KIMBERLY & COMPANY: With a Little Help From Her Friends, Kimberly Megoran Merges Divergent Styles Throughout the Musical Community

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KIMBERLY & COMPANY:
With a Little Help From Her Friends, 
Kimberly Megoran Merges Divergent
Styles Throughout the Musical Community

By Robert E. Martin

Kimberly Megoran

The great French writer Andre Gide once advised people to 'not attempt to understand me too quickly', and in many ways the same can be said for Kimberly Megoran.

A lithe, statuesque mother of two children blessed with the looks of a fashion model, a carefully cultivated curiosity, and a passion that embraces many divergent talents for art & business, her self styled Kimberly & Company serves as an 'umbrella' organization that encompasses the many diverse facets and talents of this Midland-based artist.

As a formally schooled artist, Megoran is an exacting illustrator and artist specializing in watercolors and stained glass; as a business-woman, she is CEO of an advertising agency handling many major accounts throughout the tri-city area, and as a musician she has cultivated a dedicated following of fans mesmerized by the powerful contours of her voice, which can soothe a wounded soul like the subtle breezes of May one moment, while defining the tormented precipice of anger & betrayal the next.

While the market for solo female folk & acoustic singers is not necessarily
a strong one in the tri-cities, Kimberly performs regularly on Thursdays at
J.B. Meinberg's in Saginaw, as well as The Lost Arrow Resort in Gladwin and
Bushey's Bar in Midland.  Her song selections range from covers of Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young to Joni Mitchell and beyond, often accented with her
own poignant original material.

"My interest in music and art is innate," reflects Kimberly, "and springs
from something inside of me that I started tapping into when I was 12 years
old.  When my brother started playing guitar, I had to play as well, so
took lessons for a short time when I was in the 6th grade.  When I met my
birthmother, I discovered that music was a strong factor in my family, so I
think it's genetic. My two teenage boys are both interested in music. When
I got older I started performing in church for years and then got my first
12-string guitar when I was 18 years old."

While studying art at Ferris College, Kimberly would "jam with the guys" a lot and eventually got married, lived in Houston, moved to Florida, moved to the Washington, D.C. area and finally settled in Midland 12 years ago following her divorce.

"I never once put the guitar down," she comments," even when I was pregnant with my children. When I moved to Midland I started having these huge Jam sessions at my house with local artists such as Aaron Stampley, Larry McCray, Zydeco Ziggy and Johnny Nelson."

"I was so poor and needed to make money that a girlfriend talked me into attending an Open mic night. At first I was amazed that people liked to hear what I did, so basically I just started gigging out a lot, eventually developing a solo show."

"But truthfully, I enjoy playing with other guest artists like Dave Kellan. He came to one of my Open Mic shows back when he was 19-years old and I enjoyed playing with him so much that I decided to expand the Kimberly & Company concept by bringing in different guest artists from the area to my solo performances."

Kimberly Megoran

Has Kimberly always been drawn to folk & acoustic music, or does she find

her tastes broadening to other idioms?

"My interpretation of music is my interpretation," she reflects. "I've
developed a style and a lot of the material I perform doesn't sound like
the original rendition. I add my own twist to it.  But I've always loved
acoustic music. I could perform Neil Young songs for two hours and I also
enjoy Stevie Nicks and Melissa Etheridge, but I like Led Zeppelin and Larry
Carlton, too. My tastes in music are very broad."

In terms of style, how does Kimberly distinguish her sound from that of
other female artists?

"I don't know if I do," she admits. "I think that I just do what I do. I
developed a style that incorporates a lot of strong rhythm and picking that
isn't necessarily that of a lead guitarist's role, but fills in the spaces.
I think I have a full sound with a lot of variation in my vocals. I can
come on strong & heavy and then go soft. It's like a pencil that makes a
thick line that might go very grainy and then light, which is something
I've developed over the past two years playing out in public."

In terms of her original material, Kimberly started writing music & lyrics
while performing briefly with a band called Snap Revue last winter. "I
started writing when I joined that group and made a commitment to write
material with that band. I found I really enjoyed it. Writing my own music
is very personal. I'm really an 'open book' and very honest. I will tell
anybody almost anything."

"Most of my songs are life stories," she continues, "which it makes it
quite difficult sometimes to share personal experiences in a confessional
style. Currently I have around six or seven original songs."

Kimberly admits that her biggest challenge as a musical artist is to learn
new material. "Every week I try to present something new and sharpen the
edge to what I do.  I don't listen to the radio a lot, but love a lot of
the newer music like Audioslave.  My house is full of music all the time
and my oldest son plays guitar while my younger son played violin for a
while."

"What I'm trying to do at JB Meinberg's with the 'company' is to jam with

different people and bring in different influences," notes Kimberly.

"I'm encouraging Midland artists to come to Saginaw and feel blessed that I
know people throughout the tri-cities. I like the idea of just having fun
with music and having it evolve like something organic. What raises the
hair on my back is the emotion. It's love."

"I think that music heals and I like to bring back the roots of music like
baby branches that are being promoted. My biggest concern is that people
aren't going out as much as they used to because they're worried about
getting home safely. What does it say about a society that encourages
isolation and staying home when people are supposed to have fun in life?"

"As a society, I don't think we're as musically inclined as we could be
because of our educational system," adds Kimberly. "We're drawn to Pop
music and quick, easy, non-challenging music. Not like I'm doing anything
real complex. Actually, I'm very simple at what I do. My sound is simple.
Well, not completely simple. It's more than 3-chords. But

I don't use effects on my guitars and prefer unaffected music. I'm almost a
storyteller and need to understand what I'm singing about to have the right
delivery."

"Not a lot of artists possess the temperament to do solo material,"
continues Kimberly. "You have to work at it and I've gotten comfortable
with it. I can go into my creative space and don't have to come out of it.
Plus it sharpens your ability because all eyes are on you along, so you
can't afford to screw up."

While Kimberly recorded one CD of her material, she didn't like it so
shelved the project. "I have nothing recorded right now, but would like to
get into the studio. You have to find the right chemistry. I find it
difficult to separate a guitar take from a vocal take, so perhaps a live CD
would be better for me."

In terms of her original material, Kimberly says she writes lyrics first
and then finds the music to suit the tone of the material.

"Writing is a healing experience for me. I wrote one song called The Snake
You Are about a guy that screwed me over that evolves into a song about
forgiveness, because if you don't forgive it will only hurt more in the
end. You have to let certain things go.  But I do find I write a lot when
I'm pissed off."

"Larry McCray read a few of my lyrics in a journal that I keep and was very
excited. He wanted to put music to them and said 'You gotta get these to
Whitney Houston. She could sing that. But it didn't happen."

"My dream in life and goal is to get to a point where I can do music four
nights a week," concludes Kimberly. "I have my advertising agency and love
what I do with that, but would love to be in a place where there's a lot of
entertainment, even during the day."

If you've yet to discover the mesmerizing talent, compelling voice, and
unorthodox surprise of Kimberly & Co., be sure to treat yourself to a fresh
pallet for your senses.
You will find there is much more to this incredible woman than meets the eye.

For booking information on Kimberly & Co contact kmegoran@aol.com
Cover design & photo for this edition are courtesy of Shaenon Adamson with
Red Road and Kimberly & Company Communications.
Inside photos are by Patty Bailey.

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