all of these questions but time is running out. I hope to see yall at the shows coming up and my website might have more info on when those are KellyWilliscom. Anyway Im so glad you came to the chat. I didnt have to feel like a loser with no interested people thank you thank you.
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