Kelly's Lot -- Another Sky   (click on image to watch video)

 24 November 2020

Kelly Zirbes, the namesake of the band Kelly’s Lot, doesn’t limit herself to any one particular direction or distinction. With a career that stretches back more than a quarter century and includes extensive touring both here and abroad as well as some 15 previous albums, she’s managed to vary her template from southern rock and blues, to folk, roots and abject Americana. It’s allowed her to build a rabid fan base, and it was the input from her followers that inspired at least half the tracks on the band’s impressive new album, Another Sky, an effort which reflects her dexterity in all its various incarnations.

Produced by ace guitarist and renowned session player Doug Pettibone, Another Sky is, in fact, quite a remarkable effort given its daring and dexterity. It’s upbeat and exuberant, especially given a song like “The Irish Luck,” which, as its name implies, takes its cue from the sound of an old country jig. “Until I Find You Again” finds Zirbes’ tasteful croon front and center, bringing to mind the late Sandy Denny or Steeleye Span’s Maddy Prior with its sweet, seductive allure. So too, songs such as “Butterfly,” “Foolish Try,” “Lock Me Up,” and “Tangled” — the latter of which finds Pettibone sharing the lead vocal — provide an easy sway and swoon that’s well capable of seducing its listener every time out.

While most of the album aims to include mainstream melodies, certain songs do revert back to the blues — the ominous overture of “Sleep It Tonight” and the turgid ramble of “Took It Back” being the most obvious examples. Still, to Zirbes’ credit, she doesn’t cede her preferences to any one style in particular. Granted, that might lead to some confusion — or consternation — when it comes to trying to pinpoint her preferred genre, but no artist should ever have to be bound by boundaries or stifled by any particular parameters. In Zirbes’ case she’s as assertive and affirmative as she needs to be, and its melody and musicianship that come across above all else.

Indeed, Kelly’s Lot packs quite a punch..

Lee Zimmerman

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