Nellie McKay

On the surface, Nellie McKay is the cheeky college version of Tori Amos and Fiona Apple, another talented piano-based singer whose troubled persona is part of her appeal. But McKay is her own woman. She's got a voracious sense of humor about everything (including herself), twisting and subverting decades of musical styles to her own advantage. Self-released (her label dropped her after hearing it), this CD finds her extending her omnivorous popcraft with help from Cyndi Lauper and k.d. lang. Check those flaring nostrils on the album cover -- no wonder the major labels are afraid of her.

Two years ago, New Yorker Nellie McKay startled rock fans with an act that combined
Peggy Lee and the smartest girl in English class, dropping a double album of piano pop that
skewered everything from meat eaters to pretentious friends. Pretty Little Head, another
double album, is quieter and less snarky but nearly as fun. McKay channels her wit and
near-virtuosic command of pre-rock pop on jazz-tinged protest songs and killer... More >