Willis began her musical career when she was only 16 years old, singing in a rockabilly band with then boyfriend Mas Palermo. Several years later in 1989, Willis signed with MCA Records and began her solo career. Since then, this charming countrypolitan has done it all. She has performed all over the country, released nine albums, changed record labels, married fellow country singer-songwriter Bruce Robison and gave birth to four beautiful children, just for starters.

In 2008 Willis took a break from traveling and performing on the road to focus on her family, but she never stopped working on her music. Now as a duo, Willis and Robison have taken to the road once again and will perform together at Twangfest 15 on June 9 at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room.

On Memorial Day, Willis was nice enough to take some time out to talk with me on the phone and get some insight on her life, her family and her future.

Jessica Lackey: I understand that your musical interests started at a fairly young age and I was wondering what was the driving force that first got you interested?

Kelly Willis: Music was always a part of my life because my mother was always singing and in musicals. I think maybe falling in love with the whole early rock and roll, you know, like the Buddy Holly sound, that kind of simplistic music and it really just drove me.

It was kind of outside of what my friends were listening to and it also seemed doable, it seemed learnable (laughs) because it was so rudimentary. I found it really exciting and when I first got the opportunity to sing in a band it was just like a light bulb went off, and even though I was incredibly shy and really ill-suited to be on stage it was like, I don’t know, just finding a passion or finding a hobby or something that you knew you could spend hours and hours and hours doing, I just wanted to dive into it.

What was the first band you played in?

It was called Kelly and the Fireballs and it was a rockabilly band.

And that was when you were about 16 or so?

Umm-hmm, I was in high school and the guys in the band had just graduated so I was just a senior and...that was my first band.

What was the first album you ever bought?

The first album I ever bought was a Ventures record and then the second, unfortunately, was Kajagoogoo (laughs).

That’s awesome.

I know I was at the record store and I had no idea. It was between either that and Bananarama, because I liked the titles, and I don’t know why but I went with the Kajagoogoo (more laughs).

How did you meet your husband, Bruce?

We were both here in Austin. Austin was kind of smaller back then, it was the late '80s and just the music scene, if you were playing in any band at all, then you kind of were aware of each other, so we were just kind of around each other.

But I was married and he had a girlfriend and it wasn’t really something that ever really crossed our minds, but then a little while later when I was separated and he wasn’t dating this girl anymore, we both got really drunk one night and he grabbed me and kissed me and the rest is history (laughs). Yeah, he grabbed me and put me in a poison ivy bush, unfortunately, so we were both covered in poison ivy for two weeks.

Oh my goodness.

I know, it was a lovely start.

I know you and Bruce have been together for a while and I know you’ve played music together. How do you think your professional relationship and your musical partnership has evolved over the years?

Well we have always tried to have a lot of respect for each other, you know, musical space, not to be too tied to each other and to go off and to be able to do our own thing. We try to make sure that we are both getting to go and do our own gigs and we try to give each other the time to go record when the other one is ready to do it so that one of us is taking care of kids, you know, recognizing that that space really needs to be there.

We also really love singing together and have always done that with each other in the studio and occasionally with each other when we were live. But it always felt like we were blurring the line and crossing the line if we performed together and I think we both really felt that we needed to establish ourselves independently because we weren’t a duo and we didn’t want to be perceived as a duo so that was always tricky for us.

I think the thing is, at this point, we really feel that we have said whatever it is that we want to say as individuals and established ourselves in the musical world that, now, it just feels like a really fun and natural step to be taking with each other to just go ahead and perform together and make music together.

What have you been working on since your last album?

I’ve only written a few songs, but really Bruce and I have taken on this next record that we want to do together as our next big project, so that is all I have been working on. I’m learning how to play the guitar better than I ever have before because its going to be more important for me to be able to play and be heard in these shows, in this little duo situation, so I’m learning how to play the guitar better.

Bruce and I are trying to figure out what kind of sound we want this record to have and what songs are going to be on it so really, we are just focusing on this duo project.

What would you say is your favorite place to perform in the country and why?

Oh wow, that’s hard! There are a few that I really love, definitely in the Midwest, there is a really strong following for the kind of roots rock music that makes it really fun to go there. And when I go back to where I went to high school, the Birchmere [Music Hall] in Alexandria, Virginia. There is a really strong appreciation for, you know, countryish, Americana stuff, so those two places are really kind of fun to play. It would be really hard for me to choose between those two regions but that’s where I have a lot of fun.

This is another hard one, I apologize (both laugh). What would you say of all the songs that you’ve recorded, what is your favorite? Maybe the one that has the most meaning or the one that was the most fun to record, if you had to pick a favorite, what would it be?

You know, favorites, they come and they go. You end up having a favorite for a while and then you just kind of land on a different one, for different reasons, I suppose. I was just going to say that my most recent favorite has been this song of mine called "Don’t Know Why" that was on my last record, just because it was always fun to do live. Sometimes they don’t translate right, and this one, I just always had so much fun, and at the end of it, there is this kind of soul-sister raunch that I just love doing, so that one has been really fun.

With this new material that Bruce and I are working on, my new favorite to do is this new song that I wrote with Chuck Prophet called "Say Goodbye" that I’m just loving it. It just feels really good. It feels like one of my songs that I have been doing forever, you know, and we are doing a little steel part on it and I just love the way it sounds.

It's a song I wrote about my friend, Amy Farris who passed away close to two years ago now, so its got sentimental value to me.

Its like asking me to choose a favorite child. It's hard!

I won’t do that, I promise. We are done with favorites, I think. (Pause) Well, kind of -- outside of music, what is your favorite thing to do or your favorite pastime?

I do have all these kids so I love doing stuff with them, I mean like bike rides or being outdoors. We have a border collie that demands so much attention so we like taking her to the dog park and stuff. Just, you know, I like being active outdoors with either my kids or my animals.

You touched on it a little bit before and I kind of have a feel for it, but what do you see for the future of your musical career? It looks like you and Bruce are kind of getting more into that duet feel that you were trying to avoid in the beginning, but is that where you see your musical career going as far as the future?

It is the near future. I feel like Bruce and I can do this project and then we can go off and do our own separate projects. After this I think I will make a solo record, so you know, we are not just tied to this, this is just a fun thing for us to do right now.

I’m hoping that we will record in the fall and then we will play a whole bunch after we do that, you know, so maybe for the next year or so, just really focus on this duo.

Bruce is very prolific. He is constantly writing and recording, we can hardly keep him from releasing things (laughs). He is always making something and then demanding to put it out two weeks later. So I’m sure he will be chomping at the bit for something fairly soon.

We are just going to keep making music and we are going to keep taking care of our kids and trying to get out there on the road whenever we can.

Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison perform at Twangfest 15 on June 9 at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room.