Flanfire

Kacy Crowley and Her Crooked Cross

New England native Kacy Crowley, in her first decade or so in Austin, went from "Anchorless" -- her widely acclaimed 1997 debut that was picked up by Atlantic Records -- to "braless," her on-stage collaboration with fellow Austin songbirds Trish Murphy and Renee Woodward.

In between, Kacy joined the Lilith Fair, played the H.O.R.D.E. Festival, traveled with music's high rollers, had her second album dumped by Atlantic, recorded a third record with Jon Dee Graham, and set aside her roller blades long enough to learn horseback riding. Somewhere in the mix, Kacy has had her songs placed in three major films and various TV shows, survived cancer and drug addiction, and learned a lot about "struggle and hope."

My own first memories of Kacy Crowley (other than as a legend whose name was whispered as one more example of how the music industry has screwed Austin musicians) was on stage at Threadgill's during the "braless" era -- at some benefit whose cause I forget. Later, I saw her a few times at the Hole in the Wall -- but the truth is I never really listened to her songs until lately, after running into her at Antone's during a show by Homer Hiccolm and the Rocketboys.

So I really know little of this mesmerizing performer (who blew away the crowd at the recent Dustin Welch hoot night at Momo's) other than what I have gleaned from watching two different videos of "Badass" -- the cancer survivor version and the roller blader version. So I come to the brand-new CD, "Cave," almost as if I were hearing a brand-new artist for the first time. And after listening to "Cave" about two dozen times, I am glad I met this intriguing woman.

You want to root for Kacy -- she's the girl next door who has been stepped on, kicked at, spit on, and who knows what all else just for being special and yet vulnerable. She's the daredevil who's always getting banged up but keeps on ticking like the Energizer Bunny -- and in this new recording Kacy (once again) lets us in on her private little secrets of survival and joy.

The key line in the opening (and title) song, "Cave," is "I face the truth that lies here, this crooked cross I bear." [Note: The CD Baby spiel on Kacy's "Tramps Like Us" describes that record as "eleven disarming acoustic songs played by crooked girl on broken guitar."] "Trampoline" (or is it tramp-0-line?) communicates more with the mood than even with the lyrics that Kacy is an enigma even to herself (at least on the record). And yet this is a woman who is wholly anafraid as she sings [in "The Universe"], "I got a dream I gotta live it, plain old truth I wanna give it."

"Starting Over" reveals how Austin's eternal teenager is facing the fact that "she got older." One of my favorites, "Loneliness Stings," draws on that horseback riding knowledge but focuses on the caretaker for whom "there's no one to care for," whose solitary life is "just like living in a train car" -- and, yes, the message here hits home.

"Quicksand," which features the Tosca String Quartet and keyboardist Kevin Lovejoy, is the only track that is not just Kacy on acoustic guitar and vocals plus producer Billy Harvey playing all other instruments and singing backup. This is a song about the breakup of a lifelong love -- "I took you back to Amherst and I showed you where I swam" ... and what to do next -- "I'll take nothing for granted now I know the way that it works, everything eventually will be taken but your silence will be heard."

Billy is a longtime friend of Kacy's -- and listening to the record, I would love to hear his arrangements played by a live band. There's a lot of love -- and talent -- here. The record concludes with "Answers," an intensely personal song in which Kacy acknowledges that, "far and above the hardest thing is just to expect the suffering .... but there is love." Love, which here is much more than just human passion, is "the only reason I bother to .. get out of my house and wander the streets of a thousand strangers/dangers ...."

But then Kacy's been doing this sort of thing for decades -- baring her soul (Dylan style, someone once wrote), stamping her foot at anyone who says she is not worthy, past tense, or old news. And yet -- and yet, one has the sense that Kacy's best work is yet to come. One day she may receive the mantle from Eliza Gilkyson as a mature woman whose songs, and life, provide real nourishment for an entire community.

Kacy has upcoming shows on September 3 at Momo's and September 5 at Flipnotics. In a real sense, this is a brand-new performer, a person stripped of much of her own history and now wide open to tomorrow. She's traded in the baggage of a "scandalous life" to grow beyond just being a "badass" (cool a one as she was). Look for a brand-new Kacy to take off like a rocket!

Flanfire -- Bringing LIFE to Austin music.