Issue #54: We Listen to Kelsey Waldon with...Kelsey Waldon

Her new album, 'There's Always A Song', dropped last Friday, featuring Margo Price, Amanda Shires, S.G. Goodman and Isaac Gibson of of 49 Winchester

Photo: Alysse Gafkjen

If you want to listen to some new-old-fashioned country music that’s steeped in tradition without being strangled by it, look no further than Kelsey Waldon’s latest. The concise collection of covers is called There’s Always A Song (I also love the title!!), and came out last Friday on Oh Boy Records (the indie founded by John Prine, for the uninitiated) — it spans songs made famous by familiar names like Ralph Stanley and Bill Monroe as well as lesser-known folk favorites, all connected to Waldon’s musical origin story. There’s nothing cliché about her interpretations, though: I was so startled and impressed by the way, for example, she incorporated synths and other effects on her version of Doc Watson’s “Your Lone Journey” — a song that’s begging for a soundtrack sync if I’ve ever heard one.

Kelsey joined the DRTI Slack room to listen to the album with us and talk through it, telling us how it came together and what she was thinking about as she approached each of these songs. Below is a lightly edited version of our chat, which goes from jam bands to Hazel Dickens and everywhere in between; it was a real treat to go song by song, and we heartily recommend listening along as you read! — NW

You can buy Kelsey’s new album There’s Always A Song at Oh Boy Records here, or listen on your preferred streaming service!

Marissa: While we listen to this first song, “Keep Your Garden Clean,” I'd love to know a little bit about the motivations to do this record. This is so gorgeous by the way, hearing just your voice....

Natalie: Yeah, love the a capella as a kind of place setting!

Kelsey Waldon: Thank you so much! Songs with just the voice are such an important part of old time, bluegrass and traditional music, I feel. It was really vulnerable and a bit scary, but my voice is an instrument to me, and I wanted to show that I could use it. So much of traditional music is soul music to me...like singing from the deepest depths of your soul. Pure.

My motivation to do this really was based around "Hello Stranger." I was on the phone with SG and we have been wanting to collab for so long, and she said we'd kill "Hello Stranger" — the Hazel and Alice version — and I agreed. That then kind of put me on to this idea of reimagining some of my favorite old time and bluegrass songs with my band. Whenever I get burnt out creatively or uninspired...I think about the music that started it all for me.

Natalie: That's awesome — I love your guys' take on it, it's just so warm and rich... Traditional but still totally fresh sounding.

Marissa: Listening to that song right now and can confirm you killed it.

Kelsey: Ok let me listen to it too lol. Thank y'all so much. "Hello Stranger" has been done by a million people it seems like, so it was important that I could produce a fresh arrangement of it. These songs have been done, but I think we have to remember they are new to a newer generation of country music fans. A lot of people thought I wrote "Hello Stranger" and all the others, too. haha.

Natalie: I really love cover albums in general for that reason, because there are so many fantastic songs out there in the world and you only hear them when you hear them if that makes sense — reviving the great ones that are too often buried is really underrated IMO. Plenty of your picks were new to me, FWIW, and that is exactly how I would want it!

Marissa: Yeah me too, I can think of so many examples of cover albums that were transformative for me in appreciating both the artist doing the cover and the original performer/writer in different ways. Or even hearing them for the first time.

Kelsey: For sure! I feel like I would never do an album like this unless I could make it my own, honestly. So much of this album to me is about expressing gratitude for music that has meant so much to me, it's not about doing it better or worse, or anything like that. I didn't want this to come off as a "tribute" album or you know...a Cracker Barrel tribute album of some sorts hahaha. I wanted to show how relevant this still is. Willie Nelson, Charley Crockett, numerous people are releasing albums of other people’s songs. I think what's important is just making them your own — and it really is about gratitude, for me.

Kelsey: And no offense to Cracker Barrel. I'm a fan. :)

Marissa: How much of a plan did you have when you headed into the studio for each of these? Did you sort of have a roadmap/direction beforehand, or did you just get in there and play and see what happened?

Kelsey: A little bit of both really! We definitely did some pre-production as far as the arrangements went. Then let enough space to let some magic happen in the studio as well.

Natalie: Moving onto "I Only Exist"…what a devastating song. What made it a must have for you?

Kelsey: I haven't listened to the album all the way through in a minute. Lots of thoughts! “I Only Exist" was a must have...I love the devastating factor of so many mountain songs, they are DARK. Ralph's wife actually wrote this song, and that made it even more a "must have" for me, to have a song written from a wife's perspective, about Ralph being gone all the time. Isaac was the perfect partner to sing with, I feel like our voices really match.

Marissa: So dark, and with no happy resolution!

Kelsey: No, there is no resolution. That is the best part. I think Ralph and Carter Stanley are two of my favorite voices ever, and there are so many songs of theirs that translate well into honky-tonk songs or whatever you want to call it. I couldn't do this without doing a Ralph song, he is too big of an influence on my own voice and music.

Marissa: And of course Bill Monroe (I'm listening to “Uncle Pen”)…

Natalie: Totally — as we move on into "Uncle Pen," I know you’ve said you modeled your take on this song after Goose Creek Symphony's version (again, new to me!) and it's so great — super groovy and unexpected!

Marissa: I knew "Uncle Pen" as a jam band tune before I knew it as a bluegrass one...

Kelsey: Yes! Everyone has also done "Uncle Pen". I love that it is a song about fiddle tunes, about Bill's Uncle Pen. Being from Kentucky, I love the fiddle. It’s become a huge part of our live sound,as well.

Marissa: BUT, listening to bands like the Dead and Phish cover bluegrass and country tunes were huge in me going down the country path. The power of covers…

Kelsey: It's great that you mention the jam factor....bands like Goose Creek Symphony and John Hartford have helped me take myself a bit less seriously and embrace the joy and community that music have. That's what "Uncle Pen" is about to me, and really the collaborative aspect of this album as a whole. When the fiddle is there, it feels like we're making music. When two fiddles are there, even better. The first scene that ever embraced me was the bluegrass and pickin’ party scene. When I first moved to Nashville even, I went to every pickin’ party I could be at. I absolutely love that you went down the country path because of phish. It just shows how much it's all connected.

Photo: Alysse Gafkjen

Natalie: Double fiddle is an excellent touch (bonus when one is Amanda Shires).

Kelsey: Double fiddles, the way Bill would do it!

Marissa: I love Amanda on fiddle so much, she has such a personal signature as a player.

Natalie: And cheers to joy and community in music!! Always.

Kelsey: She absolutely does and I think it meant a lot to her to be featured on fiddle! I am really thankful she came in and did it. When she doubled the part, I actually felt like it added the extra breath the song needed. A little fun, a little sass. Some attitude. Community in music is definitely a theme for this album.

Natalie: Can certainly sense that, obviously through the collaborations but also building on your Kentucky roots (musical and otherwise!) and tying those threads together. Is it mostly your touring band on the album? I got to see you in Fort Worth....last year??? And it was so much fun!

Marissa: That's something I need reminding of, as a listener even, living in Nashville this days. Anything that reminds me about how the musical community and camaraderie here is still thriving is so welcome.

Kelsey: I hear you, Marissa. I think it's really important. This is my touring band on the album for the most part! Libby, Junior, Erik, and Zach. I co-produced this with my partner Justin Francis, and we definitely kept it all in the family. I always want things to sound real, with a real jolt of energy — not tired haha.

Natalie: Totally — and in that spirit we're already halfway through the album! As we listen to "Pretty Bird" — another stunning a capella track — was it hard to keep it to just 8 songs? Obviously when you're picking covers I know the sky can be the limit haha. But the album is so succinct in spite of that!

Marissa: Yes, this "Pretty Bird" is stunning. Need more Hazel Dickens appreciation in the culture.

Kelsey: Wow, thank you all. It was very tedious to get this take...at the end of the day, you just have to sing it and not overthink it. Just sing like you know how to do. I agree and Hazel would absolutely be one of my biggest influences. She still inspires me every day. This music resonates so deep within me...I've said this in the press release I think but, this music was here long before me and will be here long after me. The Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard record with “Ramblin’ Woman,” “Banjo Pickin’ Girl,” etc...that album goes hard as hell.

I kept this to 8 songs because that's honestly all we had in the budget to do, but I would love to make a triple album. It was HARD to pick! I just tried to once again not overthink it and do what felt right. I chose the first ones that came to mind.

Natalie: Well, it's a pretty impressive array. And for sure, they are incredible - and then they're also speaking truth to power !! Are most of these songs ones you've been singing for a while?

Kelsey: Yeah I guess so. It's just music I've heard my whole life. These voices helped me find my singular voice. They are all different and really resonated with me in that way...I didn't feel so weird about being country or the way I sang when I discovered these voices as a kid.

Marissa: I don't think I knew "I've Endured" before I heard it here, I have to say.

Natalie: Yeah "I've Endured" is awesome, and felt like a deep pull to me too! A little bit of relatable pandemic era energy, also…

Kelsey: I am so happy and honored to introduce "I've Endured" to any and every new listener. It is by a woman by the name of Ola Belle Reed, who has had a deep influence on me. It embodies the spirit of all this...resilience! Independence! I've heard it done a bunch of different ways but I said, what if we did "I've Endured" kind of like...with Waylon in mind? haha. And that's how we got here.

Marissa: Makes me think of another really great and important covers album (well, albums) by Plant & Krauss. They took on Ola Belle Reed but of course it sounds so different, shows what a flexible and endless road map these classic songs can be.

Kelsey: Absolutely. I love that album.

Natalie: "Traveling The Highway Home" is another awesome uptempo track...definitely some picking party energy there to me (as someone who has never participated in such an event lol).

Kelsey: Hahaha!

Marissa: It's a cliche thing to say something like "chugging" or "locomotive" but this song motherfucking chugs. Something so special about you doing this with Margo, too.

Kelsey: Well, I learned this song from Molly O'Day, who is a female pioneer of early Country music from Kentucky. I take that as a compliment Marissa, we tried every different way we could make this song "different" from the original and then I was like...It's just gotta be straight grass. It's got to be. Obviously still with my own voice to it but, just tried to keep the energy right and commit.

Absolutely so special to do this with Margo. She came over to the house and recorded it, and we hung out on the porch afterwards like always. We both know about some "traveling the highway home," for sure. I am so grateful for our friendship and deep bond, we have an understanding. I love her so much...and really thankful for her support. She is my partner in crime for sure. Life's too short to not do this stuff with your friends.

Marissa: You have also both come so far from the days a decade ago when you were playing the 5 Spot or free shows or whatever just to play. It's wonderful to see you still as friends and musical companions.

Kelsey: Absolutely, it is wild to think about it all. Margo was my first real friend in Nashville, really. She even opened my first album release show at the OG Basement! hahaha. It has been a wild ride and there is still so much left to go!

Natalie: Vis a vis “straight grass,” I think the looseness and groove keeps it far away from feeling rehashed, though - there is such a fine line between redoing a song and it's a lifeless carbon copy, and redoing it in a way that is maybe not intentionally inventive but still sounds new (you're on the right side of that line here, for me, obviously!).

Kelsey: Proud to be on the right side of that line! I was hoping that is how it would come off. Sometimes I feel like you don't have to completely change the formula, you just have to put your own spirit into it.

Natalie: You close out the album with "Your Lone Journey" - I really love this arrangement, it's such a striking blend of that new and old we've been talking about! Why this Doc Watson tune, out of all the many options? :)

Kelsey: Thank you so much. This is also a very intense song, written I believe also by Doc's wife and about losing a family member. These last two songs are obviously sort of religious, although I am not particularly a religious person. I just see gospel music and songs like this as part of the fabric of American roots music. It kind of transcends all that for me. I would hope you can find peace in it, no matter what you believe.

I think I chose "Your Lone Journey" because once again...the ancient melody of it. The importance of Doc. I wanted to let the melody really take off and not have a strict backbeat behind it or anything like that. I also feel like on a lot of albums, I don't get to really USE my voice. I wanted to use it.

There is also something so refreshing to me about doing an album not of your own songs, although I am ready to track a new album of originals. But, when they aren't your own, sometimes it just feels like it's not all about YOU. hahaha. Not that there's anything wrong with it being about ME, lol. You guys get it.

Natalie: For sure!! Would imagine it might breed some inspiration too. With that we've heard the whole album! Such a lovely listen, one our readers I think will really enjoy. You've already been so generous with your time - is there anything else about the album you think would be important for people to understand? Anything else you have coming up that you want to plug?

Kelsey: Thank y'all so much!! That was fun. I can't think of anything else that I haven't said already in here. I would definitely like to plug my tour...doing some headlining, festival, and support slot dates with 49 Winchester and Charley Crockett! Much more to come.

You can buy Kelsey’s new album There’s Always A Song at Oh Boy Records here, or listen on your preferred streaming service!