It was roughly 15 years ago when JD Shelburne put his home state of Kentucky in his rear-view mirror with hopes of making his music dreams come true in Tennessee.
“All my friends back home didn’t want to leave town,” the singer-songwriter remembers in a recent interview with The Boot. ”But I knew that if I wanted to do anything in music and get to the next level, I was going to have to move.”
Granted, it wasn’t easy.
“All my buddies back home were partying, and here I was in Nashville, stuck in a little bitty apartment,” Shelburne recalls. “I asked myself if I had made the right decision. But now, looking back 15 years later, I’m so thankful. I’ve been able to really have a successful career just touring and meeting fans the old-fashioned way. I’m so grateful I stuck it out.”
And today, whether in his hometown of Taylorsville, Kentucky, or his adopted hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, Shelburne finds himself floored by the blessings afforded to him, a feeling better explained in the lyrics of his new single “Neon Hallelujah.”
“This song is me,” says Shelburne of the song exclusively premiering on The Boot today (Feb. 16). “It just feels like something I would’ve written. It reminds me of back home. It’s probably my most favorite song on the record.”
“I cut 14 tracks on my new record,” says Shelburne of the project he completed last fall, due out this summer. “I was sitting down with all 14 songs, trying to think of an album title, and ‘Neon Hallelujah’ really stuck in my mind.”
Written by Jayce Hein, Jimmy Thow, Jamie Floyd, and Maks Gabriel, “Neon Hallelujah” speaks of that often-indescribable feeling that happens when surrounded by all the things one loves.
“The first verse sold me completely,” remembers Shelburne. “But even before that, it was the melody that I loved. I don’t know what it is about the melody. It just really hits.”
He also says he hopes the lyrics hit home for his fans, who certainly probably seek out their own ‘Neon Hallelujah’ in their own life. Heck, Shelburne doesn’t have to look far for his very own ‘Neon Hallelujah.’
“My son Jax is two years old, and what he wants to do every single day is watch Home Alone,” Shelburne laughs. “He’s starting to talk, and he’s developing a personality, and he hums ‘Neon Hallelujah’ song in the car. It’s surreal to see my son sing one of my songs.”
You can keep up with JD Shelburne by visiting his official website, and by following him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter