Kailee Spark
Kailee Spark started taking piano lessons at 8 years old and became intrigued with the idea of expressing herself through songwriting. “My parents are big into classic rock and artists like Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens. So I grew up listening to a lot of music. At one point I was obsessed with this CD my parents had called “Wacky Favorites” which had songs like “The Auctioneer Boy” and “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport”. I’d listen to it over and over. I remember sitting on the floor listening to this CD when I decided that I wanted to be a musician someday, I must have been around 6 or 7.”
Spark found her instrument of choice at 14 when ‘Uncle Billy’, an eclectic character from her family’s church, gave her an acoustic guitar for Christmas and she immediately began to write songs on it after learning several chords. In high school Kailee formed several short-lived bands, emulating her favorite bands/songwriters like Saves the Day, Conor Oberst, and Jewel.
It wasn’t until her college years, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, and a MA in cultural anthropology that she began to explore her wanderlust and her desire to gather stories by traveling the world. Packing her charming curiosity and her guitar, Spark’s extensive international travels have influenced her unique songwriting style, as many of her songs provide glimpses into her love of travel and inquisitiveness of culture. Spark explains: “I love travel- it’s one of my favorite things to spend time in a completely ‘foreign’ environment (foreign to me, that is), and learn as much as I can about it and get to feel comfortable there. I’ve had so many interesting experiences, and I try to encapsulate these experiences into my quirky and uplifting songs, while touching on a broad range of topics and emotions”.
Spark’s love of exploring and culture led her to call the floral trade winds of Hawaii her home. “I found this bizarre, clothing-optional intentional community on the Big Island that was offering an internship in permaculture. My third day there I made the decision that I’d be moving to the island- it just felt right.
After that move, a massive wave of creativity hit me and I wrote a bunch of songs. Some of them made it onto my upcoming album. The natural beauty here is incredible-sometimes the stars are so magnificent they look close enough to touch- like you can run your fingers through the Milky Way. The lush jungles, lava, the snow-capped volcanoes, the sound of birds...the island definitely sparks a lot of nature themes in my songs. ”