Kelsey Waldon Sings About John Prine and Getting High on New Album ‘No Regular Dog’

Kelsey Waldon’s new song “Sweet Little Girl” opens with a dramatic introduction from Jim Lauderdale, who intones, “All the way from Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky, here’s Kelsey Waldon.” And with that, she’s off, delivering a country music tale of hard living, self-medicating, and yearning for home.

“I’m gonna drink myself drunk/I’m gonna get myself high/anything just to make the time pass by,” Waldon sings in “Sweet Little Girl,” the first taste of the songwriter’s upcoming album No Regular Dog, out Aug. 12. Her second album for Oh Boy Records and fourth LP overall, No Regular Dog finds Waldon recording in L.A. with producer Shooter Jennings. Over 11 tracks, she touches on the bluegrass of her home state and the country of Seventies-era Nashville, where she now calls home. On the track “Season’s Ending,” she pays tribute to John Prine, her mentor who signed her to his Oh Boy Records in 2019.

“I hope that these songs are able to live with people and help make the world a little better, because I think that’s a big part of what my job is,” Waldon says in a statement. “At the end of the day, I’m so thankful for my passion for music because it’s sustained me throughout my whole life, and now I want it to do the same for other people. And if anyone’s struggling, I hope they can recognize the ‘No Regular Dog’ within themselves, and start to see how much they’re really worth.”

No Regular Dog, recorded with Waldon’s road band, is the follow-up to 2019’s White Noise/White Lines. She’ll support the record with a tour to be announced later this year.

No Regular Dog tracklist:
1. “No Regular Dog”
2. “Sweet Little Girl”
3. “Tall and Mighty”
4. “You Can’t Ever Tell”
5. “Season’s Ending”
6. “History Repeats Itself”
7. “Backwater Blues”
8. ” Simple as Love”
9. “Peace Alone (Reap What You Sow)”
10. “Progress Again”
11. “The Dog (Outro)”