Kelly Zullo: Press

Kelly's second release, A CASE OF TRUCE (Imagic Records 31305) 3 out of 4 stars, celebrates her accomplishments as a talented producer, guitarist, and songwriter. Though recorded in music city, there's more of an organic pop-rock feel here.

Especially noteworthy is the independent woman approach of 'Stone Girl', with some great lyrics, stunning guitar work and a vibrant vocal.

Singer/songwriter Kelly Zullo has been paying dues on the road and steadfastly playing away in Nashville clubs for seven years now, and her recent release, Thin Line, has all the battle scars and enlightened world-weariness to prove it. Thin Line is a tense record, balancing frustration and loss with hope and liberty- finally resulting in a commanding, self-possessed collection of six thoughtful songs. Zullo's voice, at once gritty and sweet, lingers somewhere in the Melissa Etheridge and Michelle Shocked relam, and her writing is truthful and simple.

Thin Line contains contributions from phenomenal session bassist Jackie Street and drummers Ben Phillips and David Burch, but Zullo herself does the lion's share of playing, including guitar, bass, and harmonica.

For a six-song EP, Zullo's Thin Line feels like a cohesive, well-planned record. Her songs cut to the chase, engaging the listener from the first line and not letting go until the last note fades. Zullo's potential as a songwriter is fully evident here and shows promise for many great records to come.

This is the self-produced, self-engineered debut from Nashville singer-songwriter Kelly Zullo. At, 25, she offers songwriting and production wisdom beyond her years. Each of the half dozen songs of broken love and life's tribulations come through like true poetry framed in exquisite folk-pop but unfettered by excessive studio tricks or ostentatious arrangements. This is due to the fact that this first cd is the result of 2 years of hard work refining the material and delivering it to the Nashville audiences.

Kelly Zullo has a good thing going on A Case Of Truce. Under different circumstances, the album could have been a case of the delicate songstress wronged by ex-lovers and lackluster parenting. But it's not. Zullo escapes the cookie-cutter Harvard Square singer/songwriter set by doing two things, and doing them well. First, she keeps her songs personal, rather than drifting off into the universal or overtly political, and the result is instant credibility. Bob Dylan gets away with sweeping indictments of the gentler sex in "Just Like A Woman" because he's ostensibly singing about someone in particular, not 51% of the population. That's the power specifics lend to lyrics, and Zullo has that figured out.

Second, she's got spunk. Zullo's themes aren't necessarily groundbreaking (whose are?), but she infuses them with passion, honesty, and--just as importantly--big, fat guitar riffs. It's a terrific package for Zullo and gives her and air of toughness and world-weariness that makes her all the more endearing. When her upbeat moments arrive, as guarded as they might be, we're that much more glad to welcome them. "Touch My Soul" is the best example of Zullo putting those pieces together, but "Stone Girl" and "Elevator" are solid performances and nearly as memorable. Though only five songs long, A Case Of Truce is worth picking up, and Zullo is certainly worth checking out.