KIMBERLY KELLY PREMIERES VIDEO FOR “SUMMERS LIKE THAT” TODAY ON CMT
On the heels of the announcement of her label debut, I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen, arriving July 8 via Show Dog Nashville in partnership with Thirty Tigers, singer/songwriter Kimberly Kelly debuts the music video for album track “Summers Like That” exclusively, today on CMT. Watch HERE. Fans can also catch Kelly every Tuesday in June for her residency at Nashville’s legendary venue, The Basement. Performances begin at 7 pm on June 21 and 28. For more information visit, thebasementnashville.
Directed by Tyler Barksdale, the video brings the nostalgic song to life…capturing what young love looks like. “Tyler did an amazing job using subtle imagery that mirrors the song’s lyrics and the story in addition to what the actors are doing,” Kelly shared exclusively with CMT. “The carnival scene wasn’t planned either— it just happened to be set up nearby the weekend we shot. The carnival alone added a whole other level of charm to the story and song.”
“Summers Like That,” which left Billboard praising Kelly’s “warm, lifting voice,” was written by Karyn Rochelle and Bobby Tomberlin and produced by Brett Tyler. The song not only name checks a number of classic 90s country hits but is also sonically, reminiscent of some of Kelly’s biggest influences, artist like Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, Brooks & Dunn and Deana Carter. Listen to “Summers Like That” HERE.
A native of Lorena, Texas, Kelly spent years in both the Texas and Nashville music scenes earning an education in experiences that have made her both fearless in her approach to creating and unafraid to defy convention when it comes to industry expectations. Those years of hard work, all while also earning a Master’s degree and working fulltime, culminated last summer in a long-awaited record deal with Show Dog Nashville. Now she is set to make her label debut. Pre-order or pre-save I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen HERE.
The album is already earning kudos including praise from legendary singer/songwriter and fellow Texan, Radney Foster, who shared, “If you like your Country music with fiddles and steel guitars, melodies that soar and a singer who unapologetically sings with a twang, you will love Kimberly Kelly. She’s a great songwriter and her timeless voice delivers power and emotion on this fun but often poignant collection. Don’t try to drive while you’re listening to ‘Person That You Marry.’ Don’t ask me how I know.”
Off stage Kelly possess an inviting warmth mixed with sly self-deprecation, a winsome combo only earned with some life experience, self-awareness and nothing to prove on stage just the goods to stop a listener in their tracks. “This is not my first rodeo,” Kelly says of her label debut. “I worked really hard in Texas before I came to Nashville. I wrote songs, put out records, did a radio tour, and played every weekend while going to school and working full-time.”
The album’s title, I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen, is a clever nod to her friend and fellow Texas musician, the late Country Music Hall of Famer, Billy Joe Shaver. The abbreviated quote comes from the better-than-fiction-true story of Shaver forcing his way into a Waylon Jennings recording session after the star tried to renege on recording some of his songs. Brushing off a $100 bill to go away, Shaver said to Jennings, “I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna either listen to these songs or I’m gonna whip your ass.” Waylon agreed to listen to one. The rest is history in the form of Jennings’ 1973 Honky Tonk Heroes album, on which every song but one was written by Shaver.
“I landed on this album title on a dare,” Kelly says. “I was like, ‘Sure. What do I care?’ I did the Texas music scene, I’ve done time in Nashville, and I thought my time had passed when I got offered my record deal. My husband could keep writing songs and I’d just be a speech therapist. So I made this album like it’s the last one I’ll ever get to make and the title is my mantra so to speak. I love good songs, and I let the best ones win whether I wrote them or not. It’s a compilation I’m proud of, and I’m thrilled for people to hear them!”