Concert review: Kelly Willis

The lady can open her mouth and sing: Kelly Willis at Davey's Uptown. Photos by Timothy Finn/The Star

A few songs into her set, Kelly Willis tried to remember the last time she'd been in Kansas City. She didn't have to think about it too long; she got lots of help from her audience.

Someone yelled out the correct answer: "Lilith Fair." That was so long ago the Dixie Chicks were an opening act (it was their "Fly" tour). Willis also recalled a more distant show and was reminded it was at the long-gone Guitars & Cadillacs (back in the reign of Busho Uno).

"The memories come flooding back," she said, dryly.

So Willis hadn't played a live show in this area since 1999. I saw that one: She was on a side stage up on the lawn at Sandstone, and she seemed shy and unsure of herself. Eight years (almost to the day), a husband and four kids later, she seems like a different person.

Wednesday night, about 150 people gathered in the smoke-free back room at Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club to hear Willis and her sturdy five-piece band put on a show that was more amusing and entertaining than transcendent or soul-stirring. Willis doesn't sing to move the earth. She sings because she has a lustrous voice, and she likes sharing it with other people, usually in songs that are as pleasant as she is.

Above: Kelly Willis can rattle a tambourine. She also played the blues harp (briefly) during "Sweet Sundown."

The crowd this evening was heavily male. It looked like the Son Volt Lonely Hearts Club showed up to watch the lovely strawberry blond with the honeyed drawl sing whatever she wanted to. She had some female fans, too. Up front right by the stage, a few gals gave her the kind of girl-power reception teens give Avril Lavigne: some fist-pumping and loud sing-alongs, especially during "Not Forgotten You," which bemused the singer.

Willis played lots of songs from her new album, "Translated From Love," including the title track; "Sweet Little One," which she said was about a "full-grown man," not any of her children; and her fun-time cover of Iggy Pop's "Success" (one of the show's best moments).

That's not Carrot Top; it's  Eleanor Whitmore, who plays fiddle and mandolin and sings backup. Check out her own music.

But she also plowed back into her catalog, which goes back to 1990 and includes some tiny gems. One of those was "Wrapped," a song written by her husband, Bruce Robison (pronounced RAH-bisson). Before she played it, she told a short story about how the week her new album came out and got lots of positive reviews, George Strait's new version of "Wrapped" jumped to the top of the country charts. She didn't come right out and say it (several people in the crowd did, though) but she implied that her version is better. And she's right.

Other highlights (besides "Success"): "River of Love" and the first encore, the Kendalls' "Heaven's Just a Sin Away." Those three gave her voice room to spread out and her band some reason to rock a little and break out of its midtempo swing. Put it this way: As hot as it was, no one broke a sweat at this show. Nonetheless it was a night to remember.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Setlist: Nobody Wants to Go to the Moon Anymore; Sweet Little One; Not Forgotten You; Heaven Bound; Don't Know Why; Teddy Boys; Wrapped; Take Me Down; Too Much to Lose; The More That I'm Around You; What I Deserve; Take It All Out on You; Sweet Sundown; Find Another Fool; Fading Fast; Got a Feelin' For You; River of Love; Success. Encores: Heaven's Just a Sin Away; Translated From Love.

Comments

[subpopstar]

Good review. Just FYI, Eleanor Whitmore was with Willis' husband Bruce when he played at Knuckleheads on June 16. I guess she's got the Robison/Willis household covered!

[tfinn]

I like her music on her MySpace page.