Intern Hall of Fame: Kelsey Kopecky

A lot has changed for Kelsey Kopecky since she interned at American Songwriter. Currently one of the vocalists and songwriters for successful Nashville six-piece Kopecky Family Band, we first met Kelsey during her last semester at Nashville’s Belmont University, when she spent a semester organizing CDs, helping launch the beta version of Songspace and writing for the website at our old Music Row headquarters.

“I remember helping alphabetize CDs that would get sent in from random songwriters across the world,” she says. “There were heaps and piles in Robert [Clement]’s office. I was HORRIBLE at alphabetizing and would work at snail speed. I would get so caught up looking at the hilarious album art that I would forget where I was in the process. I also remember eating candy at my desk.”

So she may not have picked up any tips on how to design an album cover during her time with us (although she did likely learn what NOT to do), but she did have the opportunity to channel one of her other passions: writing. “My favorite job was writing news pieces for the website,” she says of her time at AS. “I remember getting to cover anything from an album leaking to a stage collapse during a festival. I also got to write a concert review of Iron & Wine at the Ryman. Not a bad gig.”

While she isn’t writing news pieces these days, Kopecky’s still writing a lot, only now in the form of hit songs for albums like 2012’s Kids Raising Kids. The Family Band’s debut full-length, Kids Raising Kids earned them a record deal with ATO Records at the end of 2012, as well as considerable praise from outlets like The New York Times, NPR and Paste.

Blending indie pop sensibilities with folk influences, cerebral lyrics and unorthodox arrangements, the Kopecky Family Band were quickly able to carve out a niche for themselves in an otherwise crowded genre with songs like “Heartbeat,” “Are You Listening” and “Wandering Eyes.”

Since forming at Belmont in 2007, Kopecky and her bandmates have been writing together and honing that distinct sound, hard work that, given their long string of accomplishments over the last few years, has definitely paid off. Recently, the band has toured around the country with acts like The Lumineers, Michael Franti & Spearhead and Milo Greene, all the while earning slots at major festivals like Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits. They’ve also had songs placed on TV shows like ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, NBC’s Parenthood and ESPN’s College Game Day. One of their biggest accomplishments, though, was securing a coveted performance spot on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2013, where they performed “Heartbeat,” their biggest single off Kids Raising Kids.

“So many incredible moments have happened during my adventures with Kopecky,” she says. “Selling out venues across America with my best friends, seeing people in the audience sing our songs with us … It’s all very surreal. We played all the major festivals last year and our first late night TV show, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, before he retired. [It is] something I’ll never forget. Having our songs on film and television has been a huge honor as well.”

Now, Kopecky and co. are hard at work on a new, as-yet-untitled album that will hit shelves this spring. They also finished out 2014 with a homecoming show at Mercy Lounge in Nashville, taking the stage for a reunion of sorts with fellow Belmont alums Evan P. Donahue and Austin Manuel.

“I actually just finished listening to the latest mixes of the new Kopecky Family Band record,” she says. “We should be releasing in April 2015. I couldn’t be more excited to share it with the world. It was the first record we were able to write off the road. We took half the year off to write and record it. The result is something I am truly proud of. It feels like home.”