It's not for nothing that Kelly Willis' first band was called Kelly & the
Fireballs. Willis throws enough Patsy Cline passion into a song to start a brush fire.
So far, though, she hasn't exactly been lighting up the country charts.
Tonight at the Marlboro Music series' "New Generation" concert, to be held at the Theater of Living Arts, Willis and her band Radio Ranch will open for radio-ready duo Brooks & Dunn. "Brand New Man," the catchy first single
from Brooks & Dunn's debut album of the same name, shot straight to No. 1.
Willis hasn't been quite so lucky. Her biggest hit so far is "Baby, Take a Piece of My Heart," the hard-driving break-up song she wrote with ace Nashville songsmith Kostas. But the single, the first from her second album, this spring's Bang Bang (MCA), stalled out at No. 34.
"The Heart That Love Forgot," the follow-up, penned by Kostas and Mas Palermo, Willis' drummer and soon-to-be ex-husband, didn't chart. Whether the latest single, a rugged version of Joe Ely's "Settle for Love," will do any better remains to be seen.
Willis is trying not to be too impatient. "I can't force them to play me," she said recently from her home in Austin, Texas, her soft-spoken voice in marked contrast to the lusty growl of her singing.
"And it's not good to cater to radio anyway. If the music is good, eventually they'll come around to it. At least, that's my new little philosophy."
On the face of it, stardom would seem inevitable for Willis. She's only 22, but sings with the confidence of a seasoned pro, not to mention the power of someone much bigger than her slight, 5-foot-8, 116 pounds. ("I'll be bigger than that soon," she joked. "My mother's coming to stay with me for a week.")
Both Bang Bang and her debut, last year's Well Travelled Love, were produced by MCA executive Tony Brown, whose work with "progressive" country acts such as Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett and Steve Earle and chartbusters Reba McEntire, Vince Gill and the Desert Rose Band have earned him the title as the most successful new-traditionalist knob-twiddler in Nashville. And to top off this publicist's dream package, Willis is stunningly pretty - her blond hair and innocent smile are ready-made for magazine covers.
