Nellie McKay chats with Ashley Dean

Nellie McKay chats with Ashley Dean at Second Story Garage.

This session with Nellie McKay was an unexpected pleasure.

Not that we didn’t expect her performance to be delightful — we just didn’t expect to have her in at all. McKay was in town for an eTown taping, and within just three hours of inviting her in after her arrival in Boulder, she was charming us with her ukulele and arresting voice.

McKay has an impressive resume. Her latest project, I Want to Live!, is the musical story of Barbara Graham, the third woman to die in the gas chamber at San Quentin, and it had the New York Times raving. Her other albums earned her appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” among a slew of other talk shows. We won’t even try to list all of the TV shows that have featured her music. In fact, there’s so much more, you should read her bio for yourself.

She’s also a big environmental activist; Ashley discussed this with her in her Garage interview. Check it out along with her performances of “Bluebird,” “Adios” and “Caribbean Time.”

What she brought us: This was so last minute, we didn’t get anything but her lovely presence. And we’re more than thrilled with that.

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