Kelsey Hart is a name many around these parts are familiar with, or are about to be. The singer-songwriter hails from Central City and is gaining traction in the country music scene in Nashville. His latest release is set to hit radio airwaves in the new year.
No one could be prouder than his mother, Brenda Hart. She stopped by the Leader-News last week to fill us in on Kelsey’s latest news.
Hart moved to Nashville in 2019 after signing a music publishing deal with Curb Records. Through that deal, Hart has penned tunes for some of Nashville’s hottest rising stars, including Jake Owen and Trace Adkins.
Now five years later, he is signed to Curb with a recording deal and in November released a single, “Life With You”. After several recordings Kelsey has released, this song, Brenda said, is catching on.
“He actually wrote it a couple of yers ago,” Brenda said. “He got married last year, and him and his wife danced to it at their wedding.” In just a few weeks the song had been streamed somewhere around 30 million times.
Curb Records is ready to take the single to the radio, which will mean a tour of radio stations for interviews promoting the single for Kelsey. On Jan. 29 the song will be pushed into rotation on radio stations but some are already spinning the tune.
Even though the radio push doesn’t start until late January, many stations are already playing the song, just based on the viral popularity it has garnered. In the past week, Kelsey has traveled to Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland to promote the single at radio stations, and popular SiriusXM country music show “The Highway” has put it into rotation.
Brenda said the Hart family aren’t particularly musical, and when Kelsey was cast to sing in a school play, his teacher called her and said, “I didn’t know Kelsey could sing!” Brenda told her, she didn’t know he could either.
Kelsey discovered the music of Billy Gilman, a young country singer and contestant on the television show, “The Voice” in 2015. Brenda said he learned his songs, and started to perform a bit, entering talent contests. But when he forgot the words during a solo in a Christmas play in the sixth grade, Kelsey gave up singing until he was in his 20s.
Kelsey worked as a barber in Central City, and eventually found his way back to music when he and a few friends started a band called Boys of Broad. They gained local popularity, and performed concerts and competed in contests for a couple of years.
After Boys of Broad disbanded, Kelsey wanted to try to break into the music scene in Nashville. Brenda said he would work at the barber shop a few days a week to save up money, then head back to Nashville a few days a week. He did this until he landed the publishing deal with Curb.
Now, Kelsey works only as a musician, playing gigs in Nashville, touring a bit and writing. With his most recent release enjoying a viral moment, he might just be on the verge of a new level of success.
“We just kept thinking, there would be that one song that would take it to the next level,” Brenda said. For Kelsey, it might just be “Life With You”.
