Texas Country Star Jake Kellen Talks South Plains Homecoming & Becoming a Father

Texas country star Jake Kellen was born and raised right here on the South Plains. Kellen was born in Littlefield but spent his childhood growing up in the small town of Olton. He started his musical career right here in Lubbock and it was the Hub City he returned to on Saturday July 23rd, for a show at Wild West with Bart Crow. It was the first show for him in Lubbock in a few months and it’s one place he loves coming back to.

“I like to see familiar faces and it makes me feel good about where we started and where we are at now,” said Kellen. “I can come back here and remember of the little places we used to play and we are coming back as an advertised band. This is the only place I can really do that. The first show I did was in Lubbock at Bash Riprocks.“

Even though Kellen started his musical career in Lubbock, it was a different area of interest that kept him busy on the South Plains. Kellen actually had dreams of playing professional baseball and even came to Lubbock to play ball at LCU in 2002. Though baseball was a big part of his life, music became the main priority for him.

In 2005, he released his first album titled Take Me Home. Take Me Home was followed up by Grace which was released in 2009. On both Take Me Home and Grace, Kellen had the opportunity to play with the legendary Lloyd Maines. It’s an album that has seen success for Kellen and it turned out to be a record that was years in the making.

“The Grace record has done really well and I really like that album because it’s like a timeline. You can go song by song and go through that album and see when I wrote it. I wrote it from 2005 to 2009 and you can hear it through the songs.”
Grace turned out to be what country is all about. Talented musicians, sharp songwriting and a real country feel come through on the record. To Kellen though, country is a way of life.

“It’s not what I do it’s who I am,” said Kellen about being from the country and living in the country.

It’s not all he does though. Once baseball player and country musician aren’t the only things on Kellen’s resume; you can add soon to be father to that list too. Kellen and his wife, Sarah, are expecting their first child later this year. It’s not just superstardom that Kellen is searching for in his music anymore.

“I’m excited. It’s going to give me more passion and drive to succeed and not because of anything else other than she’s going to count on me. I used to want to succeed because it’s my dream, but at this point it’s because my family depends on it. I’m excited for it and can’t wait to be a daddy.”

Kellen will continue to tour the Lone Star state as he awaits the birth of his little girl. Who knows, you may see another Kellen take country music by storm further down the road.

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