Be careful not to cross New York City chanteuse Kelli Rae Powell. You just may end up in one of her songs. But at least she’ll by sly about it. “If I change just one detail in the story, he’ll never think it’s about him,” she says. “Change the color of the eyes, and you can say whatever you want.” The Nebraska-bred singer-songwriter had theatrical aspirations in college, but she soon changed direction, penning “girly torch songs” on a ukulele. “I have a melodramatic disposition,” she says. “I want to break some hearts and make audiences feel what I went through.” Powell is now on tour, supporting her debut album, The Scandalous Accounts of My Youth, which was a hit in N.Y.C.’s sidewalk cafés. She can’t wait to play it for the rest of the country. “I’m getting out of the city for a while and coming home in a way,” she says. “I’m curious to see if [others] will accept my music.”
Sun., Aug. 12, 7 p.m.
This article appears in Aug 8-14, 2007.