Nellie McKay made history in 2004 becoming the first woman to release a double album as her debut cd. It was called “Come Away With Me” and was brash, original, funny, adventurous and, although highly entertaining, yielded no hit singles. Her second album “Pretty Little Head” was also intended to be a double cd but when Columbia Records insisted on editing it down to a single cd, she defiantly refused and was dropped from the label. Almost a year later the album is finally out as her own, independent release. Is it a case of a corporate giant squashing the creativity of an artist or a bratty diva throwing a career threatening temper tantrum? Maybe a little of both. 

But that doesn’t take away from the great music this 22 year old singer/songwriter/pianist/actress/activist delivers. Sure, like her debut, this could have been edited but so can most double album sets and I wouldn’t want to be the one doing the culling. Her cabaret style of songwriting shines on “Cupcake”, a gay marriage love song, “The Down Low”, and “Beecharmer”, a duet with Cyndi Lauper. There’s another duet with K.D. Lang, “We Had it Right” and a beautiful solo piano tribute to the late peace activist Gladd Patterson (“Gladd”.) She can cram more words into a song than you can sometimes comprehend (“Columbia is Burning”, “Real Life” and “Mama and Me”), making you want to go back and listen to what you missed. With each subsequent listen you notice a lot more than just the lyrics. 

Maybe that’s what the fuss was all about. Her music doesn’t lend itself to immediate gratification. It’s eccentric, needing a little more time for the melodies and quirky instrumentation to sink in. But when they do you’re left wondering about her old label; what were they thinking?  

Listen for a lot of music this week from Nellie McKay’s “Pretty Little Head” on Paul Shugrue’s new music show “Out of the Box” Monday through Thursday from 7pm to 9pm and Saturdays from 1pm to 5pm.