Artist: Gabriel Kelley
Hometown: Nashville, Tennesee
Song: “Hard in America”
Release Date: July 2, 2021
Label: Epidemic Sound
In Their Words: “‘Hard in America’ was written as a reflection of the commonality between us all as Americans, both within our hardships and our joys. As we have spent the last almost two years dealing with an almost unmanageable amount of hardship and uncertainty, my goal with this song was to find some form of hope and solace in spaces that remind us we are all the same, all one family in unison. I sat down alone at the piano early one morning towards the end of quarantine with not even the slightest hint of an idea of a song. I just sat down to feel the keys for a little whileā¦ to discover what I was feeling underneath. Early mornings with instruments somehow always take me on that journey.
“After being off the road for so long, I had become less tied to my own rooted identity as this traveling/touring artist. This slower pace of life had almost forced me, in a way, to reconnect myself to a deeper aspect of who I was and still am. I went further and further into this common space of the simple human condition. We all need love, we all need hope, we all need a little grace. We all need a smile from time to time. This song fell out in about the time it took to play it down. Thatās only happened a few times in my life and when they do they are special to me. Itās like it had been marinating in me without my knowing for the last year and a half and then just jumped out. It’s always been very easy for me to connect with my own material but something about this song made me feel connected to everyone in this beautiful and crooked country.” — Gabriel Kelley
Photo credit: Sunny Davis
