Singer/songwriter Kelley Hunt returns to Telluride’s Sheridan Opera House 2/23

Kelley Hunt performs everything from hot bar blues to cool R&B in a big, rich, sexy, soulful voice reminiscent of pop/blues diva Bonnie Raitt. The singer naturally combines the influences of R&B, roots rock, blues gospel, folk and soul into her own style and sound, all wrapped up in a Midwestern identity: The sounds of the place she grew up, the grasslands of Kansas’ Flint Hills, are unmistakably there in her rhythmic piano phrasing and the earthy honesty of her vocal delivery. What’s more, Hunt turns a piano into a boogie woogie blaster, and now for something completely different, she adds electric and acoustic guitar to the show.

Since Hunt last played the Opera House, she has had two releases, New Shade of Blue, and her latest, Mercy, the focus of her Telluride set.

Mercy is a compelling next step in Kelley Hunt’s professional evolution, an intense, intentional collision between her righteous roots influences and contemporary overlays with rich veins of political and social commentary threading throughout. 

Kelley Hunt is also about to make her film debut. The film is Kevin Willmott’s upcoming indie feature “Bunker Hill,” set in Kansas. Kelley sings “Mountain to Move” from Mercy over the closing credits, a song which showcases her vocal firepower.

Hunt is on tour with a terrific new band: guitarist Josh Smith (Raphael Saadiq), drummer Bryan Head (Shelby Lynne, John Doe, Dick Dale, Dead Rock West) and bassist Kenny Ames (Jason and the Scorchers) in addition to Hunt on piano and guitars.

For more, listen to Kelley Hunt’s podcast and watch the video of her in performance.