Beth Watts Nelson and Kelly Hunt performing on stage
(Hunt is) "the musical equivalent of a book you can't put down, one you'll want to revisit again and again to catch every nuance and turn of phrase.'
—No Depression

Light Up the Lawn: Beth Watts Nelson & Kelly Hunt

8:30 p.m. Friday, August 22, 2025 | Nerman Museum lawn

Free; no reservations required.

Join the Midwest Trust Center and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art for the 2025 Light Up the Lawn Concert Series featuring some of the best live music Kansas City has to offer. Bring your blankets, lawn chairs and picnic baskets (no alcohol) for these fun events. Come early and grab a bite to eat at one of our local food trucks! No reservations required.

Singer-songwriters Beth Watts Nelson and Kelly Hunt join forces to perform original songs that sound as if they have been unearthed with the patina of decades in the songbook of Americana.

Beth Watts Nelson

Recently ending a 20-year career as a choral director in public schools, Beth Watts Nelson can now be found pursuing her muse in various projects throughout the Kansas City area. Her newest group, Little Miss Dynamite, combined the acoustic forces of some of KC’s finest musicians (Betse Ellis, Brandon Day, and Caleb Gardner) to release their debut album, “Grow Up” in May 2024.

Nelson also sings and plays the clawhammer banjo in the fiery old-time string band, Catgut, and is a founding member of the Konza Swamp Band, a long-standing pillar of the local bluegrass scene. Her sweet and soulful duo, Beth and Brandon, plans to release an EP this year. As a solo/duo performer with a voice that cuts straight to your soul, while playing a vintage Martin guitar or clawhammer banjo, she evokes smiles and tears – often at the same time.

Kelly Hunt

Memphis-raised singer-songwriter Kelly Hunt paints stories as old and offbeat as her Depression-era tenor banjo and parlor guitar, reimagining traditions of folk and old-time music with innovative vigor.

Interweaving poetic lyrics, lilting melodies, and intriguing arrangements, Hunt casts a spell. Her 2019 debut album, “Even the Sparrow,” was a finalist for the International Folk Music Awards “Album of the Year.” Her sophomore album, “Ozark Symphony,” was recorded with Grammy-winning musician and producer Dirk Powell and released on Compass Records in 2023.