“Standing shoulder to shoulder with contemporaries like Gillian Welch and Rhiannon Giddens...folk music harking back to the stripped-down sounds of Leadbelly, Robert Johnson and Woody Guthrie.”
— JOHN VAITES [AMERICANA UK]

BIO

Memphis-raised singer-songwriter, Kelly Hunt, paints stories as old and offbeat as her Depression-era tenor banjo and parlor guitar, reimagining traditions of folk & old-time music with innovative vigor. Interweaving poetic lyrics, lilting melodies, and intriguing arrangements, Hunt casts a spell which No Depression describes as “the musical equivalent of a book you can’t put down, one you’ll want to revisit again and again to catch every nuance and turn of phrase.” Hunt’s 2019 debut album, Even The Sparrow, was a finalist for the International Folk Music Awards “Album of the Year.” Her sophomore album, Ozark Symphony, was recorded with Grammy-winning musician & producer Dirk Powell and released on Compass Records in 2023.

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press

“10 Best Country and Americana Songs to Hear Now” — Rolling Stone Country

“20 Best Folk Albums of 2019” — PopMatters

“Kelly Hunt sings with the lilting cadence of a folksinger born somewhere far away, sometime long ago.”

— ROBERT CRAWFORD [ROLLING STONE COUNTRY]

“Uncanny is Hunt’s innate ability to summon the same vigorous energy of classic folk players, all while pushing forward to modernize the instrument’s role in contemporary songwriting...She delivers her lyrics with an earthen frankness that can’t be taught. ”

— Jonathan Frahm [POPMATTERS]

“Once in a while, a musical project comes along that truly captures the spirit of America…Kelly Hunt’s OZARK SYMPHONY does exactly this […] If you’ve ever been enchanted by the lyrical power of Lucinda Williams or felt the emotional tug of Nanci Griffith, then you’re about to meet your next obsession.”

— [GRATEFUL WEB]

“Kelly Hunt weaves an enchanting spell with her atmospheric music [...] Hunt’s vocals draw us in like a siren calling from rough seas, asking us not to dash ourselves on the rocks but to find shelter in her soothing tones.”

— [FOLK ALLEY]

“An ode to authenticity...OZARK SYMPHONY soars.”

— [AMERICAN SONGWRITER]

“[Hunt’s] stories — gut-punching in their truthfulness and beautiful in their imagery, often simultaneously — make her debut album, ‘Even the Sparrow,’ the musical equivalent of a book you can’t put down, one you’ll want to revisit again and again to catch every nuance and turn of phrase.”

— STACY CHANDLER [NO DEPRESSION]

“With her minimalist, almost woody-sounding banjo, and her clear, almost operatic voice, Kelly Hunt has a striking and original sound.”

— John Schaefer [WNYC Soundcheck / Weekly Roundup]

“From the first instant you know you’re in a place where there is no sense of time, where anything can happen and no one will ever have to admit to a thing.”

— Greil Marcus [ROLLING STONE]