Loving ‘Gravity’

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:

LOVING ‘GRAVITY’

“There’s no law that says you can’t dance in Kief’s,” Kelley Hunt told the audience between songs. “There’s dancin’ to be had here.”

Two sisters, about 3 and 5, had already taken the lead. They held hands and danced in a circle as Hunt sang “These Are the Days.”

It’s pretty hard not to move when Kelley Hunt sings. She packs the energy of a Kansas thunderstorm into her performances, and her music is like a spring rain for the soul.

On Feb. 12, Hunt performed a few of her songs for an audience in Kief’s Audio and Video store in Lawrence, several days ahead of the official launch of her fifth CD, “Gravity Loves You.”

She sang the title song which is about taking chances, about following your heart, and that when you “step into the sky, gravity loves you, baby.”

Raised in Emporia, Hunt now lives in Lawrence. Her music stretches across genres and includes roots and Americana music, roots R&B, gospel and rock. Touring alone and with her band has taken her across the United States and to Canada and Europe.

Hunt was playing piano by ear at age 3. Her parents, Milie and Mary Sue Wade, are musicians themselves and they always encouraged her to play and perform.

In her bio, Hunt said, “I grew up in an atmosphere where boundaries just didn’t matter and people were okay with the joyful aspect of musical expression, no matter what it sounded like or what style. And I was fully accepted as a wild little kid that would just leap up and start banging out something on the piano. I was never told to tone it down, shut it up, never laughed at.”

When I asked Hunt if she could pinpoint the time when she realized that music was going to be her life, she said, “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know it. It’s always been who I am.”

Because she’s never doubted who and what she is, there’s a pureness, an authenticity that comes through in her music. She puts everything she has into her performances and listeners eagerly step on for the ride.

Writing her own music is just part of the game. “I can’t not write,” Hunt told me. “Plus, I am a firm believer that there really is no such thing as writer’s block.”

So she schedules appointments with co-writers and has structured writing time alone. “And I always stay open to whatever inspiration may come in. I always have a notebook and pen, computer, or some way to document ideas that come in unsolicited.”

Hunt often collaborates on songwriting with Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg. They co-wrote eight of the 12 songs on “Gravity Loves You.”

And for anyone interested in writing music, Hunt and Mirriam-Goldberg will be leading their sixth Brave Voice retreat at White Memorial Camp near Council Grove in May. This retreat focuses on writing, singing and songwriting. (For more information, visit www.bravevoice.com.)

Meanwhile, at Kief’s, before she sang her last tune for the day, “In the End,” Hunt told the audience how this particular song found its way onto the CD.

While wrapping up the recording session last August in Nashville, Hunt began playing a brand new song for the engineer just for fun. Before she got too far, he said, “Stop. I want to roll tape on this.”

Hunt said, “When it was time to put together the CD, we thought, ‘well, we’ll just see what that sounds like’ and we ended up using it. So you never know.”

I’m glad they included it. It’s one of my favorites.

“In the End” is about love and kindness, forgiveness, redemption: “In the end it doesn’t matter what may be or what has been / We’ll be standing here together, in the end, in the end.”

With this new CD, once again Kelley Hunt connects. Her music is about taking chances and about the richness of life as well as its grittiness. You can stay in one room while listening, but Hunt’s expressive voice will carry you to another place.

*“Gravity Loves You” may be purchased at www.kelleyhunt.com as well as from iTunes and other online music sources.

Copyright 2011 ~ Cheryl Unruh

One of Kelley Hunt’s fans visits with her after the performance.

And she shows Kelley Hunt how she holds her violin.