Riff: Kelly Willis
Americana and Country music songstress Kelly Willis is in the building, so to speak, and has been in the news since playing the Kerrville Folk Festival in the Spring. After a summer playing in venues from Maine to Seattle, she’s back on her home turf in Texas. She’ll play the iconic Armadillo Christmas Bazaar on December 21 and is on the Blue Rock performance schedule for January 11. If you missed getting tickets for her show at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern last week in Fischer, like I did, you’ll be pleased to know you can experience that beautifully agile, intimate, best-friend voice without having to travel too far.
Kelly is the mother of four children, which is the reason we’ve not seen as much of her as we might have liked in the last few years. With three of the four at college, her last son is finishing high school this year. In 2022 she divorced her longtime musical partner and husband, Bruce Robison. The pair are friendly, writes Michael Corcoran in Texas Highways, and live near each other north of UT in Austin.
For her summer tour she teamed up with Brennan Leigh and Melissa Carper, solo artists who really shine when performing with Kelly as a trio. Brennan is a songwriter, guitarist and mandolin player who hails from North Dakota and who now resides in Austin. Melissa, who also lives in Austin, plays upright bass and offers up her “old-timey music roots” embedded during childhood while performing in her family’s traveling band in Nebraska. Both Brennan and Melissa tour on their own and enjoy cult followings in the US and Europe.
You might recall that Kelly was signed to MCA records in the 1980s, but parted ways with the label in 1993. After a brief stint with A&M Records, she released the 1999 hit album, “What I Deserve,” to critical success. Other albums followed with the last one in 2019 called “Beautiful Lie.”
Roam: Empty Bowls in Dripping Springs
My roam this week took me no further than the Dripping Spring Ranch Park and Event Center for the annual Empty Bowls fundraiser. For the past 25 years, the project has joined chefs, potters and musicians together to raise funds for the city’s Helping Hands food pantry.
At the 11 a.m. start time, I was surprised by the number of cars parked in the facility’s lots. I edged into one row and climbed down steps to the event center below. At the door, I was met by a friendly volunteer who explained the process for selecting a handmade bowl, paying organizers, and finding my way to the room where I could fill my bowl with soup made by area chefs.
Four long tables were stacked with bowls of various shapes and colors. I was advised to pick up any bowl that caught my eye and carry it around until I could make up my mind which one might go home with me. Bowls were going so fast that hesitating might prove disappointing. I saw several people toting as many as eight bowls as they surveyed one more table for pleasing specimens. I circled twice before settling on a skillfully made, footed stoneware vessel with a blue rim. Because of its excellent base, this bowl could not be tipped over.
After paying $25 for my bowl, I proceeded to tables staffed by girls scouts wearing their uniforms and badged sashes who washed my bowl in a zinc tub. The girls pursued their duties earnestly and were not much given to idle chit chat. From that room I crossed into the arena area where a horse jumping competition was underway, past the snack bar and into a large adjoining room filled with tables, chairs and a stage where musicians were setting up.
I was astonished to see that practically every seat at every table was taken. By 11:30, at least 350 citizens were spooning up soup in the huge room. On the room’s perimeter were the stations for soup, tea and water. For a reasonable fee, there were harder drinks available from Bell Springs Brewery and Winery.
It was a small challenge to choose one soup over another. At least 30 restaurants had provided hearty concoctions, including Leaning Pear, Chuy’s, Jack Allen’s, Jobell Café, Dai Due, Hays City Store, Gourmet Gals and others. There were potato, chicken tortilla, lentil, curry, and other soups filled with noodles and pasta. I joined people standing in lines up to ten deep to get my bowl filled. I settled on an eggplant curry from Spoon + Fork that was hearty and fragrant. Fortunately, I found a seat at a table just as another person got up to leave. My soup was silky smooth and ultrarich. I dipped a slice of substantial sourdough bread into the gravy brought to me by a scout holding a basket. Despite being pleasantly sated, I waved another young scout over to select a cookie from the basket she carried.
Each table was brightened by a small vase of flowers contributed by a local florist. In our vase a gorgeous orange cockscomb dominated the arrangement. My tablemates were absorbed in taking up their soup, watching for the baskets of bread and cookies, and murmuring to each other over their bowls. The atmosphere was so pleas- ant that I was a little sorry to relinquish my seat to a man looking for a place to land. Musician Alex Dormont had finished his set and Big John Mills was setting up his sound system on the stage. Other musicians on the roster were The Cunningham Sisters, The Lockhearts, and the Ghost Jam Players.
The Empty Bowls project is the largest fundraiser for the Dripping Springs Helping Hands food pantry. It accounts for more than 60% of their annual budget and, according to their website, the rising cost of food, housing, utilities, transportation and healthcare has left many in our area to make impossible choices. Two-thirds of their clients say they have to choose between buying food and paying for housing and 80 percent say they have to choose between food and medicine. The pantry, which is 100 percent volunteer, is currently serving over 100 households each week. For more information about this important, well-organized event that benefits our neighbors, go to helpinghands-drippingsprings. org.
Rave: Abby Jane Bakeshop in
Dripping Springs This rave was provided to me by Wimberley resident Susan Rigby who keeps her ear to the ground and generously shares the gems she finds with me. This one is a true “find,” although gauging from the people there, I am a latecomer to this party. Located off Fitzhugh road inside the Barton Springs Mill, the Abby Jane Bakeshop is the endeavor of Abby Love, a native of Louisiana and veteran of the restaurant and baking industry. Spacious and down to earth inside, picnic benches allow diners to languish over lattes, teas, and
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substantial morning buns outside. The menu boasts breads, pastries, sandwiches and other goodies made from whole and heritage grains ground at the mill. Some of the breads they offer are sourdough, baguettes, pumpernickel, cornbread, challah, spelt, pretzels, cinnamon swirl, milk bread, focaccia, rye, and Einkorn. You can buy pizza crusts to take home, too. With notice, you can order cakes, pies, dinner rolls and other items from their website. For more about this unique bakery and its colorful owner, go to abbyjanebakes. com.
