Singer, songwriter and pianist Kelley Hunt started performing in the 1970s, and has played in clubs as well as jazz, blues and gospel festivals around the country. Her new, seventh recording marks a first for Hunt: a holiday album.
“I've been wanting to do one for quite a while,” Hunt says, “and I really wanted to do something that was uniquely my own — that included not only songs that meant something to me, that I grew up hearing and singing, but songs that I'd written myself.”
Hunt released "Winter Soulstice" this November.
“And the timing seems like it was a long time coming, but it was right on time,” she says.
The album was recorded in August in Kansas City, and features a roster of area performers like drummer Brandon Graves and The Wires, a string duo of Sacha Groschang and Laurel Parks.
Every musician except one on the album is from the Kansas City area, says Hunt, who lives in Lawrence, Kansas, and was born in Kansas City, Missouri.
“I wanted a real Kansas City flavor and feel to all of the tracks,” she says, “and these guys brought it.”
The roots journal No Depression called “Winter Soulstice” a “big band, gospel/soul platter.” The recording includes holiday classics like “Silent Night” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” and new songs about peace and unity.
“The theme of this whole album really is upliftment,” says Hunt, “unifying folks at a time of year when I think, hopefully, we’re all leaning towards that.”
The Fish Fry host Chuck Haddix spoke with Hunt in the KCUR studios. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Most holiday CDs rely upon holiday standards. You took a little different musical route to this. How did you assemble the repertoire for this?
Well, I've been working on it for quite a while. I've done five years of Winter Soulstice shows, live shows — until the pandemic.
And I had a chance over the years to really sift through and think about; If I were to do a holiday album, what would I do in my own way and how would it be different?
There are a lot of standards, Christmas songs, that I love to hear every year, but there's a lot of stuff that other folks do that just kind of sound like the same, old same old.
I was ready to step away from that, including adding some songs of my own. These songs really are near and dear to my heart. I grew up singing them and I had my own take and arrangements on them that I was able to flesh out a little bit before the studio.
A fresh take on the classics, but also some interesting new Christmas evergreens, including a song called “You, You, You,” which is kind of a lustful tune.
That's my tip of the hat to some of the songs like, you know, “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’” and “Five Pound Box of Money,” and all those fun old chestnuts there. It was just my take on that tongue-in-cheek — and, man, it's fun to do live.
The last track on this CD is “Auld Lang Syne.” Now you did two different takes on this. How did that come about?
That came about from live performance. That first version that you’ll hear is something that I spontaneously did on one of our Winter Soulstice shows about three or four years ago. James (Albright) was on bass, Allena (Ross) was on vocals, and I just started playing it without telling them I was going to do it. It just kind of came to me, that version.
It's a poignant version of the song. It’s an emotional time of year for a lot of folks, and the song itself is, you know, pretty nostalgic.
And then I just had to tear into the jump-and-boogie version right after that to leave people feeling uplifted.
Al Berman — my manager, my husband and my co-producer of all of our albums — encouraged me to go ahead and do it that way on the record, and I'm really glad he did. He was right. It was a lot of fun and we've gotten some good reactions to it.
It's a wonderful contrast of not only tempos but style. The second version of “Auld Lang Syne”; How did you switch gears on this one?
Oh man, it was easy because this style of music feels like home to me — feels like Kansas City to me. It was a ball to do, and it just came naturally.
The Kansas City “Winter Soulstice” album release concert is at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 17 at the Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Missouri 64105.
