Scranton-based singer-songwriter makes return to music after decade of silence

SCRANTON — After a multiple-year break from making music, Scranton-based artist Drew Kelly is back this coming month with a new record.

“From a Deep Abyss” is due out on July 9, and, according to the songwriter himself, the record draws a lot of inspiration from folk and Americana artists like John Prine and J.J. Cale.

Kelly spoke with the Weekender last week about what led up to this recent record being released, and he said it was a long road that got him here.

Kelly, who’s 31 now, said that he didn’t even consider music as a future path for himself until he was 19.

At that time, he was a student at East Stroudsburg University, and his focus was on a decidedly different pastime: baseball.

The problem, though, was that he said he wasn’t very good.

“I had my head in the clouds; I wasn’t hitting well and I ended up getting cut (from ESU’s team),” Kelly said.

After that, his path to musicianship started in an unusual place: while watching the Tom Cruise vehicle “Jerry Maguire.”

Kelly was watching the film at his parents’ house back then, and when it ended with Bob Dylan’s track “Shelter from the Storm,” Kelly said it was like a light was switched.

“I literally hung up my cleats and became obsessed with Dylan,” he said. “I started learning guitar and writing songs.”

This eventually led to Kelly releasing an album in 2012 — “Running Time” — and a tour supporting it.

But as things go, one thing led to another, and Kelly got away from music. Life went off the rails — with Kelly admitting he spent some time drinking too much — but then got back on those rails. He has a wife now, and two kids, and he works as a mail carrier.

Kelly said that, one day, his wife stumbled across his music online, and she asked, “Is this you?”

“It was,” came his answer. But this seemed to spark something, as he got a new guitar, and the music came back.

Kelly said now, he writes songs while walking from house to house delivering mail. Kelly drew the obvious comparison to one of his musical heroes:

“I got this modern-day John Prine thing going on,” he said with a laugh.

Kelly said he’s reached a point where he’s working on a song a day. That’s what led to “From a Deep Abyss,” a roots-focused record that highlights Kelly’s guitar work and warbling, emotional vocals.

But that’s not all.

At a clip of a song a day, Kelly said he has enough content to fill two more albums, which he hopes to have released before the end of the year.

On those records, Kelly said he hopes to experiment with more sounds, including having a full band to back him as he plays blues licks. He even wants to experiment with reggae.

Kelly said that the saturation of songs is a key part of his strategy:

“At the end of the day, my number one job is husband and father,” he said. “I want to be able to be a paid songwriter … I just gotta write a ton of songs, send ‘em out there and see what sticks.”

Kelly’s album will be available on all major streaming services on July 9. He’ll be performing tracks from it live at Jack’s Draft House, located at 802 Prescott Ave. in Scranton’s Hill Section. Joined by the Greg Kondrat Trio and Charles Havira, Kelly will be playing on July 17 from 8 to 11 p.m.