Irene Kelley has had quite a run with her current album, Benny’s TV Repair. Its first four singles have made it to #1 on our Bluegrass Today Weekly Airplay chart, and stayed there for multiple weeks each time.
This week the fifth single drops. Can she do it again?
This time it’s Hills Of Home, one Kelley wrote with Ronnie Bowman inspired by the iconic Ralph Stanley festival of the same name. Irene recalls how awestruck she was playing at the festival as a 21 year old with Jerry Williamson & Redwing, roaming the festival grounds and visiting Carter Stanley’s grave. When she shared these memories with Bowman, who grew up in the Appalachian region, the two set to work on a new song. The end result speaks of the universal longing for home, and the simpler life that calls out to folks who grew up in the country, but now live in urban areas or big cities.
It makes a fine, easy-going bluegrass song. Here’s a taste…
Hills Of Home and Benny’s TV Repair are available now wherever you stream or download music online, and on CD from Mountain Fever Records. Radio programmers can get the tracks at AirPlay Direct.
