Kelly Zullo & The Invisible Circus
Gig Seeker Pro

Kelly Zullo & The Invisible Circus

Columbus, Ohio, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | INDIE

Columbus, Ohio, United States | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2010
Solo Americana Acoustic

Calendar

Music

Press


"Guitar World Magazine"

Check out this sick acoustic guitar assault by Kelly Zullo.

It’s the song “When We Get There” from the upcoming January 2015 release.

Here Zullo uses some speedy finger work and hard hitting right hand technique while she sings at the same time. It’s kinda like tapping you head and rubbing your belly on fast forward.

But she makes it look easy. - Laura Whitmore


"NPR Tiny Desk Concert"

-standout entry in the Tiny Desk Concert.

-top 160 out of 7000 entries. - NPR


"Live Show Review by Now It's Dark Magazine"

"Then magic happened. Kelly Zullo tracked out a drum loop onstage and picked up a guitar.. I could listen to Kelly Zullo all day and the styling of Jack McCarthy on top of that, was just icing on the cake." - NID


"Modernfolk.net"

"Kelly Zullo swings her axe wisely, tempered by years of working at songwriting, and she delivers these songs in an acrobatic voice, at times backed up by a fiddle and upright bass. she has gained some notoriety for her style, particularly among the guitar community." - Modernfolk.net


""Kelly Zullo, the next acoustic guitar virtuoso?""

I may have posted about this woman named Kelly Zullo in the past before but I came across another one of her live performances which was pretty phenomenal.

Guitar World magazine just gave her a shout-out (congrats to her, btw) and they just posted this video on GW’s facebook page. She’s getting a lot of criticism. People saying negative things about her playing, claiming that she’s playing too many notes and over-playing. If they truly believe that, then why don’t say that to Al Di Meola?

This is pretty impressive playing on this video. Is Kelly over-playing and playing too many notes? If so, who cares. Guitar players play what they want to play. They play from the heart and play whatever makes them happy. If they want to play fast notes and shred the guitar to death, more power to ‘em. I like that kind of guitar playing on the acoustic and it takes guts to play like that.

There are so many acoustic players out there playing basic rhythm and do nothing but finger picking. A lot of acoustic players don’t wanna play with feeling and play with melody.

I remember Kelly used to play around the Capital District area in Albany quite a lot but it looks like she moved to NYC and she’s playing everywhere now which is good for her. I’ve been a fan of her music for a while.

She’s gonna be something special in the music business. How come this woman isn’t signed to a label yet when she should be???

This is pretty sick playing. To be able to play guitar like that and sing at the same time, wow. I wish I could play guitar like she does. I’m a pretty decent acoustic guitarist but I’m not even close the way she plays. Kelly’s gonna be on the cover of all the guitar magazines, someday. - Kev Brock


"Winner, 2011 Best Female Artist, International Acoustic Music Awards"

Kelly Zullo stands out from a sea of singer-songwriters. Her strengths lie in her unique slamming and rapid fingerpicking on her acoustic guitar. She wows listeners with her Outstanding guitar accompaniment. - 2011 IAMA


"-Dr. Ron Emoff, Professor of Music, Ohio State University"

"Kelly .. has developed her own unique, extremely rapid, percussive, yet finely melodic style of picking-while-pounding-out-rhythm on her guitar." - -Dr. Ron Emoff, Professor of Music, Ohio State University


"Review of show at Neuewelt, in Ingolstadt, Germany"



Kelly Zullo writes songs that are very personal and therefore come across as credible. This, a dash of passion, a bit of quirkiness and healthy self-confidence - that is the perfect one-woman concert evening...
This American free spirit turns out to be true pearl in a sea of ??singer-songwriters.." - Von Sandra Knobloch - www.donaukurier.de


"Cd Special"

Born in Saratoga, NY, Kelly Zullo moved to Nashville at age 18 to pursue music and a degree in music business. In 2001, she borrowed money to fund her first EP, THIN LINE and released it independently. Kelly's second release, A CASE OF TRUCE (Imagic Records 31305) 3 out of 4 stars, celebrates her accomplishments as a talented producer, guitarist, and songwriter. Though recorded in music city, there's more of an organic pop-rock feel here.

Especially noteworthy is the independent woman approach of 'Stone Girl', with some great lyrics, stunning guitar work and a vibrant vocal. - Maverick UK


"'A Case of Truce' Review"

Kelly Zullo has a good thing going on A Case Of Truce. Under different circumstances, the album could have been a case of the delicate songstress wronged by ex-lovers and lackluster parenting. But it's not. Zullo escapes the cookie-cutter Harvard Square singer/songwriter set by doing two things, and doing them well. First, she keeps her songs personal, rather than drifting off into the universal or overtly political, and the result is instant credibility. Bob Dylan gets away with sweeping indictments of the gentler sex in "Just Like A Woman" because he's ostensibly singing about someone in particular, not 51% of the population. That's the power specifics lend to lyrics, and Zullo has that figured out.

Second, she's got spunk. Zullo's themes aren't necessarily groundbreaking (whose are?), but she infuses them with passion, honesty, and--just as importantly--big, fat guitar riffs. It's a terrific package for Zullo and gives her and air of toughness and world-weariness that makes her all the more endearing. When her upbeat moments arrive, as guarded as they might be, we're that much more glad to welcome them. "Touch My Soul" is the best example of Zullo putting those pieces together, but "Stone Girl" and "Elevator" are solid performances and nearly as memorable. Though only five songs long, A Case Of Truce is worth picking up, and Zullo is certainly worth checking out.
- Upstage Arts and Culture Magazine


Discography


"The Magic Of Thinking" 2021
"Solo Quartet" 2016
"Live At Natalie's" 2014

Photos

Bio

"Americana Transcendalist" Kelly Zullo writes songs reflecting the likes of Emerson with an adoration of the writing style of Patty Griffin.  Formerly known in the guitar community for her fast "finger slamming" style, Kelly has fused that element with her luscious songwriting and vocals to present 2021's "The Magic Of Thinking".


In her hometown of Columbus, OH, she was voted 614 Magazine’s “Best Solo Musician” for 2014/15 and most recently was reviewed by Guitar World Magazine, describing her latest release as "An energetic acoustic guitar assault by this skilled, funky speed demon". Kelly also appeared in the 2014 show “Woodchopper’s Ball” at Kent Stage which features 9 of the top acoustic guitarists from around the country.

Band Members