SIMPLY SIX: Kelsey Waite

Kelsey is from the Louisiana/Mississippi/Tennessee areas. She seems to move around a bit. Kelsey is at the start of her musical career and I hope music is the career she decides to jump into. She has one of those voices that reaches out and grabs me by the throat right away. There is a rawness to her sound, her voice sounds a lot more lived in that her young twenty early years. I think she is someone that big things are ahead of.

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?

I don't remember an exact moment. I grew up singing along to whatever was on, which was often Van Morrison or Alison Krauss, sometimes Queen or the Eagles. My mother loved Aaron Neville. Certainly music had a profound effect on me at an early age. Thanks to too much CMT, I wanted to be a “country star” from about the time I was 6 on up to 13 or so. But then I wanted to be a soccer star for a while; at some point a dancer/pop star; I fell in love with the French language for a stint. Someone gave me a Lucinda Williams record when I was about 17, and not until I got around to listening to it about a year later did my world completely change. So maybe that’s my moment, maybe that was the major seed.


2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?

My listening habits are always evolving. The staples besides Lu are of course Van Morrison, Dylan, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Bobbie Gentry, Neko Case. I listen to a lot of blues too. Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Junior Kimbrough, Slim Harpo, Memphis Minnie. I am moved by such a diversity of artists, from Chet Baker to X. And lately I cannot stop listening to the London Philharmonic do Bizet’s Carmen.
The form of singer-songwriter seems to have most informed my own style, though, and some of my favorites aren’t as well known: Victoria Williams, Kevin Gordon, Pieta Brown.
The high school marching band that practices nearby has almost got “When The Saints Go Marching In” down. It’s kind of my favorite to hear them throughout the day.


3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

It’s hard to say. I think there have been a handful of moments where I’m completely inside of whatever it is I’m doing … when a melody or a phrase buds and blossoms, when I know I’m living poetry/music. It’s usually most intense when performing live.


4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?

Music can happen at the intersection of intellect and emotion, and it has a physical presence—in dance, for example. I can’t think of much else with such power, that can engage us so wholly.
The majority of what we’re getting on the radio is commercially driven and spoon-fed to us, and I think that it’s reflected in the form and non/activity of our society. From another angle, the position of underground artists and the flow of listeners into that realm absolutely have material, political, and cultural effects. Think of original rock ‘n roll and the social upheaval that occurred when young white America realized they identified with and would rather hear black music. Cover artists and the appropriation of that sound for particular audiences, all the events surrounding those artists and businesses.
Music can absolutely change the world. It has and is now.


5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?

There are aesthetic effects like instrumentation and sound. Rural blues to electric blues, electric blues and folk to rock ‘n roll. Then there are the various mediums—vinyl, tape, cd, mp3. I think they all have bad and good points to them.
I don’t know if I’d call my relationship to music a career (ha). But I think most artists have been strongly affected by the internet. Through several different sites, but MySpace especially, we can reach so far beyond what we could normally. I can be fatally shy, and no one really ever heard me sing until MySpace. Then I got contacted through the site to play one of my first gigs, etc. Gear-wise, had it not been for the smaller USB mixer and studio mic I bought (on the internet), I wouldn’t be able to record and play around like I do.
On a larger scale, because of technology we are in a huge transition into, I think, an unpredictable music scene … it’ll be interesting. What happens might be horrifying; it might be beautiful.


6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

This is a hard one! I used to wear boots a lot, but not so much lately, since it’s too hot around here. I think I’d be something simple, maybe a hot pair of black suede casual/athletic shoes. Definitely something comfortable but stylish and understated. But I don’t know. Some days I feel completely different. I think I’d need a few different pairs.