Kelsey Waldon

Kelsey Waldon's family history stretches back over ten generations of tobacco farmers and cattle raisers in the Bluegrass State. Born in Ballard County and raised in Monkey's Eyebrow, a rural town in Western Kentucky, she picked up the guitar at 13 during her parents' divorce, and music became the outlet that stayed with her. Her country songs carry that upbringing in their grain, with heavy twang and pedal steel set against intimate, confessional lyrics.

After high school she moved to Nashville, took whatever small gigs she could find, and later enrolled at Belmont University. She self-released four EPs before her debut album, The Goldmine, produced by Michael Rinne, appeared in 2014, and Rolling Stone placed her among its summer new artists that year. In 2019 she signed to John Prine's Oh Boy Records, releasing White Noise/White Lines that October, and in 2020 she issued They'll Never Keep Us Down, an EP of politically charged covers. Her Opry debut came in 2016, and at Bonnaroo in 2019 Prine invited her on stage. Her most recent album, Every Ghost, came out on June 20, 2025.