NASHVILLE, TN – (October 2, 2024) – Acclaimed Gospel Artist Kelly Garner is pleased to announce her second radio single off the full-length album, It’s Not Over, is a contender on the GRAMMY® nomination ballot for Song of the Year (General Category including Gospel and Contemporary Christian Music), Best Gospel Performance/Song, and Best Music Video in the category including Visual Media/Film. “The Day I Get Home” was written by Garner, Amy Keffer Shellem and Jim Hill. A very personal original, “The Day I Get Home,” reflects on her mother, who passed away in October of 2022.
Kelly Garner’s “It’s Not Over” is a project that ranges from heart-felt original songs about “hope” and having “purpose in life,” and includes some of her favorite worship choruses. She is excited to spread her mission through this powerful collection of songs which are available now for download and streaming.
Producer Kris Crunk shared, “The Day I Get Home” is a heartfelt song that beautifully captures the hope and peace we all long for as we look forward to heaven. With its moving lyrics and uplifting melody, the song serves as a reminder that life’s journey is filled with grace, and the ultimate destination is one of eternal joy.”
“My current single, “The Day I Get Home” begins with a verse about my momma. She passed away in October of 2022, but her legacy lives on as a remarkable woman who relied on God to get her through the tough times amidst tragedy, as a warrior of the faith. She taught others how to face trials and suffering by example. When her body was frail, she finished the race and could ‘lay down those trials and trade a cross for a crown’ as the song says in the chorus. I look forward to the day when I can do the same, but until then; I have to fulfill my destiny here on this earth. We will all face hardships in this world, but will one day be able to find freedom from those sufferings when ‘the long night has ended, and we see the break of dawn,” added Kelly Garner.
Martha Yancey Garner, James R. Garner, and Kelly Garner were the song’s executive producers. Kris Crunk and Kelly Garner produced the project. Randy Poole and Kent Hooper mixed and mastered the song.
Accomplished musicians worked on the project, including Rhythm Musicians Jim Hammerly (piano, B3 organ), Preston Shewbridge (bass guitar), Dave Cleveland (electric and acoustic guitars), Scott Williamson (drums and percussion) and Kris Crunk (additional programming and keyboards). Other musicians involved were David Davidson, Karen Winklemann, Janet Darnall, David Angell, Carolyn Bailey, Jenny Bifano and Connie Ellisor (violins). Continuing the list were Elizabeth Lamb and Monisa Angell (violas), Nick Gold, Keith Nicholas and Paul Nelson (cellos), Craig Nelson (string bass), Jennifer Kummer and Anna Spina (horns). Additionally, there were Steve Patrick, Tyler Jaeger and Preston Bailey (trumpets), Barry Green, Raymond Mason, Jonathan Salcedo and Matt Jefferson (trombones) and Neil Konouchi (tuba). Rounding out the list of talented musicians were Steve Patrick and Preston Bailey (flugelhorns), Jimmy Mason (tenor sax) and Kevin Gatzke (bari sax). Background vocalists included Janice Gaines, Harmonie Hall, Kala Balch, Devonne Fowlkes, Terry White, Ron Poindexter, Emoji Wilkins, Shelly Justice, Laura Cooksey, Ally Jackson and Will Hunt. Rounding out the ensemble was a 77-piece choir, including life-long friends from all across the country, recorded at OceanWay Studios on Music Row in Nashville, TN.
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About Kelly Garner
Kelly Garner began her career as a gospel recording artist at Diadem Records after graduating from Belmont University in 1992. Brentwood-Benson released and distributed her album in 1995 while touring extensively across North America. She became an exclusive staff writer for Niles Borop at Centergy Music Group from 1998 to 2003, where she wrote the first single for Legacy Five, “I Stand Redeemed,” a song that stayed at #1 for three months, receiving a Dove nomination for Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year and BMI’s Most Performed Gospel Song in 2001.
She has since written songs for various artists, including Vestal Goodman, Karen Peck and New River, The Martins, The Perrys, Brian Free and Assurance, Greater Vision, Gold City, The Whisnants, and has had hundreds of songs distributed in the church choir market as print publications. In 2001 she was also asked to teach Commercial Voice for Belmont University, and concurrently worked on a Master of Arts in Jazz Studies from Middle Tennessee State University, graduating in 2004. In 2006, she left Belmont and returned to industry work, building Yellow Tree Music Publishing and Big Dog Studios from 2006 to 2011.
In 2011, she moved to Miami to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree in Jazz Performance from Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, with a cognate in Music Technology. While in Miami, she taught Jazz Voice and Commercial Voice for the University of Miami and Miami-Dade University. She has received two RIAA Gold records for her work as a background vocalist and six Downbeat Awards while a doctoral student at the University of Miami.
After completing her D.M.A. in 2014, she moved back to Nashville and became Assistant Professor of Commercial Voice in the School of Music at Belmont University. From 2019 to 2022 she built a fully-accredited Commercial Music program and a Master of Music in Music Technology for Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. She has been published as an author many times, including So You Want to Sing Country (NATS / Roman-Littlefield Publications – 2016), A Voice Teachers Cookbook: Cooking Up Popular Style and a Healthy Belt Voice (Meredith Music Publications / Hal Leonard – 2018) and “Chapter 6: Professional Songwriting” in the 13th edition of Music Business Handbook and Career Guide by Tim Baskerville (SAGE Publishing – 2022).
Dr. Garner is now back in the Nashville metro area at her home and studio in Franklin, Tennessee, pursuing her first love as a recording artist and content creator. On April 14, 2023, she released her most recent recording, a gospel album, It’s Not Over, co-produced with Grammy-nominated producer Kris Crunk.Her first radio single released in 2023, “Forgive Myself,” was a duet with Grammy-nominated recording artist Joseph Habedank reaching as high as #54 on The Singing News. This current radio single and music video, “The Day I Get Home,” to date, has reached #1 on SOGR radio, #27 on Absolutely Gospel Magazine radio chart, and #56 on the highly touted radio chart, The Singing News. Her music is available on kellygarner.com and on all DSP and streaming platforms worldwide.
