RADAR: Kelly McRae

A little more than a year ago, New York songwriter Kelly McRae and husband/guitarist Matt Castlelein sold any possessions they couldn't pack in a VW camper, walked away from their Brooklyn apartment and hit the road. A couple of hundred shows and 35,000 miles later, the pair encamped at an old stone house in Knoxville, Tennessee and after stringing microphones in the great room recorded what was to become McRae's third album Brighter Than The Blues (September 15). “We tried to keep it simple," reflects McRae. "Live, we have two guitars, two voices and some stomping, and that’s about it. I really wanted to capture the spirit of the live show." The new album's wonderful title track is a marvel of simple production that defies the stripped instrumentation with densely packed layers of guitars strummed atop a shuffling foot-driven beat (amped up to eleven), McRae and Castleton in tight vocal harmony as they sing of images and memories along their coast-to-coast trek. Or as McRae puts it, "a light I can see now whenever I choose, a light that shines so much brighter than the blues."

Kelly McRae - "Brighter Than The Blues" (from Brighter Than The Blues)

Kelly McRae - "Keeper of the Light" (from Brighter Than The Blues)