DEBUT ALBUM: BRIAN KELLEY DELIVERS
TENNESSEE TRUTH TO EARLY ACCLAIM
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Brian Kelley has always wanted to make music that feels like the life he lives. The DIAMOND-selling superstar’s full-length debut album with Big Machine Records, TENNESSEE TRUTH, does just that. Available everywhere now, listen here.
“I’m so excited for y’all to hear my debut album. Each and every one of these songs make up my Tennessee Truth,” shares Kelley. “I hope everyone enjoys listening to this project as much as I did making it. This is my Tennessee Truth.”
Between big riffs powered by some of the most respected players in Music City – guitarists Derek Wells and Rob McNelley, multi-instrumentalist Ilya Toshinsky, multiple CMA Musician of the Year fiddler Jenee Fleenor, drummer Jerry Roe, and steel guitar legend Paul Franklin – Kelley sings, plainly and powerfully, about the world he inhabits. Across 12 pumped-up Country anthems (eight to his co-writing credit) produced by Dann Huff, he preaches about the restorative powers of rural living (“How We’re Livin’,” “Dirt Cheap”), everlasting love (“Barefeet Or Boots,” “Dirt Road Date Night”), cutting loose (“King Ranch,” “Doin’ Nothin’”), and standing up for oneself (“Kiss My Boots”). It is the gamut and gauntlet of feelings, moments, and embracing the whole of daily living. Likewise, Kelley hasn’t abandoned the ‘beach cowboy’ sounds that defined his 2021 passion project Sunshine State Of Mind either. One listen to “10 O’Clock On The Dock,” and you’re floating. But the rest of the song cycles move inland: scenes of John Deere joyrides, front porch swinging, and long nights out where the cattails sway populate TENNESSEE TRUTH.
Recording in batches throughout last year, Kelley ranked and re-ranked a running list of the songs that were in consideration for the final cut. Some, like “Acres,” were obvious. Over larger-than-life drums and a signature fiddle hook, he sings about his simplest desire: the woman he loves in wide open spaces. “I closed my eyes the day we were writing that,” recalls Kelley of writing with Adam Sanders and Will Weatherly, “and I imagined my wife, Brittney, on her family farm in Georgia. Even now, I picture it. Riding dirt roads and going to get peach ice cream and boiled peanuts. That’s one of my favourite places to go to get off the grid, to just be me with the woman I love. What’s better? Nothing. I wanted to capture that in a song.” Watch the lyric video: https://briankelley.lnk.to/AcresLyricPR
Critics are already applauding the autobiographical collection. In the UK, the Daily Express and The Mirror concluded “….Brian’s ability to craft fresh-sounding country songs with irresistible choruses is undiminished.” In the US, major features are stacking up from the likes of Billboard, PEOPLE, Muscle & Fitness, Southern Living, American Songwriter, CMT and more. Calling Kelley a “confident, standalone country artist,” The Tennessean praises TENNESSEE TRUTH for “accurately reflecting Kelley as a husband and outdoorsman at heart.” It also is “ripe for a road trip and tailgate in equal measure,” hails AP. Further speaking his truth, Kelley recently appeared on the Barstool Sports Presents Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, to chat with NFL players and hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan. Listen here.
Kelley was in the UK this past March, when he played a mainstage C2C Festival set to great reviews.
BRIAN KELLEY’S TENNESSEE TRUTH TRACK LIST
- “Acres” (Brian Kelley, Adam Sanders, Will Weatherly)
- “How We’re Livin’” (Brian Kelley, Micah Carpenter, Jimmy Robbins, Mark Trussell)
- “King Ranch” (Brian Kelley, Katlin Owen)
- “Trucks, Ducks, Bucks & Beer” (Brian Kelley, Rian Ball, Matt McGinn, Michael Tyler)
- “Goin’ Places” (Matt Dragstrem, Matt McGinn, Blake Pendergrass)
- “Barefeet Or Boots” (Brian Kelley, Thomas Archer, Lalo Guzman, Michael Tyler)
- “Dirt Road Date Night” (Brian Kelley, John Byron, Jimmy Robbins)
- “10 O’Clock On The Dock” (Thomas Archer, Matt Dragstrem, Michael Tyler)
- “See You Next Summer” (David Garcia, Michael Hardy, Hillary Lindsey)
- “Doin’ Nothin’” (Brian Kelley, Casey Brown, Blake Pendergrass)
- “Dirt Cheap” (Seth Ennis, Wyatt McCubbin, Andy Sheridan)
- “Kiss My Boots” (Brian Kelley, Dylan Guthro)
Produced by Dann Huff
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ABOUT BRIAN KELLEY: DIAMOND-selling superstar Brian Kelley enters the next chapter of a record-breaking, history-making career with his full-length debut album with Big Machine Records, TENNESSEE TRUTH. With a sold-out run of shows and back-to-back residencies at Tribe Kelley Surf Post in Grayton Beach, FL – owned by the Ormond Beach native and his wife Brittney – Kelley continues to diversify his thriving enterprise with collaborations including Tribe Kelley (with Brittney), Papa Surf Burger Bar (with Brittney; Jason and Brittany Aldean; Tom and Chris Glavine), and a partnership with Oyster City Brewing Company. Kelley is managed by Kevin Spellman and Jason Murray of Vector Management. First known as the Florida half of the GRAMMY®-nominated Florida Georgia Line, the ACM Breakout Artist of the Decade Award recipients garnered 19 career No. 1s and became the first and only act to achieve two RIAA DIAMOND singles in Country music history (14X PLATINUM No. 1s: “Cruise” and “Meant to Be” with Bebe Rexha). Surpassing 17 billion global streams, selling more than 40 million tracks and 4.8 million albums worldwide, plus playing to over 4 million fans, FGL has been honoured by AMA, Billboard, CMA, and CMT Music Awards, as well as having a Florida Georgia Line: Mix It Up Strong exhibit at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.