Album Review – Kimberly Kelly’s “I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen”
It’s called I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen, but it very well could be called Better Late Than Never. Call it what you want, but it most certainly deserves to be called country, and good. Native Texan Kimberly Kelly has been kicking around both the Texas and Nashville country scenes for years, and had what you could definitely consider to be a full-blown music career in the past, including album releases and radio tours, before deciding to take a more conventional path through life; namely going to college, and getting a Master’s degree as a speech therapist to pull the steady paycheck.
But the passion for country music never left, and here Kimberly Kelly is releasing what herself and others are referring to her legitimate debut album through Toby Keith’s Show Dog label, now distributed via Thirty Tigers. The name of the album should tell you just how steeped in country lore this record really is. It is taken from the time Billy Joe Shaver stared down Waylon Jennings at Tompall Glaser’s renegade Hillbilly Central Studio in Nashville, and told Waylon Jennings he was going to listen to his songs or get his ass kicked in front of God and everybody. Waylon complied, and the result was the Waylon album Honky Tonk Heroes.
I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen concludes with a cover of Billy Joe’s “Black Rose,” as well as a voicemail Shaver left for Kimberly Kelly before his passing in 2020. But don’t consider this an “Outlaw” album necessarily. Instead, it’s a well-written, mostly traditional country record steep in 90s and early 2000s authentic country sounds, full of fiddle and steel guitar, delightfully outdated, but with just enough contemporary pizazz to perhaps tickle the fancy of more modern country fans as well. It’s classic, but there’s nothing stuffy or expired about it.
The album starts with these dueling twangy Telecasters calling to your country-loving heart on the enjoyable opening track, “Honky Tonk Town.” They made sure to not forget to include some exuberance on this record, like the kind you hear in “Blue Jean Country Queen” featuring Steve Wariner about a throwback heartbreaker. Fellow Texas performer Summer Dean has a song of the same name she released last year, but Kimberly Kelly proves there’s enough juice to this idea for multiple songs. And though a song like “Summers Like That” slides into the realm of nostalgia, it’s use of more modern phrasing makes it a song even some mainstream fans could find appeal in.
When you’re talking about classic country though, you’re talking about heartbreak, and that is what Kimberly Kelly dishes out the most of. I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen is emboldened by one well-written song after another, including a few written by Kimberly Kelly’s professional songwriter husband and the producer of this record, Brett Tyler. It’s been said before, but there’s no shortage of great classic country songs floating around Nashville at the moment, only a shortage of singers willing to record them. Names like Jessi Alexander, Lori McKenna, and Bob DiPiero contribute tracks like “Some Things Have a Name,” “Why Can’t I,” and “Person That You Marry” that make for ample heartache essential for any authentic country album.
Kimberly Kelly also co-writes a couple of the songs on the album, but if one wanted to find something to be critical about with I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen, they may point out that the album doesn’t feel especially personal or autobiographical to Kimberly Kelly specifically. Some of the songs do maybe, but it also feels like a collection of quality songs that don’t necessarily fit thematically together for a greater message. The album doesn’t really answer the question of who Kimberly Kelly is, what makes her tick, and why she decided to get back into the business.
Still, the actualization of this album is hard to argue with. If you’re going to wait this long, and all your other albums have gone out-of-print, you might as well go all out. And from the songs selected, to the players brought in to bring them to life, I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen makes for a valiant introduction for a woman in country music who has been around for a while, but has finally arrived.
1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)
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Purchase from Kimberly Kelly
Purchase from Amazon
July 11, 2022 @ 8:31 am
It was a week ago Friday reading the weekly version online of Music Row magazine like a few of us do on here that I saw her name in the July 8 new release list. As I sometimes do especially for the gals I go give a pre release song (or 3 in this case) a listen and I never stopped listening to em right up until the 8th. In fact I purposely curbed myself from listening too much because I wanted the full album to be equally fresh……lol that’s the OCD in me. When the album came out I was blown away. All the songs are great and it just flows nicely the perfect summer offering. I told her on her Facebook page a few days ago…..”I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen………Trigger’s gonna review it and give you an 8.5″. I was close.
This will fit perfectly in the too filled with dudes rotation and along with Hailey Whitters, Kaitlin Butts, Side Pony, and Stacy Antonel. None of these ladies sound remotely the same but the songs are all very very good. It’s so hard out there for women so I try extra hard to support em, we all should.
July 11, 2022 @ 8:55 am
Kimberly Kelly was very good live at the CMA Fest Spotlight Stage last month. I know that “Nashville” and “CMA” are bad words to many fans of traditional and independent country music, but there are usually some worthwhile acts scattered among the smaller festival stages.
Kimberly Kelly has performed shows recently with Brit Taylor, another act I saw at the CMA Spotlight Stage. She is working on a new album with Sturgill Simpson. Brit was on stage right after Jenny Tolman and Brit mentioned that one of her songs was a cowrite with Jenny’s husband, so there’s another artist you might like.
July 11, 2022 @ 12:44 pm
Yeah ya know I saw Kimberly’s pic with Brit on her FB page and I went back and searched here and I’ll be damned I have no recollection of reading Trig’s review or even listening to the album back then……lol don’t ever get old the memory is the first to go. I’ll give it a listen now and certainly with Sturgill at the helm looking forward to that too.
One more thing in my original post I was alluding to my personal album rotation (not radio songs or Triggers articles or playlist) that sometimes without paying attention gets too bogged down with testosterone and not enough female artists. Those ladies are in my current album playlist to about 9 or 10 male/band artists so that’s a good %.
July 11, 2022 @ 9:03 am
SCM does such a great job of getting the ladies out there! I spent a lot of the weekend listening to a certain radio station out of Fort Worth taking note of the females played. I’d say they averaged 10% at best. Downright awful. And other than Kylie Frey, I mainly heard Miranda, Ashley McBryde, and Maren. None of which are hurting for airtime on mainstream radio. So your comment about “too filled with dudes in the rotation” hit like a freight train. I spent some time digging deep in the Texas playlists and found some great ladies in addition to those you mention – Miller Campbell, Catie Offerman, Alyssa Micaela, Kenna Danielle, Elaina Kay,…. to name just a few. Keep up the great work of giving the gals their due Trigger. I hadn’t yet found Kimberly in my travels so you saved me some time. Terrific album.
July 11, 2022 @ 9:25 am
I have an article about this coming up momentarily. Seven years after ToamtoGate, and nothing has changed at country radio. I think it’s time to stop hoping and praying that by some miracle it will, and start focusing even more on supporting these women through independent channels like many already do.
July 11, 2022 @ 9:08 am
Trigger, have you been blessed, or cursed, with the opportunity to listen to Zac Brown’s new song with Pitbull?
July 11, 2022 @ 5:46 pm
Ugh…
July 11, 2022 @ 9:32 am
Good music from the videos
July 11, 2022 @ 6:58 pm
Thanks for the review.
I liked this a lot & put 5 songs on various playlists. She had some heavy hitter session players on it.
July 11, 2022 @ 7:45 pm
Really enjoyed this album! “Honky Tonk Town” could be the song of the Summer of 2022!
July 14, 2022 @ 6:56 am
Hell yeah, just hell yeah…. This album is fantastic….