loading...

Friday, June 29 WGNA welcomes Brad Paisley to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.  As usual the CMA winner goes above and beyond to give his fans a great concert experience.  One of the highlights of the Virtual Reality Tour is 'The Escape' area.  Starting at 4:30, 'The Escape' opens with a special Grand Ole Opry stage featuring the best new voices of Country Music.

One of those fresh new faces of Country Music is Kristen Kelly who already has a popular song spinning on WGNA called 'Ex Old Man.' Get to know Kristen Kelly compliments of Opry.com.

Kristen Kelly laughs as she describes her music as a "little more grease than polish." And that grease is an exciting mix, distilled from her country, blues, and classic rock influences into a passionate, playful, often sexy, and always heartfelt reflection of real life as she knows it.

Born in Waco, Texas, Kristen grew up in the country, living on 10 acres in small-town Lorena, Texas. "You blink, you miss it," she says. She sang in talent shows and high school choir, and by middle school had taken an interest in poetry, beginning the foundation for the songwriting that would emerge years later. "I grew up in love with music," Kristen says. Her late grandfather, Sterling Kelly, was a country musician while her dad helped instill her affinity for classic rock, as well as her determination.

Her musical style embraces influences ranging from Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, and Bob Segar to singer/songwriter Patty Griffin to the blues and soul of Ray Charles, while her country roots were shaped in part by the sounds of the '80s and '90s.

Kristen mines her own truth with a lighthearted look at her first marriage on the groove-filled "Ex-Old Man," while the deeply personal "Feeling Nothing" is the culmination of lyric lines that had been in her thoughts for years. "If you've got a dream, keep dreaming," she says. "Believe. Ten years ago, I'd never dreamed I'd be sitting right here, but I am."

More From 107.7 WGNA