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Kelsey Shields on the music scene
by Erica Martin
Hilltop Online Editor
Some may say that the nightlife in Salem is dying; or perhaps that it was never alive. In actuality, you just have to know where to look.
The doors of The Coffee House Café, The Blue Pepper, and The Governor’s Cup are just a few of the venues that stand at the ready in the faces of both aspiring and excelling musicians in nearly every genre. Everything from belly dancing groups to the soothing guitar riffs of acoustic singer-songwriters often fill the sidewalks of downtown on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
Slowly, the post-modern generation (the 16-25ers) have taken notice, and have taken to the streets. Taking up their posts outside, inside and all around these new music meccas, they are a generation who demands originality; they are a generation who demand to be “wowed.”
This is a tall order for artists of all kinds, but with these new consumers of the arts, comes a new kind of artist—and they are rising to the challenge.
Each week there will be a featured artist here in “Local Notables”—a place for recognition, encouragement, and good old fashioned word-of-mouth marketing for the Salem/Portland area artists looking to use their medium to make a statement, to express themselves, or to just plain entertain.
This week features a Corban sophomore who just recently showed up on the Salem music scene: Kelsey Shields. Her vocals pack more of a punch than her little frame would ever let on—but don’t misunderstand: her music is raw and smooth. Her acoustic guitar-driven music comes in a package with folk-sounding roots that toes the lines of soft pop. Her vocals are soothing and her lyrics are honest tributes to love, learning and living. Thankfully, she is lacking the usual female “girl-power” song and even the tired “I’m nothing without my ex-boyfriend” ballad. Her only solely “feminine” piece is what she called her “good 'ol happy, girly love song,” but even that came with down-to-earth lines and a picture of an independent woman.
Shields earned her place in Local Notables by being one of few female singer-songwriters in the local scene. They are becoming more popular in secular pop-culture, but they are few and far between in the real world: so kudos to Shields for toting her guitar along with the boys and giving them a run for their money with both her melodies and, most notably, her lyrics.
You can find show dates and hear Shields' music at http://www.myspace.com/kelseyshieldsmusic.
