A roving singer-songwriter finally settles in to the Asheville music scene.

by Jess McCuan . photo by Matt Rose

Someone once compared Utah Green to Alanis Morrisette, which Green finds funny. She ran into Morisette in the lunch line at a New York yoga institute a few years back, and Green does vaguely resemble the Canadian rocker. But in fact, Green’s sound is much more Gillian Welch than it is Morisette. Her warm, simple folk tunes with no backup instrumentation call to mind early Lucinda Williams, something that may come in handy when she plays to Southern audiences.

For the past decade or so, the 28-year-old has been something of a rolling stone. Asheville has been home base, but she’s traveled far and wide, stopping for months in Massachusetts, New York, Israel, Italy and Prague. Now that she’s living in West Asheville, she feels like she’s finally settling in a bit. This winter, she’s played several shows at local venues like The Grey Eagle, Good Stuff in Marshall and Black Mountain’s Town Pump.

Green, whose real first name is Kerry Anne, is nothing if not quirky. Utah, she says, is a nickname someone gave her when she was a girl scout. Her second album, ForTune, was released last summer by a Brooklyn music label, The Royal Potato Family. Green likes to tell rambling stories on stage and invites her audiences to sing with her, sometimes in rounds (if she can orchestrate it). If you look closely, you might see that she’s playing her guitar or banjo while standing on one foot—like a flamingo. “People get a kick out of it,” she says. “I can balance pretty well.” For a while anyway, we hope she keeps playing Asheville-area shows with both feet firmly on the ground.

Look for Utah Green at Iron Horse Station in Hot Springs on February 14. She plays Good Stuff in Marshall on February 25. For more details, check the Utah Green Facebook page.