Kimberly Kelly releases ‘Summers Like That’ video

Song appears on forthcoming debut album

A native of Lorena, Texas, singer/songwriter Kimberly Kelly has spent years in both the Texas and Nashville music scenes earning an education in experiences that have made her both fearless in her approach to creating and unafraid to defy convention when it comes to industry expectations. Those years of hard work, all while also earning a Master’s degree and working full-time, culminated last summer in a long-awaited record deal with Show Dog Nashville. Now she is set to make her label debut with the album, I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen, available on CD and LP July 8th via Show Dog Nashville in partnership with Thirty Tigers.

Kelly debuts the music video for album track “Summers Like That.” Fans can also catch Kelly every Tuesday in June for her residency at Nashville’s legendary venue, The Basement. Performances begin at 7 pm on June 21st and 28th.

Directed by Tyler Barksdale, the video brings the nostalgic song to life…capturing what young love looks like. “Tyler did an amazing job using subtle imagery that mirrors the song’s lyrics and the story in addition to what the actors are doing,” Kelly says. “The carnival scene wasn’t planned either — it just happened to be set up nearby the weekend we shot. The carnival alone added a whole other level of charm to the story and song.”

“Summers Like That” was written by Karyn Rochelle and Bobby Tomberlin and produced by Brett Tyler. The song not only name checks a number of classic 90s country hits but is also sonically, reminiscent of some of Kelly’s biggest influences, artist like Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, Brooks & Dunn and Deana Carter.

“Not only does this song namedrop ‘Strawberry Wine,’ ‘Walk Away Joe,’ and a slew more of my favorites, but it has the same feel as those songs, which I love. A very relatable story that allows you to get lost in the emotion.” she adds. “It reminds me of ‘Maybe It Was Memphis,’ in that way. The 90s are back in the fashion industry and other genres of music…let’s bring them back in country music too.”

Off stage Kelly possess an inviting warmth mixed with sly self-deprecation, a winsome combo only earned with some life experience, self-awareness and nothing to prove on stage just the goods to stop a listener in their tracks. “This is not my first rodeo,” Kelly says of her label debut. “I worked really hard in Texas before I came to Nashville. I wrote songs, put out records, did a radio tour, and played every weekend while going to school and working full-time.”

Produced by Brett Tyler, Kelly’s husband and a hit songwriter himself with No. 1s like “Cold Beer Calling My Name” under his belt, the album’s title is a clever nod to her friend and fellow Texas musician, the late Country Music Hall of Famer, Billy Joe Shaver.

The abbreviated quote used for the title comes from the better-than-fiction-true story of Shaver forcing his way into a Waylon Jennings recording session after the star tried to renege on recording some of his songs. Brushing off a $100 bill to go away, Shaver said to Jennings, “I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna either listen to these songs or I’m gonna whip your ass.” Waylon agreed to listen to one. The rest is history in the form of Jennings’ 1973 Honky Tonk Heroes album, on which every song but one was written by Shaver.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com