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Kelly Lang Shares Personal Stories of Resilience in Nashville's Evolving Music Scene on Takin’ A Walk Nashville · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Taking a Walk nash Still.
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  Speaker 2: Hey y'all, thanks for tuning in today. It's Sarah Harrelson,
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  Speaker 2: your host of Taking a Walk Nashville. Today, I am
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  Speaker 2: sitting down with Nashville songwriter and singer Kelly Lange. You
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  Speaker 2: may have heard her song I'm Not Going Anywhere if
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: you have seen the Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital national commercials.
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  Speaker 2: That is her song. Her new single, I Reached for
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  Speaker 2: Red is out. She also just dropped a single Hollywood
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  Speaker 2: and her album will be out later this summer. She
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  Speaker 2: is married to country artist TG Shephard. She recently did
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  Speaker 2: a Christmas album with him, and she's had songs recorded
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  Speaker 2: by Ricky Skaggs, Crystal Gaale Mickey, Kelly, George Jones, and
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  Speaker 2: the list goes on. Her song Under the Tennessee Moon.
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  Speaker 2: Did you know that it's a Tennis state song. There's
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  Speaker 2: a lot to dive in with her today, so join
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  Speaker 2: me as I sit down with Kelly Lange.
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  Speaker 3: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with your hosts singer
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  Speaker 3: songwriter Sarah Harrelson. Hi everyone, this is Sarah Harrelson, your
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: host of Taking a Walk Nashville, and joining us today
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  Speaker 3: is a true Nashville powerhouse whose voice and storytelling who
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  Speaker 3: has touched millions. She is a multi award winning singer,
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  Speaker 3: songwriter and author who has shared the stage with legends
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  Speaker 3: and seeing her own songs recorded by icons like George Jones, Ricky.
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  Speaker 4: Skaggs, and Bristol Gaale.
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  Speaker 3: She is fresh off a beautiful duets project, Chemistry with
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  Speaker 3: her husband TG Shepherd, and is currently gearing up for
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  Speaker 3: a massive summer album release.
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  Speaker 2: Kelly, thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk, Nash, but.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you today.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to my album
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  Speaker 1: coming out. But meanwhile, we've got our first single off
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  Speaker 1: the album coming out tomorrow, so I'm really excited to
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  Speaker 1: share it with everyone.
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  Speaker 4: You do. And that's I Reach for Red correct.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, what does red represent in the context of the song.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it actually is for Red Wine, but there's so
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  Speaker 1: many things in the video that comes out tomorrow as
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  Speaker 1: well that you'll see that I've read screeched for.
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  Speaker 4: So it's not just the wine.
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  Speaker 1: But it's written about a friend of mine that just
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  Speaker 1: loved wine for everything, like every occasion.
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  Speaker 4: It was like happy, sad, celebrative, and she would like
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  Speaker 4: somebody sold their dogs, she would let go.
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  Speaker 1: She was like an excuse to drink wine, and so
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  Speaker 1: I would just tease with her, I'm like, girl, I
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  Speaker 1: need to crutch right, But it was just.
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  Speaker 4: I don't even drink red wine that much. But it
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  Speaker 4: was just a fun song that things sing.
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  Speaker 1: About, and I realized there's a lot of people out
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  Speaker 1: there that really do like their red wine.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't wait to hear that.
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  Speaker 3: And following that release you have Holly Wood, is there
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  Speaker 3: a narrative that connects these two singles as we had
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  Speaker 3: towards your next album?
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  Speaker 1: Nothing really connect those particular songs, but the album as
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  Speaker 1: a whole, it's like a PG thirteen Okay, maybe fourteen actually,
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  Speaker 1: but everything is a little bit more adult contemporary and
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  Speaker 1: it's got an adult theme. So those two songs seem
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  Speaker 1: to fit the album properly, you know. And as the
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  Speaker 1: album progresses, you see just like a little bit more
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  Speaker 1: evolution in to why they're connected, not in particular of
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  Speaker 1: those two side by side.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And is there like a play on words with Hollywood?
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  Speaker 3: Is it regarding Hollywood or is it a specific character both?
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  Speaker 4: Okay, I'd have to glad to hear it. Yeah, I'm
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  Speaker 4: very excited to hear it.
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  Speaker 3: In all of the upcoming music and addition, in addition
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  Speaker 3: to your new music, you have a few shows coming
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  Speaker 3: up with your husband. Can fans expect of tour or
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  Speaker 3: additional performances this year?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we actually do shows throughout the year, but right
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  Speaker 1: now we're doing show this Sunday night in Franklin, Tennessee
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  Speaker 1: at the Franklin Theater her col So I'm very excited
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  Speaker 1: about that.
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  Speaker 4: But we also have, you know, shows that we do
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  Speaker 4: on our own.
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  Speaker 1: You can go to my website Kelly Lang dot net
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  Speaker 1: and check out the tour schedule.
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  Speaker 3: Great. Yeah, and you have been busy recording with your
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  Speaker 3: husband as well. You recently released a duets album title Chemistry.
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  Speaker 4: How did you pick the songs for that album.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we had done an album many years ago called
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  Speaker 1: Iconic Duets, and it was just a fun project to do,
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  Speaker 1: and we waited a long time in between to record again,
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  Speaker 1: and there was just some love songs that we had
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  Speaker 1: had in mind on the first project we never got
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  Speaker 1: to so it's just kind of like a two point zero
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  Speaker 1: and it was a fun time to get back in
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  Speaker 1: there with him, and I don't know, we just had
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  Speaker 1: enough time on our hands to be able to pull
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  Speaker 1: a project together, and it just was a blatch recording it.
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  Speaker 4: I had a really good time.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, such beautiful songs. I love your take on Because
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  Speaker 3: You Love Me and some of the other songs. You
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  Speaker 3: also wrote the song I'm Not Going Anywhere before your
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  Speaker 3: own breast cancer diagnosis, and it later became a national
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  Speaker 3: anthem for caregivers through the Ascension Hospital commercials. How has
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  Speaker 3: your relationship with that song of all, now that it
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  Speaker 3: has its own legacy in.
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  Speaker 4: The healthcare world.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I didn't see it coming, honestly. It actually ended
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  Speaker 1: up also being the title of my book. I have
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  Speaker 1: an autobiography that the Olivia Newton John wrote thee forward
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  Speaker 1: for and it's all about my experience with breast cancer
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  Speaker 1: and the music industry. And that song I just I
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  Speaker 1: really just wrote as an instrumental and then I later
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  Speaker 1: added words to it, and it just kind of set
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  Speaker 1: there for like fifteen years, and all of a sudden,
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  Speaker 1: you know, there took a totally upswing on that, and
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  Speaker 1: the hospital took care of that, and I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: it made my career take up a notch and people
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  Speaker 1: took me more seriously as a writer, and my writing
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  Speaker 1: career has really taken off since that project, so I
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  Speaker 1: always added in all my shows, and for some reason,
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  Speaker 1: people seem to be sentimentally attached to that from a
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  Speaker 1: caregiver's perspective.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, it's so beautiful.
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  Speaker 3: I definitely hear it all the time when I see
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  Speaker 3: the Assumpsion commercials. Another song that you have under the
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  Speaker 3: Tennessee Moon, and that was recently named an official Tennessee
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  Speaker 3: State song, which is.
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  Speaker 2: A massive honor.
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  Speaker 4: When you were writing that song.
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  Speaker 3: Did you think there would become a Tennessee state song?
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  Speaker 1: Again, I have a weird thing that happens I write
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  Speaker 1: something and fifteen years later that's what happened with this
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  Speaker 1: one too.
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  Speaker 4: I wrote it for my mom.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 1: She was just saying, Kelly, I love Tennessee so much.
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  Speaker 1: Can you just look at it through my eyes and
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  Speaker 1: how beautiful the hills are and the heritage and the music.
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  Speaker 4: And she said, please write a song about Tennessee for me,
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  Speaker 4: And I'm like, how do you do that? You know?
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  Speaker 4: So I did. I wrote.
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  Speaker 1: I went home that evening and started writing it and
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  Speaker 1: just as a gift to her, And I did not
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  Speaker 1: see this coming at all.
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  Speaker 4: That when the Governor of Tennessee.
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  Speaker 1: Governor Lee gave me a proclamation in his office. My
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  Speaker 1: mom was here to see that. She got to hear
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  Speaker 1: me sing it on the opry, and she passed four
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  Speaker 1: months later, So it was a real full circle moment
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  Speaker 1: for me to have her see that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm so glad she got to hear the song
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  Speaker 3: and see your performer.
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  Speaker 4: That's so special.
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  Speaker 3: And you've also had songs recorded by George Jones, Ricky
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  Speaker 3: Skagg's Crystal Gale. When you're writing, how do you know
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  Speaker 3: if a song is for you or how do you
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  Speaker 3: know if it's for another artist?
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  Speaker 4: During that process? That's a great question.
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  Speaker 1: Well, if somebody hires me or you know, asks that
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  Speaker 1: if I could do something for this particular project, I
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  Speaker 1: tend to not think about my own feelings.
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  Speaker 4: I try to body myself with what they would say.
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  Speaker 1: For instance, there's a song on my album right now
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  Speaker 1: that's coming out called I Know Me, and I actually
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  Speaker 1: wrote it for Johnny Lee of the Urban Cowboy fame
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  Speaker 1: and he recorded it and it was from a men's perspective,
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  Speaker 1: is how I wrote the song. But I had several
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  Speaker 1: people go, why didn't you record that? And I'm like, hm,
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  Speaker 1: I never thought about it being from a girl's spot.
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  Speaker 1: So I have re you know, structured the song and
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  Speaker 1: made it my own. And it's weird though I'm not
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  Speaker 1: as connected to it lyrically because it wasn't for me,
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  Speaker 1: you know, so there's a mental separation with it. It's
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  Speaker 1: still an interesting song and I added it on the
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  Speaker 1: project because it fits, but there is a difference. There's
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  Speaker 1: really like when I wrote for Laurie's album, Laurie Morgan's album,
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  Speaker 1: we said and we talked about her life, what happened
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  Speaker 1: in your day, who were you involved with, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and so all of the songs that we wrote for her,
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  Speaker 1: if I were to go back and record them, it
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't sound the same, right, Yeah, It'll be totally a
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  Speaker 1: different vibe.
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  Speaker 3: And that's so important that you brought up earlier that
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  Speaker 3: you know, sometimes a song, you write it and nothing
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  Speaker 3: happens with the ten years later.
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  Speaker 4: And that's the great thing about music is that it.
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  Speaker 3: Can be so timeless. And then you know, a lot
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  Speaker 3: of evergreen, newer artists are thinking they need to get
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  Speaker 3: a song out right now or get it cut right now, but.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes it's un the same.
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  Speaker 4: Everything breathe of time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the one thing I've really learned that older I
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  Speaker 1: have gotten, which is, you know, wisdom comes with as
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  Speaker 1: thank God, you know. But it's just patience, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and that nothing is created in vain. And I don't
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  Speaker 1: take anything personally, don't get distraught if something doesn't get
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  Speaker 1: cut or something. I just patiently go. If that's meant
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  Speaker 1: to be, it will happen. And if not, you know,
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  Speaker 1: maybe it's just not the right time, you know. So
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  Speaker 1: I just patiently just I don't even I don't even
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  Speaker 1: promote my music. I don't even tell really anybody about it.
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  Speaker 1: This kind of organically tidy. It takes care of itself,
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  Speaker 1: which is it.
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  Speaker 4: It's helpful to me because I don't feel stressed about it. Absolutely. Yeah,
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  Speaker 4: that's such beautiful advice, Kelly.
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  Speaker 2: I have one more question for you.
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  Speaker 3: We're on taking a walk Nashville, and Nashville has changed
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  Speaker 3: so much.
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  Speaker 4: So you think if we were walking.
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  Speaker 3: Down Broadway or Music Row ten years ago versus today,
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  Speaker 3: what's the biggest landmark in your memory that's no longer there.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I'm gonna take you back thirty years.
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  Speaker 1: So when I was hanging out on Music Row, when
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: it was really Music Row, there were little houses that
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  Speaker 1: you pop into, you know, and you would go from
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  Speaker 1: house to house to house, and they were publishing houses,
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  Speaker 1: and you would a either write with somebody, or grab
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  Speaker 1: somebody from that house to go lunch with the guy
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  Speaker 1: from the next house.
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  Speaker 4: Or there was a lot of hopping around.
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  Speaker 1: And there was a little place called Maud's Vineyard that
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  Speaker 1: we all would hang out at and it was.
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  Speaker 4: Just a quaint little luncheon spot.
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  Speaker 1: Every body, every artist, every publisher, every producer, everybody hung
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  Speaker 1: out there and it was just such a quaint, little
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  Speaker 1: off the beaten path kind of place.
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  Speaker 4: I miss that.
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  Speaker 1: There's a couple of little places like that, but I
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  Speaker 1: miss that it is no longer, and I'm disgrateful to
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  Speaker 1: have been part of that history. I've been here since
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  Speaker 1: seventy six, so it is changed tremendously.
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  Speaker 4: I don't even recognize it anymore.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, there's so many places closing all the time.
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  Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, it just looks like one big high rise.
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  Speaker 3: I know.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Well, thank you for sharing that, Kelly, Thank you so
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  Speaker 4: much for.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Being on taking a walk Nashville to say listeners can
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: check out your new singles. I reach for Red and
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  Speaker 3: Hollywood and We're excited to see even more ofcoming music
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  Speaker 3: from you.
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  Speaker 4: This here, thank you. Actually it's mod Courtyard.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Okay, thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Sarah Harrelson. Please check out our other shows produced by
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Buzznight Media Productions Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: hosted by Lynn Hoffman, and Take It a Walk hosted
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: by Yours Truly Buzznight. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: and are part of the iHeart podcast network