1. "The Answer" - Gentleman Caller
2. "White Gold" - A Lull
3. "One" - Slothpop
4. "I'm Not Worried" - Mike Adams at His Honest Weight
5. "SAVAGES" - The Bonesetters
6. "Diamond Rough" - Red Light Driver
7. "Went, Saw" - SHE DOES IS MAGIC
8. "Teenager" - Apache Dropout
9. "The Hard Way" - America Owns the Moon
10. "Female Jesus" - Shimmercore
     

Kelly Pardekooper is an Americana singer-songwriter who moved to Indianapolis back in 2012. He's got eight albums under his belt (most recent was 2016's City at Night, which was recorded with Paul Mahern), and a huge array of songwriting credits from television and movies, including shows like True Blood, Justified, and Sons of Anarchy. Since 2012, Kelly has immersed himself in the local scene, and with this playlist he's kind enough to give us a brief tour of sounds have perked his ears up in that time. 

For a taste of Kelly's music, check out what he's got on the archive (and be sure not to miss his work with Distal Down either), or watch the video below for "Plain Jane." Don't miss him at the Melody Inn on June 16th either!

Five years ago, my wife and I rolled into Indy. It was our final destination, after a slow cross country drive from California, with a decade of medical training for my boss lady in the rear view. We landed in a somewhat shady little apartment we had found on Craigslist at 37th and Pennsylvania. From that mid-city location, I was able to walk to my new job at alt-weekly newspaper NUVO. I soon learned I could walk to The Melody Inn, too.

Both these places helped turn me on to a lot of the music that was happening in Indiana. My three years at NUVO exposed me to the MFT archive, LUNA Music, and a weekly stream of so much music information thanks to editor Kat Coplen.

The Melody Inn still serves as my semi-regular Thursday after work watering hole and the occasional live show with my Indy band. It was really Dave Brown at The Mel that connected me to the Indiana musicians that would eventually lead to recording my most recent album City At Night in Bloomington with Paul Mahern.

This playlist is just a small sample of some of the MFT sounds that move me. Fairly quick, gut instinct picks. Listening back now to this playlist, I would say that the first half showcases my love of beautiful sounds. Just a simple primal connection to the voices and sounds that really please my ear. The second half of this playlist clearly shows my love of rock. Garage rock, punk rock, bar rock etc. Indiana knows how to rock and I'm sure some of that big hook swagger influenced my own recent local recordings and writing. Hope you dig it..we're all lucky to have so much talent archived at MFT.