Dec 5, 20236 min read

Rising Blues Star, Kelli Baker, and Her Quest to Live Her Music Dream

Updated: Dec 6, 2023

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and now hailing from the Upper East Side of New York, blues musician, Kelli Baker, is quickly making a name for herself the old fashioned way: pure hard work, passion, and love of the game. She's had one hell of a year and is barely coming up for breath. I struggle with where to begin this article as Kelli and I have known each other since birth. Our mothers grew up as hippy best friends long before having children, and as such, we've been tied since we were little (we have endless photo proof, some we likely wish we didn't). I knew our chat could easily veer sideways, but our mutual love of music is enough to go on for days.

The day I rang Baker, she was set to play at The Bitter End, an iconic, historic venue on Bleeker Street in NYC. As a lover of music, I know this venue's history well. Everyone who's anyone has played there, from Bob Dylan to Aretha Franklin, Lady Gaga to Etta James, Stevie Wonder, The Grateful Dead, Kanye West, and personal favorites Nina Simone, Miles Davis, and Simon & Garfunkel (the list goes on). I immediately ask about the nostalgia and what it's like to get to play there, and often at that. Baker humbly admits that it's an "eclectic cast of characters that loiters there regularly", much like they did in the early 60's. The music scene in the city is rich, and on any given night, musicians jump in together and play with one another, furthering the unique environment ripe with muse.

Baker's career has taken an incredible turn in the last year, thanks to the Blues Societies across the nation. In late 2022, she competed in the Long Island Blue Society, Road to Memphis, and unexpectedly won. She was then chosen to perform in The National Women in Blues Showcase. That performance was so impressive, agent Doug Tackett, who was in attendance, signed her to Road Dawg Touring the next day. As a result, she was catapulted into a full year of touring across the nation, landed a few festivals, and has been able to collaborate with other brilliant musicians as a result.

As someone who has studied the music business for years, knowing this would give her the edge and information needed to be successful, she began to network her way through the music scene, opening her own doors and grabbing opportunities wherever she could, in rooms she fought hard to enter, among musicians and professionals she knew she needed to be among. This comes with a bit of courageous determination and unabashed relentlessness from a one-track mind. On the heels of her win, she went on a five week east coast tour with her band. Just following the east coast sessions, she maneuvered her way alone across the country with pup in tow for a larger national tour with its first stop in Northern Arizona. Along the way, She slept in her car at truck stops, locked her keys in her car in Albuquerque, picked up her band mates from the Phoenix airport, and made it to the first venue by the skin of her teeth and 30 minutes to spare before her set.

That experience was one she looks back on now vowing never to do again, not like that, but she laughs it off saying, "You just do it. But how grateful am I to have these opportunities and experiences? It blows my mind. I'm just really grateful and present for it all." But these stories are not unlike many artists and musicians who work tirelessly to pave their own way, the fight to follow their dream, and the unconventional paths they take to pursue their craft at the highest level, with perseverance and dedication.

I asked Kelli how being on the road and out of her comfort zone has inspired her creativity.

"I can't wait to get back on the road to tell you the truth. I love going to different cities, meeting new people, getting inspired that way, driving on a long highway, singing a song I'm recording on my voice recorder...home isn't exactly as home as it was. Creatively, how can it get better than meeting new people every night, meeting musicians and seeing the texture that they bring to music?"

Because her bandmates aren't always available for all stops on tour, Baker regularly leverages her relationships in the Blues Society network to round up musicians across the country at a moment's notice. They're provided all musical charts and notes beforehand, given a few days' time to practice, and all come together to perform for the show stop. It's an incredibly brave way for an up-and-coming artist to find what works for them, develop deeper connections in the industry, and to be engulfed by talented musicians in every city.

The impromptu collaboration is a bonus and has helped Baker stir up additional projects, one of which was released in October this year under Baker and Cas, as in Emanuel Casablanca, a Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, painter, and actor. As fate would have it, Baker met Casablanca when they were competing against one another, but artistry prevailed and together, they released a thoroughbred of a blues album (found here). Her vocals are pure power, sultry, organic, and timelessly dynamic alongside Casablanca's commanding and wielding talent.

Baker confides that in the early days of following her dream, insecurities worked on overdrive to try and hold her back. She reflected on a particularly embarrassing experience on stage with her guitar, one that intimidated her enough to scare her out of performing for almost a decade. Then the passing of her father in 2015 emotionally gutted her, and it took her almost a year to pull herself back together. It was in the summer of 2018 that a friend encouraged her to attend an open mic night with them and apprehensively, she agreed. After that, she knew there was no going back.

I asked what if feels like to have her now adult daughter witness her mother living her dream, to which she replied, "You don't need anybody other than yourself to be who you want to be and do what you want to do, and you can absolutely do it at any time, even in small ways, to bring more of yourself to life... I like setting that example for her, for anyone really...There's so much fear (in people just going for it), but there's a reason why you are who you are, and you have to put it out there, even if it's scary, as an artist, or a human. I still want all those same things I did as a kid, so I think about her and honor her, and I get to feel like my true self, and that makes me proud...Even if I fail, I tried. I don't want to be ninety, and say I never gave it a good go, so I decided to put all of my energy into it, and this is what happened", she says.

It's that type of fierce determination that continues to drive Baker as she maintains her signature gleeful and optimistic attitude, knowing she's now in the driver's seat of her dream. Personally, I've never wanted it more for anyone, because I know that little girl, and I know the feeling of going for it, leaving caution to the wind and blatantly disregarding logic, something a creative must surrender to in order to honor themselves and their art.

Find Kelli Baker's site HERE

2024 Tour dates here

Remaining 2023 shows:

DEC 8 FRI

Kelli Baker (solo acoustic) LIVE at Bungalow Bar @ 6:30pm

Queens County, NY, United States

DEC 9 SAT

Kelli Baker with Alyson Faith LIVE at Teddy's Bully Bar in Oyster Bar @ 7:00pm

Oyster Bay, NY, United States

DEC 12 TUE

Kelli Baker LIVE at Ethyl's on the Upper East Side with Noé Socha @ 8:00pm

New York, NY, United States