About Kelsey Rae

Nashville based Kelsey Rae writes and sings country music 1950s style.

From her album “Fortune Teller,” this Southwest Virginia native sings her originals like “Social Media,” her tribute to Dolly Parton with contemporary lyrics, plus country classics on Nashville's Broadway and Gospel Hour with Kelsey Rae on Sundays at The  American Legion Post 82, the place to be in Music City USA to hear traditional country music.

In Nashville she’s performed at The Bluebird, at Layla's Honky Tonk, had a residency at The Nashville Palace and helped kick off Women in Country Music during 2019’s CMA Fest. She teamed up with Bristol’s Bigtone Records for release of its first 45rpm vinyl record – Kelsey Rae singing “Release Me” on A side, “We Buried Her Beneath the Willow” on B.

She performed in a Patsy Cline tribute event in Nashville the first year living there, and The Bluebird Café shortly before she moved to Music City  USA featuring her 2015 Richard Leigh Songwriting Festival contest winner, “This Old Town.” and other original songs she wrote and recorded on "Fortune Teller."

Her love of the mountains, Southwest Virginia, and the influences of the Carter family and Dr. Ralph Stanley stay dear and close and are heard in her original songs that showcase a distinct voice and lyrics that speak to those inspirations and love for the sounds of the music of Patsy Cline, Connie Smith, Anita Carter and Kitty Wells.

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She opened for Lillie Mae at Barter Theatre's January Jams, a concert series selected as one of the Top 20 Events in the Southeast for January 2018. She’s performed at the Carter Fold in Hiltons, Va., at Home Craft Days in Big Stone Gap, Va., at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol and at the 2014 , 2018 and 2019 and the 20th Anniversary Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion in 2021. 

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