Kelleigh Bannen is one of Nashville’s biggest and busiest talents. We were lucky enough to get some of her time to hear all about her recently released Christmas Carols, as well as what it was like to get a standing ovation at the Ryman.
In mid-October Kelleigh and her drummer Justin Glasco decided to record some Christmas Carols with the thought of maybe licensing them to, for example, be used in a commercial or TV show. Justin is also an amazing producer and the two of them got together in his studio and started playing around with various carols. “He had this idea to put ‘O Holy Night’ in 4/4 (time signature) which is just sort of nerdy music stuff. Normally it’s a waltz so its 6/8 and he was like ‘I wonder what would happen if we just sort of straighten it out and make it 4/4, it might give you more room to play.’” They really liked what they heard (so do we!) and decided that was going to be one of the ones they went with.
Then things started to really fun. Justin pushed Kelleigh to do ‘Deck The Halls.’ At first, she wasn’t sure, the song isn’t a super sentimental one, but he pushed her: “He was like ‘why don’t you just try to mess it up’ and we ended up with the kinda wrong fa la las. It was fun so he built the track and I came back sang on it. He messed around it with a little more… There’s so much thought that goes into a normal single release of original music that it was fun to just play and be like ‘lets see what happens.’” When she says they messed around and made it fun she is not kidding. One early version featured an a accordion (Kelleigh nixed that, “too obnoxious”). If you however, like me, think you hear a toy piano clanking in the background of the final version, no you aren’t crazy, that’s what it is. Even after some digital editing Kelleigh admits the piano is still slightly out of tune, however that is part of the charm of her fun version. “There’s this band here in Nashville that do these spoofy albums on toy instruments… we were trying to do a cross of that and what would it sound like if it was just people on a front porch just falling into place.”
Kelleigh says that while she misses many aspects of being on a major record label, working with just her and Justin, she was able to be like a special operations team, high speed, low drag, to get this project, including a music video out in just over a month. She says the part of her that likes immediacy is grateful for the ability to move quickly and nimbly.
While fast is always good, we’re sure one moment Kelleigh wishes she could have lasted forever was when she played the Ryman opening for Little Big Town on the last night of their recent residency. We could hear the gratitude, joy and awe in her voice as she told us about that night. “I was super nervous about it. I guess there’s a thing with the Ryman where you like want to feel, and honestly with the Opry (which she has played multiple times, including the night before our chat) as well, where you want to bring a performance that’s worthy of the stage and the moment.” She says while all shows go by fast, this one felt like it was over in 3 minutes. She closed her set with her latest single ‘Church Clothes,’ “because it’s kind of a serious song and its sad, we went into a refrain of ‘How Great Thou Art’ and the audience just sang with me… I think I’ve had a couple moments where people would stand, but I’ve never had a standing ovation in a room before, so I was like ‘what’s happening,’ it was so weird and so crazy and fun.” Making the night even more special and amazing (2 words Kelleigh used about 15 times each while describing the night) was the fact that her parents and oldest friend was there, along with her squad of girlfriends to support the Nashville native as she took the famed stage in her hometown.
Kelleigh is also a podcaster, host of This Nashville Life which has season 3 coming out later this winter. This season will be a little different. In the past she would do interviews with people in the music industry to explain as she put it “how Music CIty makes its biggest export.” Seasons 1 and 2 were cool and insightful, no doubt. However, this season she is taking it up a notch and choosing to follow 3 popular songs from start to finish “we’re telling the story of those songs from beginning to end: how were they written, how did they get cut, what happened when they went to radio, what was their crowning achievement, what’s their impact now… Just hearing the songwriters talk about their songs are so awesome and also getting to hear a radio promo guy talk about it or a person in marketing… or someone from the booking side. I think it will be a cool picture of all the people really that have to touch a song for it to be successful.” For the first season of this format she will feature ‘Girl Crush,’ ‘The House That Built Me’ and ‘Live Like You Were Dying.’ I know I’m super excited to get this level of in-depth, behind-the-scenes info. I encourage you all to go check out the past episodes, if you haven’t already, and subscribe so that you will get season 3 when it comes out shortly.
Big thanks to Kelleigh for taking the time to chat with us, she was so sweet and gracious. Be sure to follow her on Twitter and Instagram, she’s a great follow and a big-time “story-er.” Also don’t forget to get ‘O Holy Night’ and ‘Deck The Halls’ on iTunes to help make your holidays that much merrier!