Girl Named Kyle shakes off the pure and soft image portrayed by acoustic singers by sporting a rougher look of low-slung, tight pants, a sometimes faux-hawk and band T-shirts. Kyle Simmons ignores the pressure to adopt a Sheryl Crow-like image and concentrates on just being herself. Her soft side may not show in her appearance, but it shines through in her music. Her light and folky sound is like a purring kitten, butwhen combined with her rich and powerful voice, it makes an impact like a roaring lion.
   When Simmons was young she swiped her sister’s unused guitar and claimed it as her own, she said. Her father introduced her to music and later passed on his 1972 D28—a high-quality acoustic guitar—after he saw how serious she was about music, she said. She started writing and recording her music at age 10 and released her first EP, My Heart On Paper, when she was 15.
   While most freshmen were getting initiated, Simmons was performing at her high school talent show and received 2nd place.    According to Simmons, the moment she finished her song, “Saving You,” there was a rush of silence followed by a standing ovation and chants of her name.
   At the age of 17, Simmons moved from her high school stage to coffee shops and then to headlining her own show. Last November, Simmons got the opportunity to perform at the Bluebird Theatre.
   “ I kinda broke the rules when I played there because it’s not common whatsoever for an independent artist, let alone a local ... acoustic artist, to get a headline show at the Bluebird on a weekend night,” she said. She didn’t expect many people to show up to see her and was surprised at the crowd, she said.
   Simmons performs a little ritual before every performance where she walks around the audience trying to obtain a feel for the energy being transmitted through the room, she said. Once she is onstage, any butterflies she has flutter out the door and she communicates with the crowd as if they were one person. The performance itself is a rush.
   “ I could skydive and it would feel nothing like being onstage,” she said Simmons said that each of her songs has a story. “French Fries” was written after she fell into a trance while chomping down fries, and later, after snapping back to reality realized she had spelled out the names of her crushes with the fries. Most of her songs aren’t quite so personal.
   “ Rarely is the story about me. Most of the time, I try to tell a story for somebody who can’t say it for themselves,” she said.
To keep up on life around her, Simmons said she needs to keep a pen in sight at all times.
   “ I feel like I’m continuously writing in my head,” Simmons said. “You’re gonna find napkins in my jean pockets with scribbles of lyrics all the time.”
   Unfortunately, those scribbles don’t always make it into songs, since she often forgets they are there and tends to find soggy globs of paper in the washing machine, she said.
   Simmons looks everywhere for music that will inspire her, from small, local venues to countries overseas. A trip to India left her intrigued by the idea of fusing different sounds and genres.
The idea of touring has her pumped up and ready to roar. But before stepping onto a bus, she said she wants to leave a little bit of Kyle behind and stay fresh in her local fans’ minds.
   As for her unconvetional style, Simmons said “I know they (management) are gonna have something to say about how I look, how I dress and how I wear my pants,” but she refuses to change.
Simmons’ new album, which comes out in April on new local label Patch Records, will play to her strengths with an unplugged sound that highlights the poetry aspects of her music, she said.

   “ There is a really cool authentic feel that you can get in a small intimate show with someone just playing their acoustic guitar,” she said. To hear Girl Named Kyle’s music visit her at http://www.girlnamedkyle.com.