Clara Kent believes if she can make it in Pittsburgh, she can make it anywhere.
The city’s music fans can be tough, opinionated and not always open-minded, says the musician, artist and WYEP (91.3 FM) radio host. She’s determined to win them over.
“You have to have strength in your presence to get attention from a Pittsburgher,” Kent says. “You better be good. But I like a challenge.”
Besides recording and performing her own music, Kent champions emerging local artists through her WYEP radio show, “More Bounce,” and newer series, “Elevate the Underground.”
“Radio isn’t dying. Its role is just changing,” Kent told me. “It’s still a powerful way to connect music with people. I want to bring musicians and active music fans together, introduce listeners to new artists alongside the music I grew up with and make it feel like a fun house party.”
A sound of her own
Kent grew up in Homewood surrounded by music.
Her mother, Trayce Reed, kept a record collection that ranged from soul and jazz
to country and soft rock. Her daily soundtrack came from groups like the Eagles, America and Bread along with The Isley Brothers and John Coltrane.
One singer left a lasting impression: Sade. Watching music videos and listening to Sade’s songs, Kent began imagining herself as a performer.
She sang in a choir as a child and dealt with stage fright, waiting until high school to take on solo performances. Even now, nerves can creep in before a live performance. I found this surprising, given Kent’s confidence and ease of our conversation.
Still, she combats performance anxiety by arriving at venues early, settling in onstage with a cup of tea, chatting with staff and warming up until the venue feels like home.
The trick seems to work.
Kent can command a room well beyond Pittsburgh’s club circuit.
In 2023, she received a call about opening for musician Thundercat at Stage AE — just 24 hours before the show. Organizers were looking for a woman performer with a particular sound. Kent fit the bill.
She describes her sound as “floaty.”
“I can sing, I can rap, I can do soulful, musical, floaty stuff,” she says. “I can bounce around.”
The packed venue left her more nervous than she’d ever been before a performance. But when she hit the stage, adrenaline took over. She felt the nerves melt away.
Meeting Thundercat afterward was a thrill.
“He got off the tour bus to talk to me,” she says. “And it turns out that we’re both anime nerds.”
The experience was a milestone. Kent has also opened for Cautious Clay at WYEP’s Summerfest and Wyclef Jean at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Jean, she recalls, described her voice as “rough butter” — a mix of soul and smoothness.
Starting out
Kent, 38, graduated from Penn Hills High School and studied vocal jazz at Columbia College Chicago, where she enrolled in 2007. She pursued radio broadcasting and music business before returning to Pittsburgh in 2010 when her mother became ill.
After her mother died in 2011, Kent threw herself into developing her voice and songwriting, determined to take her music even more seriously.
She adopted the stage name Clara Kent in 2013, inspired by a scene in “Kill Bill: Volume 2” in which characters discussed Superman and his use of Clark Kent as a human disguise.
Eventually, she found her style: soul music that borrows from other genres.
WYEP hired Kent, whose real name is Alexandria Reed, in 2022, and she launched the “More Bounce” show in 2023. The show broadcasts from 6 to 8 p.m. Fridays.
“Aye, it’s the weekend,” is generally how Kent kicks it off.
Then she takes listeners on a journey of new and old sounds and local performers. You might hear some Mary Jane Girls. You might hear Stevie Wonder. You might hear local artists Mani Bahia or Dejah Monea. All the while, Kent narrates and offers lessons about the music.
The show has worked its way into my weekly routine, and I was happy to share that with Kent.
We talked about how I generally start my summer weekends at the backyard grill with her show blaring from my solar radio. There’s nothing better than the freedom of a Friday evening and some tunes.
The show spawned “Elevate the Underground,” a monthly radio series highlighting emerging musicians across Pittsburgh’s diverse music scene. Launched this year, the project features conversations with musicians about their work, their careers and what it means to make music in Pittsburgh.
Slowing down
Kent’s ambition and drive didn’t always work in her favor.
In 2017, while working part time at The Andy Warhol Museum and performing weekly, she became seriously ill. She lost weight rapidly, grew exhausted and eventually fainted while on the job at the museum. She was diagnosed with hereditary spherocytic anemia, a rare inherited blood disorder. She also developed fibromyalgia.
The experience forced her to reconsider an existence built around constant work. She had done most things on her own, taking on projects and pushing through exhaustion.
Accepting help from others did not come easy. Friends and members of Pittsburgh’s music community encouraged her to seek support, including through a GoFundMe campaign that helped pay for additional testing and treatment.
The response overwhelmed her. People donated money, sent care packages and told her how much her music meant to them.
She had always approached life with an independent, almost lone-wolf mentality. The support showed her that she didn’t have to do everything alone.
Working hard remains important to her, but she learned that grinding herself into the ground isn’t the only formula for success.
“It forced me to slow down,” she says. “The support was incredible. The community helped me through it.”
Pittsburgh through fresh eyes
Kent has been working on an album, “Saturn Return,” for two years. She performed this month at Blaxk Box Theater in Oakland but plans to hunker down for the rest of the year to finish the record.
She loves Pittsburgh. These days, she tries to see the city through the eyes of a tourist returning to a familiar place.
Losing her mother at a young age and facing personal adversity have made Pittsburgh a place of both painful memories and deep connections. She finds beauty in its neighborhoods, its pace and even its rainy days.
“I love rain,” she says.
Kent wants to travel, make music and see more of the world. But Pittsburgh remains the place that helped her pursue her ambitions.
“Pittsburgh is gorgeous,” she says. “I want to venture out and see the world. But it’s one place I can always come back to. It’s my home.”
Look for Clara Kent on Saturday at the annual 91.3 WYEP Hellbender Ball at Thunderbird Music Hall in Lawrenceville. She’s judging costumes at the event. She’ll be performing Nov. 15 at the Poetry Lounge in Millvale.