"She's a total oddball, but everybody that's around her falls in love with her -- girls and boys," he said. New York singer/songwriter Nellie McKay is absolutely brilliant and bloody confounding.She has more retro range than Amy Winehouse, more musical depth than Alicia Keys and more sexy charisma than Rihanna. "Interviews should be vague," she said from Los Angeles. Vengeful. She is to music what "Project Runway" winner Christian Siriano is to fashion: fierce, funny, full of herself and over-the-top gifted beyond her years.Like Rufus Wainwright, McKay (rhymes with McShy) is an ambitious, idiosyncratic musicmaker who creates a smart/smart-alecky and intoxicating mix of Broadway, cabaret, jazz, hip-hop and humor. "She's just a joy to be around. "It was obvious that McKay was a handful when she recorded her debut disc in 2004. "Nellie read the literature and could spout off on it. She's a torch singer posing as a downtown songwriter. View Nellie McKay’s profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. View phone numbers, addresses, public records, background check reports and possible arrest records for Nellie Mckay. In separate shows Sunday night in downtown Minneapolis, Leon Bridges and Nellie McKay proved that old can be new again – or at least fresh. "Amused but still confused, I contacted people who have worked with McKay to shed some light. V8-full. She's appeared in both Bertolt Brecht's "A Threepenny Opera" and Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion." Will she perform "Sari" (pronounced "sorry"), a 2004 rap tune in which she rants about things that irritate her -- including herself -- and namechecks the late Sen. Paul Wellstone?She did promise to have her old pal Lawton as opening act. When I promised to search for downloads of those groups, she laughed. Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area. Order Sister Orchid . "In 1994, Pappas and McKay headed to Olympia, Wash., for a year before relocating to Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.
Vile. "Maybe you want to spare yourself. When asked to talk about her trove of tunes, she simply says: "It's very dusty. Minneapolis City Pages is the definitive source of information for news, music, movies, restaurants, reviews, and events in Minneapolis. Maverick musicmaker Nellie McKay's playful personality belies her over-the-top talent. Her music owes as much to Doris Day as to Eminem.Trying to interview McKay, who opens a three-night stand Sunday at the Dakota Jazz Club, is a cat-and-mouse game. During a 45-minute conversation as she drove to get her computer fixed, she fell into character, talking with a slow, almost drawling tone like vaudevillian crooner Leon Redbone.I asked her to choose 10 adjectives that described her in addition to "vague." When I saw her at the Fine Line, it was just doe-eyed twentysomething girls everywhere -- just like they were looking up at Barack Obama or someone." After attending Manhattan School of Music for two years, she dropped out to do standup comedy in New York clubs, then sang in the anti-folk music scene.Over the years, she has amassed a vast knowledge of popular music and quite a collection of old vinyl. Listen to Nellie's performance on NPR's Mountain Stage Contact (973) 563-8204
Seriously.However, trying to explain McKay, 25, to the uninitiated is not easy. "Her stuff is hip and funny, but what got the ['Prairie Home'] audience was her rendition of an old love song, 'If I Had You,' and the lines about climbing a snow-capped mountain and crossing the burning desert, which she did with sweet dedication. Violet-colored.