ABOUT
Minnesota songwriter Kelley Smith is a wallflower who fancies old poetry and grandpa sweaters. All at once whimsical and haunting, Smith delivers deeply affecting lyrics with wry charm and a time traveler's voice. Prone to melancholy and daydreaming, Kelley spent her childhood roaming the woods of the north country. To this day, her longing for that landscape runs deep and seems to find its way into her songs in one way or another.
Raised by musicians, Smith always had music in her bones, but it wasn't until she was 40 and a mother of four that her first record, Moon Child (2022), came to be. Since then, she has collaborated with artists such as Charlie Parr, Kelly Hunt, Wild Horses, Sarah Morris, Dave Simonett, Mike Munson and more. Though still a homebody and in the thick of family life, she occasionally tootles around the Midwest to perform in listening rooms, living rooms, haunted hotels, and at community-oriented festivals. Every once in a while she tucks into dive bars with her banjo to play folk songs.
With her much-anticipated sophomore release, “Flowers,” Kelley Smith leans into her exploration of songwriting as a means of disentangling herself. Smith is as gifted an instrumentalist as she is a singer, and her lyrics stand alone as poetry. With “Flowers,” Smith is a vessel of both the stories of her elders and those of her children, singing of universal sorrows and love that "puts on skin and bones." She wraps sparse instrumentation around her expressive guitar work - by way of counter-melodies, a lonely living room piano, and a few special guest players. “Flowers” is out on Nov. 6, 2026 on Liatris Records.
“These organic and unvarnished songs reflect life experiences that could as easily come from past lives as they could from Kelley’s soul.” - Rieder Homestead Concerts.
MUSIC
QUOTES
“Her ability to close the distance from the stage to your ears, while portioning out strong emotions, keeps you constantly leaning in more and more.”
- Tom Smouse, Smouse In The House
”In its truest form, folk music requires us to slow down, listen closely, and let ourselves be absorbed by stories that take us to another place and time. And there might be no better example of that in the Minnesota music scene than Kelley Smith. These organic and unvarnished songs reflect life experiences that could as easily come from past lives as they could from Kelley’s soul.”
- David Dennison, Rieder Homestead Concerts
“Kelley has performance sparkle that’s simply youthful. It belies innocence without being sugary...Kelley is similar in tradition to New Zealand’s marvelous Jenny Mitchell. Ladies who don’t adhere to the path of showboating yet exhibit extraordinary songwriting & performance skills.”
- John Apice, Americana Highways
”...armed only with her guitar and a spine-tingling voice, you couldn’t tell she’s only been at this a couple years. Smith transported the room into a realm of enchantment both beautiful and sorrowful. With deeply affecting lyrics and haunting melodies, Smith shared stories we could all relate to. Her solo acoustic set created an atmosphere of intimacy and vulnerability, allowing the audience to connect on a deep and personal level..”
- Carol Roth, Adventures in Americana
“Sometimes, just sometimes, a record comes along and stops you in your tracks.”
- Eilís Boland, Lonesome Highway
“Sure enough, her writing and singing are both full of soul. Absorb this and be moved.”
- Andrew Frolish, Americana UK
”Heartfelt without ever feeling mawkish or cliche, Moon Child is a rumination on love, loss and aging that celebrates the beauty and pain of nature’s implacable progression and the fleeting nature of our lives. Smith perfectly captures the human tendency to alternately struggle against and flow with the natural world and the passage of time.”
- Adventures in Americana
“Moon Child is a great listen. Intimately personal with a wry sense of humor, Kelley takes the listener on a journey of becoming. A deep look inward to which we can all relate in one way or another.”
- Dave Simonett, Trampled by Turtles