Folks I am lucky enough to make music with:
Josh Kaler, Bryn Roberts, Dan Crean, Jay Barclay, Aaron Tashjian, Mark Stepro, Danny Cassady, Kelly Jones, Jody Porter
Influences
Pixies, Led Zeppelin, Ani DiFranco, Fugazi, Janes Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, Sheryl Crow, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Frank Black, PJ Harvey, Spoon, Radiohead, Liz Phair, Jeff Buckley, Indigo Girls, Violent Femmes, Tori Amos, Aimee Mann, Wilco, Sarah McLachlan, Rage Against the Machine, Feist, Tower of Power, James Brown, Elliott Smith, Nirvana, REM, Ryan Adams, Nada Surf, Feist, Broken Social Scene, Johnny Cash, Primus, Thelonious Monk, Bjork, Talking Heads, Ella Fitzgerald, Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, Moby, Shaman, Tom Petty, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, The Doors, The Cure, 213, Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, The Shins, Skinny Puppy, Noir Desir, Sleater-Kinney, Simon and Garfunkel, Peter Paul and Mary, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, David Mead, Tracy Bonham, Ron Sexsmith
Sounds Like
Kelly Buchanan performs 'Slow Watches' (The Cutting Room) NY
Kelly Buchanan: 'You are the Fix' (Cutting Room, NYC)
ASCAP Los Angeles Benefit: Wednesday, August 12 @ The Troubadour
Although Kelly does have health insurance, her treatment is extremely expensive. Some of Kelly's good friends are coming together the night of 8/12 at The Troubadour for benefit concert to raise funds to help off-set the cost of Kelly's medical care:
ASCAP proudly presents: A Benefit for Kelly Buchanan ..a concert to support their singer/songwriter who is suffering from traumatic brain damage.
"I don't need to be saved / I don't even need to heal / there is
beauty in anguish / that I promise I will yield / I'm okay /
You're okay / I'm okay / Everything's all right this way."
- Kelly Buchanan, "I'm Okay"
Everything is indeed all right for New York's Kelly Buchanan. With her self-titled 2008 release, she shines as an unflappable rock 'n roll vixen. The album is a tableau of mature songs, gorgeous arrangements, simple hooks and a velvet voice. It's a tribute to looking for hope and happiness, and to finding balance. And it’s a new direction for Buchanan.
Kelly Buchanan lived nine lives before she ever left her teens. She nursed an ailing father at 11, was at a boarding school at 13, and at 15 lived alone in a motel and worked at IHOP. She celebrated her sweet 16 with her bandmates at her public high school in France, and at 17 she was living and volunteering in a squatter town in Guayaquil, Ecuador. There she starred in TV commercials, radio ads and joined the national soccer team's cheerleading squad before reuniting with her family in the States at 18, just in time to watch her grade school peers graduate from high school. At 19 she was off again, this time to Buenos Aires doing research on rape and machismo through a UNESCO program.
These adventures gave Kelly Buchanan a plethora of stories to tell - a release she found in the albums she created along the way: A Bipolar World (1999), Match (2002) and Bastard Daughter (2005). While there were many love songs peppered in, Buchanan also covered a lot of dark territory in songs about abuse ("Here with a Bruise"), death ("Breathe You In"), sexual violence ("Hell-Taker") and survival (“Body Bag”).
But where do you go when you're ready to move on? That was the question Kelly Buchanan faced as she began writing songs for her fourth album. Bastard Daughter earned her positive reviews, a spot on CMJ's college radio charts, a dozen TV placements (including A&E, MTV and The CW), national distribution through Redeye, and endorsements from Daisy Rock Guitars, Elixir Strings, and Fender Guitars. She toured nationally and opened for artists including Mike Doughty, Martha Wainwright and The Whigs. But as her career was gaining momentum, the fierce songwriting that got her there was becoming an emotional burden. She concluded that reliving nightmares with every performance was simply not how she wanted to spend her life.
"I got into therapy at the same time as I started writing this record," says Buchanan. "I was trying to write something really positive, that I'd want to sing every night, that would make me feel better." She collaborated with good friend and producer Josh Kaler, a member of the band Slow Runner, at his studio in South Carolina. The first song they wrote was called "I'm Okay," a gentle and introspective ballad whose layered exploration belies its uncomplicated title. It became the mission statement for an album about healing -- as Buchanan says, "It's about the simple acts of reaching out and starting over, and the things you need to do to recover."
Through the eighteen months spent writing and recording the self-titled album, Buchanan wrote songs with a cast of talented artists, including Kaler (who is credited on three tracks), Tracy Bonham, Adam Schlesinger (of Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy) and Jeff Cohen (who has written hit songs for artists including Sugarland, Big & Rich, Josh Groban and Mandy Moore). The result is an album that veers from dreamy to jagged and back again, exploring a wide range of emotional turf in between. Buchanan sings about relishing imperfections on "Slow Watches," digging out of the mire on "Plastic Spoon," and of holding yourself up to the standard of childhood idealism on "Kid Self." And she sings about love, but her eccentric slant on songs like "Favorite Zero" and "You Are The Fix" makes her voice unique.
Of the choice to leave her fourth album self-titled, Buchanan says it represents a new beginning in her life and career. "I know I'll be somewhere else in a few years, hopefully more enlightened and evolved and more comfortable with myself and happier with where I am," she says. "This is the beginning leg of that next journey."
hey kelly! not sure if you remember me, we did one gig together with Ward for Chris Mann, somewhere on ludlow... then we all had San Loco burritos! yum.... anyway, just came by after getting the email about the benefit in LA, and cranked up your tunes.... i had forgotten how bloody incredible they are. good lord almighty.
i wish you happy thoughts, and continued recovery vibes ~ ~ ~
Hi Kelly -- I'm sorry to hear about your injury - I went to Berklee in '99-'00 and I think you were there then-a friend of mine may have been a backup singer for one of your tours (Johanna from Sweden). Sending you the best vibes and a bunch of support as well! We're all thinking of you! peace- Kathy McCann
Hey Kelly! Don't know if you remember me from the Berklee days (john musella rock lab-lol)...Anyway...Just heard of what happened...So sad! I'll make sure to go to the benefit. I hope you'll be fully recovered and rockin' out soon. Take care, sweety! -Lucio
hey kelly, i wanted to say hello and let you know you are THE GREATEST (sorry catpower)! i posted a couple of your videos and a huge photo of you on my myspace profile. take care my beautiful friend....garnet
just wanted to drop you a note to see how you're doing. i hope all is well. if you get a chance, send me a note and let me know what's new when you get a chance.
