by Tom Semioli

Papa may have been a rolling stone, but singer / songwriter Kelley McRae has seen her share of fire and rain around these United States. The well traveled songstress and onetime actress now calls New York City’s hippest borough her home after stops in Baltimore, Dallas, and a place kn own as Starkville, Mississippi. Introspective and confessional, Highrises in Brooklyn (which was recorded in Chicago) bursts forth with a multitude of influences. Kelley sings the blues with a heavy heart in hand in “Last Call In Town” - a song tailor made for Ryan Adams, the Black Crowes, or Mick and the boys circa Exile On Main Street. She waxes sassy and seductive for “More of Nothin’ with a swinging three to the bar beat reminiscent of Bourbon Street in the 1930s. The title tracks skillfully melds banjo and techno - a first in the pop music idiom? Though she’d rather hear the cars rumbling on the Brooklyn-Queens Express as opposed to the waves of the sea (“BQE”), McRae’s melodies emerge as heartfelt and warm. Kudos to producer/engineer Brian Deck and McRae’s array of side musicians (most notably bassist Gordon Patriarca and guitarist Bill Dolan) for making Brooklyn a dazzling, aural treat. Highly recommended for fans of Ani DiFranco, Beth Orton, and Tracey Thorn.

Read the rest of the review at Skope Magazine.

By Javacia N. Harris for Velocity

Singer-songwriter Kelley McRae is a Mississippi girl. Her 2006 debut, "Never Be," showed off her rich Southern heritage with songs drenched in country, gospel and blues. But McRae has been living in New York City for a few years now, and with her new album, "Highrises in Brooklyn," it's clear that the Big Apple is winning her heart.

"This one plays more with rock and with pop and has more intensity about it," she said of the new album, out on Aug. 19. "To me it sounds more like Brooklyn, whereas the first album sounds more like Mississippi."

The new album's muse, she said, was New York City itself.

"A lot of my songs come from just being a part of this culture and the faces you see in the city," she said. "They become tangible images for what else is going on beneath the surface of the song."

The album's title track came to her one evening when she was taking a break during a show.

"This melody came to me and I walked around the corner and saw this huge high-rise in this otherwise Brooklyn landscape of old three- or four-story brick buildings," she said. "I think ('Highrises in Brooklyn') is a song about things being in places they don't belong, whether it's literal or emotional."

When McRae was a student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, she originally studied acting, but then signed up for a guitar class as an elective.

"I began songwriting almost immediately, and it was clear that was my true passion," she said. McRae's influences not only include artists like Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell and Patty Griffin, but writers like James Baldwin, Anne Lamott and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

"There's something about the way they can evoke an image," she said. "In a very short sentence, someone like Ernest Hemingway can completely put you in a certain place. Studying and enjoying the way that language can be used so efficiently and so powerfully is definitely an influence on how I write. As a songwriter, you're trying to tell a story or create an image or a feeling in a short span of time."

by Michael McCall

Dazzling with gospel harmonies on "Break Us" or gently shaking her hips on the sultry "Nothin' To Lose," Kelley McRae's debut is an amazingly versatile soul collection. Somewhere along the line Nikka Costa and Joss Stone were allowed to set a (poor) standard for those brave enough to stroll across the color barrier, laying waste to the idiom as if it were theirs to destroy. McRae isn't bashful either, but she doesn't pitch herself as more than a coffeehouse staple...The warmth of opener "Time" and breezy "Morning Song" declare McRae is no fluke.

by Steve Forstneger

Read review here.

Sophomore album from Brooklyn girl Kelley McRae that has super pleasant vocals and strong acoustic guitar work. Her voice range is a mix of styles that are a combo of Neko Case, Laura Cantrell and Ani DiFranco all mixed into different tracks for a cohesive album that moves effortlessly from track to track. Coming in at a perfect 35 minutes, Highrises In Brooklyn is an album that once it gets some airtime it should be an instant hit along with the name Kelley McRae. -Reviewed by Christopher Anthony 

-Steve Turner