Cary News Feature
Preview: singer-songwriter Kyler England
By Emily Matchar, Staff Writer
Locally-grown singer-songwriter Kyler England will be swinging by her old stomping grounds on Friday, Jan. 19, with a concert at Durham’s Hayti Heritage Center.
England, whose style has been described as “gorgeous, organic pop music that speaks to your heart like a close friend,” will be touring with friend and fellow Los Angles-based singer-songwriter Sam Shaber. England is a 2002 winner of the N.C. Songwriters Competition, and her recent album “A Flower Grows In Stone,” won Best Alternative Rock Album of 2004 in the Indie Acoustic Project Awards.
England, 30, grew up just outside of Cary, the daughter of a longtime Farmington Woods Elementary School teacher, Martha England, attending Enloe High School and getting her bachelor’s degree at N.C. State.
After college she spent time in Boston, studying at the renowned Berklee College of Music and taking part in the lively music community. “The scene there is fantastic,” she said.
After that, she spent four years in New York before moving out to Los Angeles two years ago, hoping to take advantage of the possibility of film and TV placement for her songs.
But she’s not home much — she tours 120 days a year, just her and her guitar.
“I drive, I navigate, I play the gigs, I sell the CDs,” she said.
While it can be lonely, especially when she winds up in places like Fargo, N.D., where she doesn’t know a soul, she gets a lot of inspiration while on the road.
“I wrote one song in the backseat of a van on I-40,” she said. “I’m always writing down ideas.”
Influenced by the great female singer-songwriters, like Sarah McLachlan and, her late mother’s favorite, Joni Mitchell, England often writes confessional-style tunes about modern life, though they’re not always based on her own experiences.
“Sometimes I’ll sing a song in first person but it might not actually be from my own life,” she said, explaining that she borrows liberally from friends’ experiences.
Though she has played all over North Carolina, next Friday will be England’s first time playing at the Hayti Heritage Center. “I think this is going to be a really fantastic venue,” she said.