Kelly Willis has been a stalwart of Austin’s country and Americana scene for decades, so it’s no surprise to find her on Grey DeLisle’s new project: IT’S ALL HER FAULT: A TRIBUTE TO CINDY WALKER. For the compilation, Willis chose the 1955 tune “I Don’t Care,” written by Walker and Webb Pierce, that spent 12 weeks at the top of the Country and Western charts and later became a hit again for Ricky Skaggs in 1982, the first version of the song Willis heard. Inspired by Willis’s personal memory of performing the song with her husband and brother-in-law at a family wedding (celebrating Bruce and Charlie Robinson’s sister and the band’s longtime bass player), Willis’s take on this country swing classic strikes a particularly romantic and tender chord, like her buttery, twangy vocals always do.
IT’S ALL HER FAULT: A TRIBUTE TO CINDY WALKER is out October 10th. Kelly Willis plays a birthday bash show tomorrow night, October 2nd, at the 04 Center with BETTYSOO.