TR Kelley is another creative human from the rural Northwest Coast of the USA.

Have i heard of her somewhere?

Before the 2003 debut of her current project THE RAVENTONES, TR came into national college-radio airplay and regional fame as the bassist & vocalist in the mid 90's Oregon female folk quartet Babes with Axes. During that time she also recorded and performed with many other notable players in the Eugene area, including Walker T. Ryan, Laura Kemp, The Sugar Beets and Mare Wakefield. Though her live performance schedule has decreased to a handful of shows per year, any time she does take a stage, her quirky but solid presence reflects decades of gigging everywhere from grange halls, taverns, roadhouses and jazz clubs to major music festivals.

Where'd she get those noises?

A long time ago and with a different name somewhere in Clallam County Washington, the person now known as TR Kelley was primarily unknown as an eccentric spinster, not yet old enough to buy beer, living in a $50 room in a 100-year old house; a non-driver, nearly mute, socially withdrawn but a solid bass player with uncannily "big ears".
Through connections made at one jam session in 1978, she worked in a succession of small-time rock, soul, variety, jazz and country "cover" bands, on a circuit of bars, fraternal lodges and B-hotels in the rural Northwest and western Canada

During this turbulent time, TR battled discrimination and sexual harassment as well as the hazards of alcohol from all angles. However, she also learned to speak clearly and eventually sing in front of audiences.
Despite hard times, this fifteen years of tough on-the-job experience gained with older and road-wise musicians was a solid foundation on which to eventually build her own brand of art. TR's music today carries layers of echoes and reflections of a variety American artists and styles, but there's not a complete picture of any specific genre in her original repertoire.

Then what happened?

In the late 1980s, she encountered some new people with new ideas, and began writing original music, leaving the bar-band scene. By 1990 she began appearing at Eugene, Oregon area acoustic open-mike nights with a few original political songs and a low-tuned 12-string guitar. TR's subsequent "discovery" by ex-NY folkie Tom Intondi at a Eugene Green Party coffeehouse led to a slot on a nationally-released "Fast Folk Musical Magazine" CD sampler in May of 1993. Her song for that project, "Clearcut Disillusion", was described by the Eugene WOW Hall Notes as "... a unique twist on the 1980's Northwest timber wars delivered in a voice that can be chilling, grounded, haunted & soaring, all at the same time."

With that small foothold, TR entered the supportive and progressive Eugene music community as an original composer and instrumentalist. In the decade that followed, in addition to her two solo CDs and appearances with BWA, she was featured as a bassist on many other artists' albums.

Read about TR's current project - The Raventones.

What's up with TR now?

TR was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2003 and has since turned her artistic focus toward the exploration of human neurodiversity and its connections to Spirit. She lives with her partner, daughter, son-in-law and friends in an intentional community focused on simple living in the Coast Range of western Oregon. TR writes blogs, makes videos and continues to record and distribute music from home, via the Internet. Links to all her projects are on this site. Welcome!