BRAINERD — Kelley Smith said she is excited for her first show in Bemidji.
2023 was a big year for her. Not only did she have an opportunity to perform a lot, but she also got the chance to know the music community.
“One of the biggest highlights of that was just making friends who are musical like me, who enjoy songwriting and who maybe share similar quirks in that way has been really awesome,” she said in a Wednesday, Jan. 24, Area Voices interview.
That connection to other musicians has led to some great opportunities.
When Smith started thinking about performing in Bemidji, she reached out to fellow musician Doyle Turner and asked for advice. He suggested Headwaters School of Music and the Arts as a venue and offered to join her and bring Jed LaPlant of Wild Horses. He will play upright bass and guitar with Smith for the show.
Traveling musician
Smith finds positives and negatives about being a musician in the Brainerd area. Every show she performs requires a long drive, which can be a hassle, but she’s found it has made her home in Brainerd more special.
“That makes Brainerd just my safe place,” she said. “ ... My place to hunker down and really not have that pressure to be out playing all the time.”
The long drives forced Smith to be more intentional about what shows she says “yes” to.
“I find that driving in a car is like being back in the womb. You got the white noise and the low hum ... just the sound of the wheels on the highway and that tends to be my quiet time.”
Future music
Smith has been working on a new album. She recorded some demos last September, but decided she needed to take a break for a few months after such an intense year of being a musician.
“I made the demos and they just felt tense to me. It felt like I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do with those songs, and I really want my music that I share with the world to be relaxed and to be natural,” she said.
She’s hoping to start recording again in March.
Songwriting hasn’t become any easier for Smith. In fact, she said it’s harder. When she first started writing songs, it was early in the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The music and songwriting were easy for her, and almost necessary to get through a global pandemic.
“I didn't think that I would ever have the opportunity to share my songs with anybody other than perhaps my immediate family,” Smith said. “So those songs really came out of just kind of like a pure, innocent place.”
Smith now has an awareness that people are likely to hear what she writes this time.
“I think honesty and truth are so important. And so that's how I'm going to write. Then I gotta decide. Do I want to share that with the world? It is a very vulnerable thing. Especially when people know who you are, have an idea of who you are, who they think you are.”
Looking back
It’s been a little over a year since her EP Moon Child came out, and Smith said she’s proud of that project and those five songs really expanded her world.
“I still love those songs,” she said. “ ... All the people I've been able to meet, and getting emails from random people over in Sweden and saying such and such song meant something to them — and it's just incredible. It's just something I never thought I would be able to do.”
The Bemidji show at Headwaters School of Music and the Arts begins at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3. Tickets are $15 and are available at the Headwaters School of Music and the Arts website.
Tell us about upcoming arts events where you live in Northern Minnesota by emailing psa@kaxe.org.
Area Voices is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.