Appreciating Bluegrass Roots: Justyna Kelley

Many of us stray from our origins, seeking to expand our horizons and experience new things. Over the years, though, we often sate that wanderlust and find our way back to the things we loved as kids. As we go through life, the nostalgia and comfort of all we first knew sometimes come back to us again in a fierce way. When it inevitably returns, we appreciate it with a new depth and new understanding.

In the case of singer, songwriter, actress and dancer Justyna Kelley, her passion for world travel—including living in France—showed her the true value of her Nashville roots.

“I do love world music. I love culture. I love traveling,” Kelley explained. She loved it so much that she studied French (along with Theater and English) in college and would eventually become fluent in French and Italian.

“The first time I ever went to France was for a bluegrass/country festival in the south of France,” Kelley said. “I fell in love with the culture and the language. I ended up signing a record deal for my first album in Paris.”

In 2016, Kelley began writing songs for a French music company. Around the same time, one of her albums, “Nashville, Tennessee,” was nominated for a Mark Award for “Best Country Album.”

In 2019, she was part of a project that reached the #1 slot as a songwriter on the Grassicana charts. “Anything to Help You Say Goodbye” is a song she’d co-written with Steve Cropper and her mother, Irene Kelley, for her mom’s bluegrass album, “Benny’s TV Repair.”

With her career as an actress taking off and her songs beginning to be featured in film and TV – including shows such as “NCIS: New Orleans” – she had come far from where she started, as a child actor in commercials. She is now involved in many parts of the entertainment scene.

In addition to doing voice-over and other film work in Nashville, Los Angeles and Paris, Kelley released her most recent solo record, the pop album Canon, in 2023.

She, of course, said growing up as the daughter of a successful singer and songwriter influenced her creative life in a big way. In many ways, she’s walked in her mom’s footsteps.

“I just grew up in the whole music scene. Music was always playing in the house. Jam sessions were in the house.”

Now, those bluegrass roots of old have gripped her tightly yet again. Although she’d sang backup with her mom before – and opened for her shows – they’d never done a full-scale performance project together. Recently, that changed with Women Of Kelly, a new bluegrass trio that includes her mom and sister (Sara Jean).

“Over the years, many people have approached us about this or suggested it,” Kelley said. “But we just really didn’t get together as a group to fully commit to a family project.”

In 2023, that changed with a family Christmas record. “It was so much fun, and we got a lot of traction from that album,” she said.

New singles have already come out, and a whole new record of Women of Kelley originals is expected to drop before the end of 2025. In a way, it marks a new chapter in this performer's life who said she’s been at it since age six or seven.

“It really took me going so far away to appreciate my heritage,” Kelley explained.

She said that after living in France – and traveling extensively, including in China – she started to take a fresh look at – and really appreciate – the music she grew up with.

“I found my way back,” Kelley explained. “I would come back to the country and bluegrass. I would keep getting called to do country. The more I tried to run away from my roots, the more it caught up with me. I realized…this is who I am.”

“This project [Women of Kelley] is so exciting for me because if anyone asks who my base influence is, it’s always my mom,” she explained. “Family connection is a huge part of the bluegrass story. Even for people who aren’t singers, it still gets to them on a human level. It’s a very American story that resonates.”