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Kelly Willis's Bio:

Thanks to photographer Robert McGee for sharing this great photo of Kelly performing at the A2K millennium bash in Austin on New Year's Eve 1999. Rob said he was about 70 feet away when he took this shot. Nice job, Rob, and thanks for sharing with MusicAustin's Kelly Willis fans. So much talent, and my, does she ever look good!

Check out Rob's photograph of Shawn Colvin from the same evening.

Kelly Willis tours a considerable amount. When she is in Austin she appears in venues such as the One World Theater. She has taken some time from her touring and work away from home to devote herself to motherhood since her marriage to Bruce Robison.

Kelly Willis appeared in People Magazine's "Prettiest People" issue. While not related to her singing or songwriting ability, it certainly fits in with her Hollywood-like "discovery" and record company signing. The story is that Kelly was singing at the Continental Club when Nanci Griffith happened in. A phone call went from Nanci to an MCA record producer, and 1990's Well Travelled Love is the result. Kelly released three albums with MCA including the 1993 album Kelly Willis. A CD entitled What I Deserve was released in February 1999 on a new label, Rykodisc. It garnered rave reviews from around the world.

Kelly was part of Lilith Fair. She's done a stint with Austin City Limits on public television. In short, she's made the transition to a national star, but she still lives and appears in Austin.

In addition to her own albums, Kelly has songs on at least fourteen compilation CDs, including the soundtrack from the movie Thelma and Louise. Her music has charted all around the world. She is especially popular in Europe. Since her marriage to Bruce Robison, she has been part of an extended family of country music professionals that include Bruce's brother Charlie and members of The Dixie Chicks.

Find out more about this musician, her albums, her life, and her singing at her website. You can get her albums from amazon.com.

Winner MusicAustin's Austin's Best Albums Award for 1999!

User: hitech

Kelly Willis's Albums
Happy Holidays From Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison
We"re on a Roll Sire Records 1999 Narm Sampler
Fast Forward Music Sampler [Ltd. Edition]
The Eclectic Horsemen
Kelly Willis

Kelly Willis Album Editorial:
1993 self-titled release by Kelly Willis.
Easy

Kelly Willis Album Editorial:
The complexities of love provide plenty of opportunity for rueful reflection on the deceptively titled IEasy. Though Kelly Willis has shown that she can belt a country song with the best of them she opts for a more intimate approach on this collection of midtempo ballads. The arrangements are primarily acoustic and harmony-laden (with Alison Krauss and Vince Gill among those providing vocal support) as Willis draws from the songbooks of husband Bruce Robison (What Did You Think) Paul Kelly (You Cant Take It with You) Kirsty MacColl (Dont Come the Cowboy with Me Sunny Jim!) and Marcia Ball (Find Another Fool). The singers own writing extends the artistic progression of her previous album IWhat I Deserve with the bittersweet If I Left You and the melodic reverie of Wait Until Dark (written with John Levanthal) showing how much she has matured as an artist since her days as an alt-country ingénue. Willis saves the best for last with the shimmering transcendence of Reason to Believe a celebration of the everyday wonder a baby brings to her mother providing redemption after all the heartbreak previously evoked. Don McLeese


Kelly Willis Album Editorial:
2002 album for the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter includes appearances from Vince Gill Union Stations Dan Tyminski Nickel Creeks Chris Thile. Ten tracks including a cover of Kirsty MacColls Dont Come The Cowboy With Me Sunny Jim!. Rykodisc.
One More Time: The MCA Recordings

Kelly Willis Album Editorial:
One word describes this overview of Williss three years with MCA Nashville: maddening. Willis has everything: a flawless classic country voice; a dreamy face; a shrewd eye for catchy but complex material; and a rock-steady band. Nashville and country radio should have been ready for her earthy sophistication and guileless talent; they werent--she never cracked the IBillboard Top 50--but neither was the shy stubborn Willis ready to compromise. From 1990 to 1993 her MCA run left some fresh exciting country music. Her biggest hit Baby Take a Piece of My Heart only hints at the fiery Little Honey (written by Dave Alvin) the effortless swing of Heavens Just a Sin Away the Bakersfield-flavored Looking for Someone Like You and the irresistible Take It All Out On You (cowritten by husband Bruce Robison). In her own way and on her own terms Willis has made it outside of the Nashville majors. These 14 songs are indelible reminders of just how much they missed. Roy Kasten
What I Deserve

Kelly Willis Album Editorial:
Kelly Williss first full-length offering since 1993 is one of the better country records you will hear alternative or otherwise. She covers tunes by the likes of Paul Westerberg Nick Drake and Paul Kelly and cowrites with the Jayhawks Gary Louris and John Leventhal. If none of the songs quite rises to the heights of the Steve Earle Jim Lauderdale and Joe Ely material on her 1991 masterpiece IBang Bang it is still solid stuff nonetheless. Any new song by Dan Penn (Got a Feelin for Ya cowritten with Chuck Prophet) is already worth the price of admission but Willis herself penned what may be the best tune here Talk Like That an ode to the comfort of a familiar accent far from home. IWhat I Deserve was recorded on a tight budget without a record deal which may be why the backing though well played (especially by guitarist Prophet) verges on sounding unfinished--or it may be the alternative-country sound she was intentionally seeking. Either way Williss sublime voice and delivery reside on a more sophisticated plane. If listening to her throaty warbling of Nick Drakes Time Has Told Me or her sultry rendering of the Penn tune doesnt give you chicken skin it is time to check your pulse. Michael Ross
Bang Bang

Kelly Willis Album Editorial:
Something of a latecomer to MCAs late-80s/early-90s stable of left-field country artists spearheaded by Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith Virginian Kelly Willis ultimately floundered there despite cutting three critically hailed releases for the company. iBang Bang the middle title in the MCA trilogy is an ever-appealing 10-song outing that makes Williss lack of commercial success all the more mystifying. Posited midway between the Nashville outskirts territory of Lovett Steve Earle and the other 80s insurgents and the mid-90s yalternative school (Willis mixes easily with both camps) iBang Bang shows off the singers powerful pipes and nose for excellent songs: tunes by Earle Australian folk-rocker Paul Kelly Jim Lauderdale and Joe Ely are among the standout selections here. iBang Bang reflected where one vital stream of country music headed in the 90s; too bad more fans didnt catch the boat. Steven Stolder
Well Travelled Love

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