"I'm beneath the country underdog," Kelly Hogan says summing up her position in the music biz and the title of her latest CD. "I have no illusions of getting onto country radio or even college radio. I'm just making the records I want to make." Beneath the Country Underdog is Kelly's debut for Bloodshot Records and her second solo disc. Her musical resume, however, is much longer. Before relocating to Chicago, Kelly was a major player on the fertile Atlanta music scene. She first gained national attention fronting, the Jody Grind. The Jody Grind's blend of beatnik jazz and retro cool anticipated Lounge chic by at least a decade. Kelly was a founding member of the garage psyche outfit Rock-a-Teens where she played guitar but didn't sing. It's unfortunate that Hogan is probably better known in the music industry for her stint as press mule for Bloodshot. Around Chicago she's probably better known as the bartender at insurgent country watering hole, the Hideout.
Beneath the Country Underdog finds Kelly backed up by a the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, a loose collective of players who usually get together to pay tribute to country music legends like Bob Will and Johnny Cash. Hogan had been a Cosmonaut for the Bob Wills disc and subsequent concert dates. Kelly said that the instigation Underdog came when, "Jon Langford (Waco Brothers) told me, 'I've figured out what the next Pine Valley Cosmonauts record is going to be. The Pine Valley Cosmonauts Salute the Mystery and Exoticism of Kelly Hogan.' It was his way of asking me to do a record with them."
Kelly Hogan writes wonderful songs full of beauty and heartache. "Crackers Rule" is a fanatic anthem for another kind of underdog; the kind who would rather spend a beautiful spring day in a musty bar than in the sun. Hogan is also a brilliant interpreter of songs. Kelly does a lovely version of the Magnetic Fields, "Papa Was a Rodeo" Kelly said, " It's the sweetest, most beautiful love story/homoerotic trucker song I've ever heard." She also does a lascivious reworking of the 70's AM radio staple, "Wild Mountain Berries" and a definitive version of Vic Chestnut's "Sad Picaso."
When she isn't working on her own music, Kelly keeps busy doing session work. "I just sang part of Cassie Gaines for The Drive-By Truckers forthcoming rock opera about Lynyrd Skynyrd, Betamax Guillotine," Kelly says with pride. "Very shameless, guilty pleasure -- love the Skynyrd"
Hogan is recording a follow up to Underdog, with producer Dave Barbe with sessions slated for Chicago and Athens. After that, Kelly hits the road for some date with Andrew Bird and his Bowl of Fire.