Nashville's Kelsey Waldon Returns Home for WKCTC's Clemens Fine Arts Center Concert October 12

Paducah, KY (09/27/2018) — Nashville country artist Kelsey Waldon grew up in Ballard County. Monkey's Eyebrow is her hometown. An alumnus of West Kentucky Community and Technical College, the college community along with many of her family and friends will welcome her home during a performance in WKCTC's Clemens Fine Arts Center October 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Waldon's family roots in the Bluegrass State date back over ten generations, from tobacco farmers to cattle raisers, and a general cast of real strong-spirited characters. "Farming and planting tobacco were some of the first jobs I had growing up," Waldon said. Dating back even farther, to some of her very first memories, is her relationship with music.

Inspired by "a melting pot of influences," Waldon said she took notes from a wide variety, spanning from legends like Merle Haggard and Mavis Staples, to bluegrass luminaries Ralph Stanley and Ricky Skaggs, and songwriting greats John Prine, Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt. She will play with John Prine earlier in October at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville.

When Waldon picked up the guitar at 13, she never looked back. "I finally felt like I was a part of something when I started playing and writing music. It was something that finally made everything make sense, and it was a very essential and healthy thing for me during my younger years, and still is."

After earning an associate in arts degree at WKCTC in 2010, Waldon graduated from Belmont University with a bachelor's degree in songwriting and music business. Since then, her life has changed drastically over the past seven years. She made her debut performance on the Grand Ole Opry at the hallowed Ryman Auditorium, and she's already been bestowed with one of Nashville's highest honors: playing the historic Station Inn, the go-to spot of the 70's, where intimate, post-Opry jam sessions were hosted by legends like Jimmy Martin, Bobby Osborne, and Bill Monroe. Waldon returns to WKCTC and the Clemens stage with her distinct sound that meets at the juncture of classic country, bluegrass, soul, R&B, and rock and roll.

Her career skyrocketed with the release of her debut LP The Goldmine, which The Fader dubbed as "the brightest country debut of 2014". Relix claimed it was "dripping with the most sought-after currency of authenticity." The album was named one of Rolling Stone's "10 New Artists You Need To Know: Summer 2014," with journalist Marissa Moss calling Waldon, "Tammy Wynette on a trip to Whiskeytown, as unafraid of heavy twang and spitfire pedal steel as coffeehouse confessionals."

Since the release of her hit album I've Got A Way in 2016, Waldon's has established herself as one of Nashville's founders of the female-pioneered twang revival - a movement that is quickly redefining the modern country music narrative. The album ranked on two of NPR's most-acclaimed lists of the year; Fresh Air host Ken Tucker's "Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2016" alongside Beyonce, Miranda Lambert, and Stax legend William Bell. The album's shining single, "All By Myself" was named on their list of "Top 100 Songs of 2016. The video for the single, filmed in her hometown of Monkey's Eyebrow, was featured on Rolling Stone Country and Billboard.

With her career soaring, Walden has been busy touring the country - sometimes solo, but more often than not, with a tight-knit band of extremely talented musicians. But despite the fame and notoriety she's seen in the past three years, she remains humbled by her success. "I've spent a huge majority of my life studying my favorite records, my favorite songs, and my most-favorite singers," she said, adding, "You never stop learning or gaining from it. I'm still doing it all the time… all the while still writing my own story and hopefully becoming an entity in my own right."

Tickets for Kelsey Waldon's concert are on sale now. Adults, $30; student and children, $15. Visit artsinfocus.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx or contact Julie Moore at julie.moore@kctcs.edu or 270-534-3212.

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