KC Soundcheck is KCUR's spotlight for Kansas City musicians on the rise, as heard on Up To Date. Who should we interview next? Send us a text at 816-601-4777.
As a rising musician in Kansas City, Kirstie Lynn feels like she’s either going to blow up or burn out.
“This is kind of the plight of a lot of DIY musicians,” Lynn told KCUR’s Up To Date. “Where… people know who you are, people know your music around the city, but you're not able to necessarily pursue this full time.”
The grind of trying to make it big – and what success even looks like – is at the core of Lynn’s new EP, “Blazing Prairie Star.” The album dropped July 24.
“Blazing prairie star you think you’re going far / filling up all your nights singing to an empty bar,” she sings on the title track. “Heaven sent, and heaven, I’m flying towards the sun / I might just make a habit of burning up.”
“Blazing Prairie Star” is a return to solo work for Lynn, who is known around Kansas City for her folk duo with musician Galen Clark. Her soaring voice, often compared to Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, defines her sound, paired with guitar or banjo.
Lynn is a classically trained vocalist, and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance and opera.
“I do not consider myself a guitarist,” Lynn said. “I consider myself a guitar player, so I can sing.”
Like many folk musicians before her, Lynn often uses her lyrics to speak out politically.
On “Pray the Snow Melts,” a track with Clark that will be released on a vinyl edition of “Blazing Prairie Star,” she laments on the actions of the second Trump administration: “Big fear blowing in the winds again / in like a lion, out like a lamb / freeze in the funding, cold in the air / just pray that the snow melts soon.”
“Folk music is a lens through the artist's perspective of what's going on,” Lynn said. “But I also feel like it's a calling to be there for the people, to be the voice of the people.”
- Kirstie Lynn, folk musician
