Shreveport singer-songwriter Kelcy Mae is celebrating the release of The Place That You Call Home, her debut record with a new group, Ever More Nest. Described as “a band with an unmistakable Americana tilt,” Ever More Nest “pairs Kelcy’s signature poetic lyricism with a musical style that can set you simultaneously on a rural dirt road and a gritty, big-city street.”
Today (October 11), OffBeat.com premieres “Broken Bones,” a searing ode inspired by sadness and frustration.
As Kelcy Mae explains, “‘Broken Bones’ was the last song I wrote before heading into the studio last year. It was August, towards the end of a very brutal New Orleans summer. Those of us who live in New Orleans know the woes of the slow summer season compounded by intense heat and the anxiety brought on by Gulf storms. On top of the usual difficulty of getting through summer here was the August 5th flood, which affected my neighborhood and family. A month or two prior to that, someone broke into our home. While for me it’s a song about New Orleans, I think it’s more generally a song about ‘home’ and the heartbreak that only home can cause for a person–be it a city, a community, or even a family. It’s a song about that unique relationship we have with home, which can be full of love, joy, and appreciation one moment and then heartbreak, dysfunction, and brokenness in another.”
The song, she says, wasn’t easy to write. “The first line, where the album title originated, came to me in an instant. (‘No one can break your heart quite like the place that you call home’). A line like that makes it pretty obvious what your inspiration is, which is probably why the rest of the song took time and effort–some lines were other instant pops of inspiration, while other lines took me days or weeks to arrive at.”
“Broken Bones” and The Place That You Call Home are both examples of Kelcy Mae’s dedication to preserving Americana music. For her, the genre is the best of all worlds because it blends rock and roll, folk traditions, country music, blues and much more. “I’ve never felt comfortable writing in one set genre, and with Americana I have the ability to explore a variety of styles with some of my favorite instruments and musical textures,” she shares. “The soundscape we curated on this record really feels like home to me, and while some songs are notably more ‘Americana’ than others, you’ll find I think that they all belong and fit within the bigger picture. I think Americana should be celebrated for giving a home to those folks like me who want to write an alt-country rock and roll tune with some spacey effects and lyrics that don’t center around a pop country punch line.”
On Friday, October 12, Kelcy Mae and Ever More Nest will host a release party at Chickie Wah Wah. There, folks can expect to hear The Place That You Call Home in its entirety. “The band has done a phenomenal job of translating the record to the live show. Dave DeCotiis and I just returned from a three-week tour where we had the opportunity to really fine-tune our performance as a duo, and now I’m excited to perform the songs with the full setup. We’ll have Dave and myself on guitars, Lucy Cordts on banjo and mandolin, Chris Nicotera on bass guitar, and Rose Cangelosi on drums. Of course we’ll also be playing a few Kelcy Mae favorites for the longtime fans that have followed me through my musical evolution. Chickie Wah Wah is a great listening room, and we’re excited to showcase the record there,” she says.
