* Received Honorable Mention at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, 2004
* Featured on NPR's All Songs Considered
* Heard on internet radio and Midwest public/college radio stations including KFAI, KUMD, WORT, WRNC, and WOJB
Kelly Hagee started teaching herself to play piano in the 6th grade, after a brief love affair with the trumpet ended abruptly. By age 13, she was composing and performing her instrumental piano pieces in local talent shows!
While traveling with the Audubon Expedition Institute after high school, she picked up the guitar and learned the traditional folk songs of Appalachia and the Old West. She began penning her own tunes at 21, living in a tent outside of Santa Fe and drinking too much coffee.
A couple of years later, back in the Midwest, she ended up fronting a folk/rock band (in the NW Chicago suburbs) and later played in an acoustic duo (in Madison and Minneapolis). In 2002, she first attended the Song School, part of the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest in Lyons, CO. After that, she began to explore her individual voice, adopted her late grandmother's maiden name and became Kelly Brightwell.
Kelly's first solo recording, "wait for your spring", was released in the fall of 2004. It was originally intended as a demo, but evolved into a captivating debut that features alt-pop anthems and intimate acoustic tracks, driving ballads and dance mixes.
The hallmark of a Kelly Brightwell song is that it illuminates: she can conjure up concealed connections, find the flowering in first heartbreak, glean the grace bestowed by gravity, and harness the turbo-force of childhood dreams. She can lay her songs bare, or flesh them out with live percussion looping and digital programming. Either way, her strong lyrics, penetrating insight and clear voice shine through on every track.
She toured throughout 2004-5, including some notable folk venues: Ginkgo Coffeehouse and the New Folk Collective Concert Series in St. Paul, MN; Café Montmartre and Mother Fool’s in Madison, WI; Dolores Park Café and Rose Street House of Music in San Francisco and Berkeley, CA; and Uncommon Ground in Chicago, IL.
It was her deep pleasure to share the stage with such well-loved old and new folk performers such as Chuck Brodsky, Ellis, Tret Fure, Trina Hamlin, Cindy Kallet, Brianna Lane, Julie Lloyd, Justin Roth, Barb Ryman and Hayward Williams.
Since 2006, she has taken some extended time away from the guitar to take care of various arm injuries and issues. But she's returned to writing and playing more recently -- and gently! She's also on the hunt for the perfect small guitar:)
Meanwhile, she's learning to call Portland, Oregon home.