Kaci Bolls

Location:
Nashville, Tennessee, US
Type:
Artist / Band / Musician
Genre:
Country / Acoustic / Pop
Kaci Bolls grew up in Murray, KY – population 14,950. Raised by an elementary school teacher and a Church of Christ songleader, she learned young the magic of music and the thrill of performing. A cappella music was her daily bread, and harmonies and melodies poured out of her soul. This led her to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Music from Harding University, a school that taught her the finer points of music, while simultaneously sparking in her a rebellious streak. She fell in love, it didn’t work out. She fell in love again, followed the boy to Mississippi, and got her heart broken a second time. After drifting for a few years, a stroke of luck – Marty Dodson stumbled across an album of Kaci’s songs and called her up to ask her why she wasn’t in Nashville. Without an excuse, Dodson dared Kaci to enter a John Lennon Songwriting contest. Her Mom loaned her the $30 entry fee, and Kaci submitted four songs. Two songs earned honorable mentions, and two songs were named runner up in the folk and children’s categories. Kaci started to catch the vision – a vision of the life like she’d always dreamed of living, but didn’t believe was possible.

And so, she moved to Nashville, TN.

Once again, she fell in love. Almost immediately, she was signed to a publishing deal. Ultimately, both ended in a parting of ways. Now with her second publishing deal, a lifetime’s worth of love and disappointment – and a stubborn, resilient hope - Kaci is writing songs that resonate, songs that touch the real hearts of real people. With wisdom, grace, and more than a little humor, Kaci sings about life. She sings the words we would speak if we were poets, the songs our souls would sing, if we could only play them.

Kaci Bolls’ music is honest, it’s intimate, and it’s real.

It’s the kind of music that matters.

Brett Beavers [hit songwriter & producer]: “Kaci Bolls - God touched her. In that place down inside an artist's soul that enables them to deliver a song with honesty, passion, and true beauty. Beyond being a great songwriter, she is hands down one of the finest, most emotive vocalists I have ever had the pleasure to work with. She is truly, a sound to behold.”

Odie Blackmon [hit songwriter]: “Kaci Bolls is the real deal. I have been waiting a long time to be able to buy her music. She has always been one of my favorite artists. She sings and writes with a depth, soul, and authenticity that is rare in today's corporate country mainstream.”

Kent Agee [hit songwriter]: “If the stars that look down on a Kentucky girl walking barefoot home with a broken heart had a voice, they would sound like Kaci Bolls. She is the whispered rumor at the church picnic, the small-town siren’s song giving faithful men wicked thoughts, holy water in a whiskey bottle, a sweet tomorrow with a checkered past. In a world full of interchangeable, processed voices that are more right than real, more thought-out than heart-felt, Kaci Bolls is a reminder of what matters. While so many artists are using songs like trampolines, twisting and spinning with an empty acrobatic ‘watch what I can do’ attitude, Kaci uses her captivating voice to wring every drop of meaning out of the words and breathe life into the spaces. The moment you hear her, something deep within you wakes up and listens, as if her voice is something familiar, almost forgotten, a kindred spirit sharing your secrets. If all she did was sing, that would be enough. But Kaci Bolls is a writer too. In the same way her voice turns the raw coal of a song into a gem of sound, her writing seems to mine the deep ground of all that she has witnessed and been through. Bringing what is sometimes dark, sometimes joyful - always real and always beautiful - into the light of day.”

Bobby Braddock [hit songwriter & producer]: “Kaci Bolls has the heart of a poet and the voice of a superstar.” 1929 - Bolls/Agee/Rush – 2009, the year of the Great Recession. During a writing session with Kent Agee and Josh Rush, after a somber discussion about friends who had lost jobs and deals, Kaci had been thinking about the Prince song, “1999,” and blurted out, “Hey! We could party like it’s 1929!” Blank stares. “You know, like Prince’s song? Bad economy? Stock market crash of 1929?” The blank stares broke into big grins, and out poured “1929.” Total abandon - 3 ½ minutes of reckless fun and free driving hope.

I FEEL BLUE – Bruce Wallace is a fellow Roots Three writer who has a similar story - growing up in the Church of Christ, now leading a different life on a different path, one filled with music more diverse than solely a cappella. On the day he and Kaci sat down to write, he played an intro, hummed around, and said, “I thought this sounded like ‘I Feel Blue.’ But a good kind of blue, you know?” She knew. An hour later, one of Kaci’s favorite songs – and favorite sentiments – was born.

HIDE THE SUN – Billy Crain’s talent lies in bringing Kaci’s own melodies and lyrics in through a different door. While stuck in a physical therapy appointment and writing an idea on the patient bed paper, Kaci was running late and begged Crain to wait. He did, and in the meantime started writing some ideas of his own. When thy came together, Crain read Kaci’s brainstormed chorus – and immediately started playing the intro and verse melody he’d been working on, adding the brilliant hook to her chorus. That’s what you call collaborating under any circumstance.

I MISS YOU – On a writer’s retreat to Sag Harbor with some great friends and writers, Kaci sat with Georgia Middleman and Jay Knowles, two of Nashville’s finest. People from the not-so-distant past kept coming up - and they started getting sort of "happy-sad" for all these people they had loved and lost. Knowles played a beautiful guitar line, and the lyrics just started falling out. Though the title surely isn't original, and it’s not as if the sentiment hasn’t been written about before, it's a powerful song that will get to your heart every time – and make you think of someone you miss.



Connecticut Stop on 2009 50 States in 50 Days Tour (w/Kevin Montgomery)



Massachusetts Stop on 2009 50 States in 50 Days Tour (w/Kevin Montgomery)
0.02 follow us on Twitter      Contact      Privacy Policy      Terms of Service
Copyright © BANDMINE // All Right Reserved
Return to top