'Turned upside-down': Emerging from pandemic, Taunton native Kerri Powers is back in tune

Everyone has their own pandemic story, but Taunton native and musician Kerri Powers’ is pretty unique.

“It was surreal,”  Powers said. “Just at a point where I felt like I was really getting some momentum in my career, and it was all turned upside-down.”

Powers is among the countless musicians who saw their careers and livelihood come to a screeching halt when COVID hit, and she’s eager to get back into the swing of things. She is headlining the Spire Center’s Lobby Series on June 2, which affords intimate shows in the venue's smaller outer lobby area. The 20th patron through the doors will receive one of Powers' original paintings.

“It was like a bad espionage flick,” said Powers from her eastern Connecticut home, able to finally laugh at how and where the pandemic had knocked her off course.

“I had just started a three-week tour of Germany and Netherlands when my son called and told me they were shutting everything down, especially flights from Europe," she said. "I drove to Dusseldorf and was able to fly out to Dublin. I was surrounded by all these American college students, returning from their studies abroad, and we were all desperate to get home, and it was long lines, lots of waiting and uncertainty. Finally, I got one of the last flights out of Dublin, but when I got home, they had lost my guitar and luggage. I figured it was a small price to pay.”

Three days later the lost items were returned to her.

"Looking back, like three years of loss, and I’m so glad to be able to be emerging from it. We’ve got some exciting things coming up.”

Her father had died just before the pandemic, and Powers was still grieving, so the ensuing lockdowns and end of live shows all became part of a challenging period. It was more than three months before Powers could start writing music. When she did, her thoughts flowed and the material came freely. Before long, she was talking with producer/drummer Marco Giovino, Tom Jones’ former musical director, and making plans for a new album.

Powers began her musical career in the late 1980s, debuting in the old Blackthorne Tavern in South Easton, where she waitressed. When the dynamic Irish singer/songwriter Luka Bloom headlined the Blackthorne, Powers opened for him, and he was mightily impressed by her talent and stage presence. Bloom said Powers reminded him of Raymond Chandler’s timeless description: “She’s got a look that could make a bishop kick out a stained-glass window.”

'Rescue Me' and 'Justified'

Powers veered between styles in her early years, a bit of folk, a bit of blues, maybe a nod to pop here and there. She released a handful of intriguing albums. Life intervened, and she stepped away from music to raise her family, working for a time as a personal trainer.  Enduring a difficult divorce and dabbling in painting as much as music, Powers gradually gravitated back to performing.

By the time son Nolan was headed to college, she was ready to try a music career again. A self-titled EP in 2014 unexpectedly hit the top spot in Roots Radio. If there were ever an artist destined to fit neatly into the newly emerging Americana category, it is Powers.  Her songs went on to appear on soundtracks for TV shows such as “Rescue Me” and “Justified,” and she was developing a loyal fan base on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Powers’ most recent album, “Starseeds,” came out in 2018, and marked a new direction. She’d always had a bluesy style, but years of woodshedding had turned her into a dazzling guitarist, and her new material used a lot of slide guitar. Her original songs still have the literate detail and ironic humor that might evoke folk music, but now Powers has a kind of dual identity, as a genuine guitar monster, whose playing only accentuates her soulful vocals and incisive lyrics. Just as that latest album and new focus on slide guitar was winning her legions of new fans, that the world came to halt.

Once she had written lots of new tunes and had the itch to get back into a studio, Powers knew she wanted Giovino to help produce it. They began working, and often sending out music files and adding band members remotely, the process many artists had to use during the pandemic. The new record is finished and should be released this year. The better news is that Powers and her management team are fielding offers for it from various labels.

'Dream cast of characters' on new album

Powers said Giovino assembled a "dream cast of characters" for her to work with: Charles Giordano of the E Street Band; the McCrary Sisters; Doug Lancio, who plays guitar with John Hiatt; and Luther Dickinson from the North Mississippi All Stars.

“Someone told me a long time ago to always surround yourself with people who are better players than you are, and I’ve always tried to do that,” Powers said. “We couldn’t get together for this record, so it wasn’t as personal. We all corresponded by email instead, but these people were all a joy to work with, and I just loved the experience. We just worked with a basic trio: me, Marco on drums and Marty Ballou on bass, and then added the rest. But, we’d be playing as a trio, and I’d get goosebumps – is this really MY music?”

Powers did Gregg Allman’s "Please Call Home" as a duet with (Americana songwriter) Paul Thorn.

"Our duet sounds wonderful," she said. "I think the whole recording process gave me a fresh perspective. My last record had a lot of slide guitar, but this is a lot more  R&B and a band sound.”

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Powers delivering a Gregg Allman cover leads to another project in the works. She has always included a cover or two in her live sets, and the audience response is always thunderous. Her European label, CRS Continental Records, has taken notice of that, and so there’s a 10-song covers album ready to go also.

“On my last European tour, I did Roberta Flack’s 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,’ just an off-the-cuff choice, and it went over big,” Powers said. She's also covered Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home." The covers album should be out in Europe this summer, she said.  

Powers subscribes to the axiom that blues and soul music doesn’t just linger on hard times but rather helps provide the tenacity and inspiration to prevail over them.

“Every single time I’ve been through tough times, this kind of music has been one of the most important things that got me through it," Powers said. "That’s why I love to play it for myself and everyone else.”

See Kerri Powers

When: 7 p.m. June 2

Where: The Spire Center, 25½ Court St., Plymouth. 

Tickets: $20

Info: 508-746-4488 or spirecenter.org

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Emerging from pandemic, Taunton native Kerri Powers is back in tune