Though her home is in Austin, Texas, Kelley Mickwee’s heart is tied to her roots in Memphis, Tennessee. The singer-songwriter acknowledges this attachment in her second solo album, Everything Beautiful, a pulsating, irrepressibly good recording with a heavy emphasis on all aspects soulful, each song an object of spirit-driven affection.
“Stylistically, I’ve always wanted to make a bit of a soul record, and on this recording, I stepped away from the country,” says Mickwee. “I’m a Memphis girl. I grew up listening to this type of music and wanted to make it into a full album. There is no acoustic guitar. The background is vocal, heavy, and soulful. [Everything Beautiful] became exactly what I envisioned and wanted.”
The role and influence of Memphis in shaping the character of the larger American cultural ethos cannot be overemphasized – Sun Studio, Stax Records, W.C. Handy, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Memphis Slim, the threads are mighty tight – and Mickwee long ago first absorbed them. But now she has finally pressed these influences into this special package.
“Memphis is the home of the blues and rock ‘n’ roll. I always was aware of where I lived,” says Mickwee. “I was always aware of what Memphis meant to American music as the birthplace of all these things.”
As a girl, Mickwee consumed her mother’s records – the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt were central figures in the collection – and after she entered her teens, she experienced the profusion of live, local, original Memphis music at places such as the Poplar Lounge.
“I was too young to even be in there,” said Mickwee. “There were so many local musicians that maybe you never heard of or don’t know, and they all soaked up Memphis energy and flavors. I heard so many great Memphis artists throughout high school and college at the University of Memphis (she graduated in 2001)…The locals were the building blocks for me as a singer, and they were inspirational to get a band together and start playing music as a living.”
Kelley Mickwee left Memphis in her early 20s to play and perform music solely and fully. For more than 20 years, she has been investing her time, energy, and heart to make it happen. She’s done so in many incarnations and formations, from solo artist to duettist, one-third of a trio, and supporting or harmony singer.
“I’ve found all different roles in music,” says Mickwee. “I’ve found those special places that open their doors, allow you to plug in an acoustic guitar, talk and sing songs for 90 minutes.”
In 2014, Mickwee released her first solo record, You Used to Live Here. The pride and joy song, “River Girl,” is a reflective, fretful love song that draws from her upbringing in Memphis but hints at the less glamorous side of life there. The album was recorded in the former home of writer and historian Shelby Foote (1916-2005), an English-style residence on East Parkway turned into a music studio.
“The house is like a castle,” said Mickwee. “It was the first record made in that space. It’s a spooky place in a cool way. You could picture authors and poets there drinking and smoking and talking.”
Ten years later, Everything Beautiful represents a creative, inquisitive artist’s growth, change, and widening confidence. The album is a force of nature—it roars with boundless energy and precious aspiration—and also a force of nurture, winking mischievously at the city that has given her many musical gifts.
Songwriting is a painstaking process for Mickwee. At times, it feels weathered and ugly. Rarely a song emerges quickly, mysteriously. But, by and large, it’s a complicatedly stubborn game.
“This record is a monumental act for me,” says Mickwee. “I am proud of every song and proud of completing it. There are no fillers.”
Mickwee conceived the album as a method of pushing the boundaries of her vocals, and she and producer David Boyle started the project with this and other shared artistic visions. This included Mickwee’s voice as the foremost factor in carrying the production and cutting all of the tracks “live” at Austin’s Church House Studios. Both agreed that Mickwee needed to have a commanding singing group behind her. Because of this, Everything Beautiful is vocally plentiful and plush.
“We agreed on the choices of songs and sonically on the same page as far as how it sounded…every song has at least a two-part or four-part harmony, big choirs, with the vocals being out front.”
The first song, “Joyful,” formidably sets the album’s tempo, emanating the force of an artist immersed in the sheer bliss of the presentation. Indeed, you can hear the expressive joy that must have pervaded the room and feel Mickwee’s desire to make a cohesive and provocative piece of art.
“Singing is what I do the best and enjoy the most,” says Mickwee. “To sing with the band live, in two or three takes, and then move on to the next song, was incredible. You hear the experience we all had in this big room together…like in the Sun Studio days when you’d sing it once or twice, and then it would be on the radio the next week. What it sounded like in that moment is what people will hear.”
Mickwee, who has called Austin home since 2008, is enjoying the opportunity to wholly embrace the ecstasy of singing, setting the guitar down, and letting these new songs buzz.
“It’s amazing to sing – to perform hands-free and just sing. Singing is my first and biggest love.”