Astra Kelly makes Monterey debut at Lighthouse Smokehouse.

It sounds like it comes from a lost Merle Haggard B-side: On her way to a gig, singer-songwriter Astra Kelly’s van wiped out on a patch of black ice. It flipped before it landed upside down on a set of train tracks under a cold Colorado full moon.

Somehow the musician safely escaped the vehicle, with her guitar in tow, just before a train smashed it into an unrecognizable hunk of steel – scattering merch, CDs and promo posters.

“The fear of dying and living was gone,” Kelly says. “I think there’s a lot of ambiguity about death, simply because we don’t know where we’re going. When I was rolling in the van, it was almost as if I was being held.”

The van rolled a full one and a half times, but she emerged completely intact physically: “I came out of it with nothing but a scratch,” she says.

Mentally, it deepened an adventure in ways that still reverberate today. The accident marked the end of a two-year tour that covered 85,000 total miles; Kelly, now living in San Diego, refers to the experience as a revelation that gave her a sense of freedom and has continued to remind her, over a decade later, to avoid taking anything for granted.

“It’s important to stay present and live fully, every minute of every day,” she concedes.

Transformation and the cycle of life are themes that run parallel to one another throughout Kelly’s ninth record Back to Ten, released last fall.

“Lullaby Lady,” Kelly’s take on the angel of death, is a giant leap into the mortality motif.

“Tell me it’s not your time,” she trills as a whimsical banjo flutters effortlessly in the background.

Back to 10 also represents Kelly’s return to her roots as a lyrics-centric acoustic singer-songwriter – as she says, “just a girl and her guitar.” Ten of Kelly’s San Diego musician friends help fill in the gaps.

She’s got a lot of them: After moving to San Diego in 2006, Kelly landed a gig as a DJ with 102.1 KPRI – and eventually she produced her own show, highlighting the local music talent. In order to supplement her income, Kelly also landed extensive voiceover work for the likes of Lexus, Starbucks, Motel 6, Southwest Airlines and the American Diabetes Foundation.

But she prefers to tell her own tales.

“It feels really good to me to be able to relax and focus on the vocals and the storytelling in the songs,” she says.

ASTRA KELLY 7pm Saturday, June 11. Bon Ton L’Roy’s Lighthouse Smokehouse, 794 Lighthouse Ave., Monterey. $5. 375-6958.