Edgehill’s Chris Kelly Doesn’t Feel Chart Pressure, but the Second Album Is Another Matter

Edgehill has started writing its second album. The Nashville trio released their debut, Ode to the Greyhouse, in February and watched the single “Doubletake” reach Number One on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart in April. For singer and guitarist Chris Kelly, the success hasn’t brought relief. “I don’t really feel much pressure regarding the success of that album,” he told Spin from Philadelphia, where the band was opening for Winyah at the Foundry. “I feel more pressure of, okay, we have an album out. We did that. It took a while, and we put everything into it, and I know that we can do better.”

The internal push fits a band that built itself from the ground up. Kelly and lead guitarist Jake Zimmermann met at a Vanderbilt University jam session in 2021, finished their first song, “Shooting Glances,” in a week and saw it pull 450,000 streams within six months. Drummer Aidan Cunningham joined after Kelly met him while working at a coffee shop, and the three took the name Edgehill from a street near campus. House shows, TikTok traction, and a 2025 signing to Big Loud Rock/Severance Records turned louder singles like “Doubletake” into alternative radio constants. The debut album captured an evolution away from the raw, jangly college-rock of earlier material, and a first headlining tour this fall now looms.

Kelly admitted to a little worry about selling tickets on that run, but he keeps his eye further ahead. “We did that,” he said of the debut. The second album is where the real work begins.