Lucky Penny Ranch, tucked off Wied Road, between La Grange and Round Top, opened its gates to music lovers during the Spring 2017 Round Top Antiques Show. Kelly Willis shared her compendium of songs cultivated over a nearly 30-year recording career in an intimate setting from the porch of one of the working ranch/bed-and-breakfast’s lodges.

Editor’s note: We gathered a group of the Round Top girls and enjoyed the beautiful sunset-splashed grounds of Lucky Penny Ranch. Such a welcome respite from the fields and barns of the antiques show — with a blend of locals, dealers, shoppers and out-of-towners gathering under the oaks and starry skies.

Lucky Penny Ranch Welcomes Kelly Willis To Round Top“I hope my music speaks for itself,” says the songstress, who interrupted a recording session to visit with us in early March. “Just a gal in her late 40s who started in rockabilly and then moved into country and folk.”

Willis is a little modest. She’s earned praise for her ability to tell a story through song — and she’s navigated that while raising four children and recording/touring with her husband Bruce Robison, who is a well-respected singer/songwriter.

“Bruce and I are focusing on our solo acts this year,” Willis said. “For the Lucky Penny show, I will be with a guitar and bass player…We’ll mix in some new stuff and draw a lot from the What I Deserve album.”Lucky Penny Ranch Welcomes Kelly Willis To Round Top photo with Bruce Robison

Over her career, which has included recording “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away,” Kelly sang “Little Honey in the 1991 movie Thelma and Louise.

 

Check out our previous Lucky Penny Ranch profile.

Need a little inspiration? Check out this Willis recording.

And maybe one of the saddest songs — a duet with husband Bruce, who wrote the song, while Tim McGraw made it a huge hit.