Nashville-based indie-pop singer-songwriter Hadley Kennary is set to release her EP, Crooked Roots, on October 29, 2021. Recorded in Nashville, this collection of five new songs finds Kennary tipping her musical hat to the early-2000s songwriter-pop she was raised on while introducing a fresh take on raw songwriting. On this EP, Kennary makes her own musical collage: personal, multi-faceted storytelling rife with poetic prose, contagiously catchy melodies, hooky guitar lines, and undeniable pop sensibilities.
“The five songs that make up ‘Crooked Roots’ explore a few of my own ‘roots’ that have poked up out of the ground: struggling to let go, taking responsibility, indecision, allowing myself to take space… wild as they may feel, each one is an important part of my journey. These songs have kept me company for quite a while now. They have been my constants through change, both personal and universal, over the past few years. I’m so excited to share them now, and I hope they echo with people like they have with me. Though change isn’t always easy, I’m choosing to see it as growth, no matter how crooked.”
With these songs, Kennary teeters on the line between poking emotional trigger points and full-on dance-party-in-your-bedroom euphoria. A song like “Orbit” is the perfect soundtrack for a windows-rolled-down, summer drive, while the nostalgic title track, “Crooked Roots,” tugs at the heartstrings woven into the growing pains of growing up.
“Most of my songwriting is pretty personal, but this one really hits close to home,” Kennary says of the title track. “It’s bittersweet; there’s an amount of grief buried in it, realizing that there are versions of ‘home’ I’ll never get back, but it’s wrapped in gratitude for the colorful variety of places I do get to call home.”
Fans of artists like Maggie Rogers, HAIM, Sara Bareilles, Sheryl Crow, and Holly Humberstone will find much to like in Kennary’s songs. She has already released three singles from Crooked Roots. “Orbit” was released on March 12th, and the track premiered at Glide Magazine, who said, “Mixing a modern pop approach with her more folk-driven songwriting, Kennary conjures up a soaring sound that is at once infectious, light and thoughtful… radio-friendly and arena-ready… There is an ’80s sound meets indie rock coolness that brings to mind contemporaries like HAIM, which signals that Kennary is an artist to watch.” The title track, “Crooked Roots,” was released on May 7th, with a premiere earlier that week at Adobe & Teardrops, who praised Kennary’s “helluva voice.” The third single, “Possession of Pain,” was released on July 9th after premiering at Under the Radar, who called the song “pure pop catharsis… [t]he track perfectly captures the intersection of pop euphoria and raw emotional honesty that Kennary thrives in, balancing the two for a deeply relatable and powerfully catchy anthem.”
The EP was co-produced by Collin Pastore and Jake Finch, the same production duo who made Kennary’s 2019 buzz-worthy release, Habits. Kennary says of the new EP, “Making this project has helped to solidify a few of my roots that have grown over the last few years: holding myself accountable for things I regret, reminding myself how important it is to encourage people to feel what they need to feel (myself included), allowing myself to let people go, and acknowledging time is the only true healer.”
PopMatters has described her as “one part pop starlet, one part wandering troubadour.” Kennary grew up playing music and began writing her own music as a teenager. After graduating from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, she moved to Nashville to develop her craft. Since her arrival, Kennary has been steadily carving a space for herself in Nashville’s ever-growing music scene, where she quickly became known for her captivating live shows. She independently released two EP’s and a string of singles, and she contributed as a songwriter and background vocalist to several artists’ projects in the New Nashville community. She has garnered press kudos as well as support from Nashville’s independent radio station, Lightning 100, who dubbed her “a local gem” who “blends pop, country, and soul seamlessly to create almost a genre all her own” when she was made local artist of the week in May 2020.
As a songwriter, Kennary has had several songs recorded by wordsmiths like Bre Kennedy, Emily Hackett, Casey McQuillen, and Jon McLaughlin. Between her own releases as an artist and those she has penned for other artists, her songs have racked up over 1 million streams on Spotify alone with placements on a number of editorial playlists on the platform. Apple Music features and editorial playlists have also highlighted Kennary’s songs, and Symphonic Distribution named her among the Top 10 Artists to Watch in 2020. Her music has taken her everywhere from second place in the Telluride Troubadour competition at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival to performing with Bre Kennedy at the legendary Ryman Auditorium opening for Sheryl Crow. Her list of kudos also includes finishing as a finalist or placing at prestigious competitions such as the Songwriting Competition at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, the Kerrville Folk Festival’s New Folk Songwriting Competition, and the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival’s Songwriting Competition. She has also shared stages with Gary Clark Jr., Michael Franti, and Phillip Phillips.
As she seamlessly shifts from one musical role to another – sometimes the artist, other times the songwriter – Kennary firmly believes that the song is the most important and precious thread that weaves all of it together. “As they’ve come together,” she says of her songs on the forthcoming EP, “I believe now more than ever that I’ll be just fine with these crooked roots of mine.”
