On Tuesday, singer-songwriter Karisa Wilson will play at Salt of the Earth in Fennville.
A group of New York music producers once told Karisa Wilson that her music was “too all over the place.” But she says to pick one genre would go against her art. Her sound includes what she calls the “notes of jazz” in her voice, but she says what she sings is not jazz. Nor would she call it bluegrass...
"…But there are notes of even country, I’ve heard people say in my voice," says Wilson. "And I do and really enjoy singers like Emmylou Harris."
Folk is also in the mix. Any singer who plays acoustic guitar is likely to hear themselves described as a folk singer, she says. And then there’s the blues – as heard in her song, "No Words."
"It’s kind of hard to avoid blues," says Wilson. "It’s so ingrained into even rock and roll, so you know all of these styles wrapped up in one, I think Americana is the term, that sort of most suitably fits it."
And plenty of people appreciate her wide-ranging style. Wilson’s 2007 debut album Little Girl won Album of the Year in the coveted WYCE Jammies. She also won Best New Artist. And her follow-up album, Stronger, won Best Contemporary Folk Album. The song “Just Leave Me Alone,” from that second album, strikes a playful note.
"I think of like girls kind of chatting about, oh this guy tried to hit on me, he’s crazy, slash, you know, just kind of being playful with your spouse or your boyfriend or something – appreciate who you’ve got snagged here," Wilson explains.
But in other songs, you can hear her working through grief. Wilson lost both her parents within two years: first her mother in 2006 and then her father. She was only in her late 20s, and one of her siblings was still in high school. Wilson says as she sings, she’s trying to convince herself…
"...That all of these tragic things, they don’t just happen to you, even though it feels like it in the moment," she says. "You just feel very – like you’re the only one. But you know its – people get sick and they die, and you know life has to go on and those things can kind of make you this negative person who doesn’t enjoy life or they can make you stronger."
Wilson drew on that resilience as she went forward with her career. And then came some positive changes. She married several years ago, and just five months ago she had her first child. She says had long been “on the fence” about starting a family.
"I thought well I won’t be able to do this, I won’t be able to do that. How can I do what I’m doing, with a baby? As soon as I got pregnant those concerns faded to the background because I was just so excited," says Wilson.
She says she ended up enjoying the way her writing and performing routines changed during her pregnancy. And now the pace of her work life has picked up again. She says it helps that she can stay with her son during the day, and still perform in the evenings. She’s happy to be in the moment.
"I hope it persists," says Wilson. "I know my life isn’t over and there’s got to be other things that will be valleys that I have to go through but I want to maintain this attitude as long as I can because it’s working for me."
Wilson is working on expanding her presence on the regional festival circuit and she’s writing songs for her third album. She says she wants it to show how she’s grown as a musician even since Stronger.
