You could be forgiven for not immediately realizing that singer-songwriter Kaleigh Baker hasn’t lived in Florida for awhile (she moved up north in late 2022). So outsized was her presence and influence on Orlando’s music scene for years, that the walls of the Will’s Pub complex seem to slightly reverberate with her gutsy belt if you listen real close on a quiet night.
Well, reverberate, schmeverberate, because Baker is back in the flesh for some shows in July.
“I always come back to Florida,” muses Baker. “I’ve left a few times over the past 15 years to catch a ride on a new hat, but the music in this state always brings me back home.”
More specifically, she’ll be resuming her famed residency at Lil Indie’s, though on a different night, for the remaining Mondays of this month.
“Lil Indie’s is where I cut my teeth on new songs. It’s my safe place,” says Baker.
Orlando Weekly plied her for details about the setlists she’ll be drawing up for the three remaining shows (July 17, 24 and 31), but she’s playing it cool.
“If I told you,” Baker pauses for dramatic effect, “I’d likely get too nervous from pressure and change the game plan. There will be new songs. And old songs.”
But what we do know for sure is this. Whether with the Za-Boo-Zays, Someday Honey, collabs with the likes of Patrick Hagerman or Matt Walker, or her countless performances at Lil Indie’s, Will’s Pub and the varied Southern Fried Sunday stages, Baker is a true Orlando original. Luckily for us, she keeps getting drawn back by the gravitational pull of the 407.
“Baker is a cyclone of rock and soul, infusing tradition with youth and vigor. As a singer, she’s as much an arabesque songbird as a gut-kicking powerhouse,” said OW‘s Bao Le-Huu in a 2019 review that still rings true. “Even if you’re not into the classic stuff, she’s the kind of vocalist whose natural gust and grip will freeze you dead in your tracks in seconds flat.”
And Baker’s not quite done with us yet, thankfully.
“There will be Za-Boo-Zays, Someday Honey at Will’s on Sept. 1 for the [venue’s] anniversary weekend, records for both amalgamations and more solo sightings,” promises Baker. “Oh! And I’ll be spinning records at Proper in downtown Orlando on Aug. 6 at 5 p.m. New hats at home, I suppose.” And that’s not even counting the long-awaited Tom Waits cover night falling on New Year’s Eve.
Keep your ears open.
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This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2023.