Sara Jean Kelley: mountain air music 2026

A lover of wild things— plants, animals, people, and music— Nashville native Sara Jean Kelley crafts songs that combine upbeat, pop-inspired country hooks with thoughtful, often philosophical lyrical themes that explore our human connection to the natural world. Due to her dark sensibility and slightly melancholic sense of humor, Kelley’s particular brand of alternative country is multidimensional, with one foot firmly rooted in her Nashville Country/Americana background, another foot exploring the realms of alternative rock, rock and roll, pop, and even hip hop influences. Her voice, at times husky, dark and sultry, at times floating light-as-a-feather, has been compared to celebrated female country stars Brandi Carlisle, Patti Griffin, and Lucinda Williams. She’s opened for country music icons Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, and her songwriting reveals a clear, intuitive understanding of what makes a song work. Her latest EP Black Snake, is about life and death, transformation and rebirth, strength and resilience; all the things you experience in your early thirties that you wish you had known a decade earlier.