A Pennsylvania coal miner’s granddaughter, IRENE KELLEY went from singing lead with the Bluegrass band Redwing to Nashville and a pair of major label singles. Several albums and chart-topping singles later, Irene continues to release music of import featuring her signature mix of Bluegrass, Country and Americana. Irene’s songwriting has drawn much deserved attention and her pure and lonesome vocal prowess has tugged at the heartstrings of music lovers for years, making her one of traditional music’s most beloved musical story-tellers. Her most recent full-length album — “Benny’s TV Repair” — garnered five #1 songs on the Bluegrass Today charts and continues to receive coast-to-cast 24/7 airplay on Sirius/XM.
On October 19, 2021, Irene Kelley released her NEW rollicking Appalachian-influenced "CAROLINA SPECIAL" (IRK Records) to radio stations worldwide.
During the pandemic, touring was completely halted which made for some serious cabin fever. Irene Kelley explains, “Making trips to East Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains on occasion was one thing that was doable and kept me sane. The mountains and the beauty there has always been a huge inspiration to me, most notably the running waters, raging rivers, and cool clear streams. I brought the title and idea for ‘WILD MOUNTAIN STREAM' to Billy Droze and Terry Herd during one of our Zoom writing sessions. It was only after maybe an hour later that we had the song completed. The musicians and Justyna & Ronnie's background vocals brought the song to a whole new level of beauty. I hope everyone enjoys the musical arrangement and the mountain imagery.”
“Without giving away too much of what’s in store,” Kelley says of this follow up to “Benny’s TV Repair”: “I have the title track written for the album but have not yet recorded it. I can say that Justyna Kelley and I wrote it, and it has a winter theme. This ought to make for a frosty album cover. Stay tuned. This next album will have a lot of sentiment.”
Irene Kelley is a graduate of the Leadership Bluegrass Class Of 2017. She has been seen and heard at the IBMA, SPBGMA, Grand Ole Opry, the CMA Music Festival, Folk Alliance International, the Americana Music Festival, COUNTRYfestival (Belgium), Disneyland Paris, the Equi Blues Music Fest (France), Avila Beach Music Fest (CA), BayFest (AL) and many other venues. Syndicated on-air appearances include Sirius/XM, Acoustic Café, NPR’s Live at Mountain Stage, CMT, and GAC as well as airplay on Country, Bluegrass, Folk and Americana radio stations worldwide. Her songs have been recorded by Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Loretta Lynn, Little Big Town, Rhonda Vincent, Claire Lynch, Darrell Scott, The Whites, the Osborne Brothers, and Bill Anderson.
