Bill Kelly is a poet, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He has released four albums of original music (Luck of the Irish, Jumbo, Bread on the Waters, Prince of Morocco) and has just finished making Good, Truth, and Beauty, due for release in 2026, with producer Lincoln Schleifer and featuring Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Levon Helm), John Leventhal (Shawn Colvin, Roseanne Cash), John Ginty (Dixie Chicks), Clifford Carter (James Taylor, Ariana Grande), and Joe Bonadio (Sting, Mavis Staples), among others.  

 

Bill has had song placements and his vocal and instrumental work featured in numerous films, including by Ken Russel (Whore), 3 Morgan Spurlock films beginning with Super Size Me Gus, Van Sant (Promised Land), and hit television shows (Northern Exposure, Ed and others.  His song Twenty Tears in the Big City appeared on the compilation Freight Train Boogie (alongside Dave Alvin, Slaid Cleaves, Todd Snyder, Hayes Carll, and Bruce Robison, among others.) Based in New York, Bill has performed throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and the UK, including with San Francisco’s The National Theater of the Deranged and the Magaña Baptiste Middle Eastern Dance Troupe, and the New Jersey band, House of Cards.

 

Bill has also shared the stage with countless others, including  Jimmy Webb, Paul Williams, John Hammond Jr., Roger McGuinn, Rick Danko, Louden Wainwright III, David Bromberg, Gatemouth Brown, Hubert Sumlin. In addition to his solo work, Bill is involved in multiple projects, including as a vocalist in the Crosby, Stills & Nash tribute show, CSN Songs, and as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in The Chris Berardo Experience, Brother Flower, and Folkfoot.