Kelley Hunt

Acclaimed Roots/Blues Artist Kelley Hunt to Perform in St. Augustine Friday, Jan 15, 2016 Enroute to Blues Cruise!

Kelley Hunt will arrive in St. Augustine still riding a wave of accolades for her 6th release “The Beautiful Bones” which streeted mid-2014 and has been universally hailed by press, radio and fans on both sides of the Atlantic as the best work of her career. “If there truly is a Higher Power, He/She should press PLAY on the latest release by Kansas City’s Kelley Hunt.  Rest assured that the takeaway will be, despite how everything’s been going lately, everything’s going to be okay after all.” said BLUES MUSIC MAGAZINE; “Kelley Hunt soars on her new release and invites listeners along for the ride.”  said CASHBOX; “It is not very often that we receive an album that makes us sit down and really listen; like, grabs us and demands our full attention.  Multi-instrumentalist Kelley Hunt has done just that with her new album, ‘The Beautiful Bones’.  This album has depth, soul, personality, and nuance. (It) will definitely lift your spirits and make you smile, on the inside.”  AMERICAN BLUES SCENE; “a beautiful work of art…It is an album you will want to hear over and over discovering something new each time.”  added TUMBLR.  THE SEATTLE TIMES proclaimed her “One of the best songwriters of the genre” in an earlier review.

Hunt’s music has been described as a gumbo of roots music styles influenced by blues, roots R&B, gospel, soul, the piano vernaculars of Kansas City, St. Louis and New Orleans - all framed by her unique identity as a songwriter, crossing roots boundaries and at times taking on social and political issues.  It’s all delivered with superior skills as a singer and keyboardist.  She has a simpler take, however. 

“All the stuff I grew up listening to - things my parents and siblings turned me onto and things I sought out and connected with - it all just went in the way it went in and comes out the way it comes out.  It’s an organic process for me. Sometimes a song or song idea bubbles to the surface seemingly on its own and I have no idea why, I just run with it,” said Hunt.

In addition to a list of favorite traditional artists, Hunt cites as a young girl hearing the sound of her mother’s and grandmother’s voices (both jazz/gospel singers, her grandmother having toured with a gospel choir out of New Orleans for awhile) among her most powerful influences. There were also pivotal piano lessons at age 10 from former Vaudeville / boogie woogie specialist Mary Burke Norton in Emporia, KS where the family lived at the time.  According to Hunt, Norton was a big-hearted, eminently talented caricature - bright red wig, cigarette often dangling from her mouth, gravelly voice and an eye for talent, who celebrated Hunt’s early ability to play by ear, built on it, taught her boogie-woogie and how to read music.

“She was my musical angel and, man, did she have an attitude,” said Hunt.  “But thank God for her - she made me the piano player I am today,” she added.


Kelley Hunt’s career comprises 6 critically acclaimed releases, hundreds of thousands of indie units sold, a long list of appearances on some of the most significant roots/blues and pan-genre festival stages in North America and Europe, song placements in major studio and indie feature films and much more.  The show is presented by Rick Ambrose Productions. Photo: www.thecedar.org

From: http://jazz-bluesflorida.blogspot.com.br/2016/01/noted-blues-artist-kelly-hunt-to.html