There is something different, something special about events outside. A month ago I sat outside and watched a documentary about nurses and the night was cool and the sky was clear and everything clicked and we all felt it and there was this sense of community and connection. Tonight it happened again as I sat on the lawn in front of the Nerman Museum at Johnson County Community College and listened to Kelley Hunt and her band. She belted out her mix of gospel, bluesy, honky tonk music to a large crowd that gathered despite the heat. I had tried to gather up a group of folks to go but most of them backed out due to the unbearable heat of the day. But my husband and I, my son and his girlfriend, as well as one other couple took a chance and were rewarded, not only with Ms. Hunt’s incredible vocals, but the evening weather turned out to be delightful.
The rich sound of Ms. Hunt’s voice and the original tunes she plays leave me feeling she should be better known outside of the Kansas City area- she would easily fit on Austin City Limits or on stage at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. When she launched into “Let it Rain”, a song she co-wrote with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg , a past poet laureate of Kansas, the crowd sat mesmerized. It was a beautiful song, a beautiful night.
And just like that, there it was. That special thing that happens when we gather together, outside, to share something great, something special. We all felt it, that sudden inhale, that sense of wonder, that “yes!” when something strikes you just right. Tonight, Kelley Hunt and her band brought us all together, connected in our appreciation for great music, great weather, great friends. Perhaps it is the opportunity to recognize how lucky we are, to be in this place, at this time, doing this thing. There is something so right about that feeling. To share a moment, suspended in its perfection, a moment that will never happen exactly like that again.
-Dana McReynolds