TAYLORSVILLE, Ky. — J.D. Shelburne released his new album "Straight from Kentucky" in his hometown of Taylorsville, where fans gathered Friday to welcome the hometown country start for a free concert.
What You Need To Know
- J.D. Shelburne hit the stage with a full concert for the first time since the start of the pandemic
- He performed hits from his latest album “Straight from Kentucky"
- The concert was held in his hometown of Taylorsville
- The concert was free to attend
“I started my career in this town. I remember in 2004-or-5, I played on a gooseneck trailer with about 100 people,” Shelburne said.
J.D.’s latest album recently landed a spot on the iTunes top ten country chart.
To say thank you to his hometown for its continual support, he shared his new music with a free concert Saturday.
“This town made me who I was and who I am and so I have a lot of pride right now,” Shelburne said.
The pandemic forced his original concert date last year to be postponed. J.D. said Kentucky's COVID-19 mandates dropped just in time.
“When the restrictions got lifted in Kentucky on June 11, I was in Nashville. It came to my twitter account. I was like thank you to the man upstairs,” he said.
Spencer County has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state with only about 20% of people fully vaccinated, but fans say they felt safe despite hundreds in the crowd.
“I think now is a better time to have a concert. We’re really getting out of here from this COVID situation and I think really people want to come outside and have fun,” saidMatthew Veteto. “I would like to thank doctors and nurses, and really everyone out there in the medical field. They’ve put their lives on the line and they’ve spent hours, weeks, months just trying to make everything better.”
Other fans shared that sentinment, including Mahala Prunity and Rochelle Zepp.
“I've been vaccinated. It makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable being around people and not being scared anymore,” Prunity said.
“I’m glad we’re all getting vaccinated, everything is opening back up, our economy is seeing what it needs to after a long hard year,” Zepp said.
For J.D., the concert was a way to give back to a place that is so special to him.
“Folks maybe can’t afford to go to a show or don’t have reliable transportation to drive into Louisville or down to Nashville. We just wanted to come back home where they can just walk up the street, bring the family,” Shelburne said.
J.D. returns to stage next weekend in Mammoth Cave. For a complete list of tour locations and dates, click here.