Kelly Lang's New Album Jealous Green Eyes - A Lifetime of Songs
It’s summer and the livin’ is easy, but is it? If you ask Kelly Lang, she might say, “Almost.” She just released her new album Jealous Green Eyes on August 7th and she’s just about ready to take a breath. The new project has been in the works for quite a while, but we’ll let Lang tell you about that. I listened to it from top to bottom today and it was worth the time it took to make it. Sponsored by Gus Arrendale and Springer Mountain Farms, the new album is an audio cornucopia packed with 11 tracks that run the gamut from introspective to sultry, but I’m not here to review it, so let’s hear from Kelly Lang. After all, it’s her album.
We kicked the conversation off with “Never Met a Man I Didn’t Love,” a new single from the album and meant to be an “answer back” tune to her husband T.G. Sheppard’s hit “Loved ‘Em Every One.” Lang shared, “I wrote it a long time ago and it’s just been sitting in a drawer until this particular album came together. It’s a bit spicier of an album so it fits right in. For years people have asked me what it’s like to be married to a man who has ‘loved ‘em every one,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s just a song people!’ My way to rebut that was to write one just the same. It’s been fun and I love to sing it on stage because the women now have the say, and they can laugh just like the men did before. It’s really a lot of fun.”
“Never Met a Man I Didn’t Love” was co-written by Kelly Lang and Mark Oliverius. Lang said it came about just as she and Oliverius were ready to do a writing session. He asked her what she’d been up to and she replied, “Interviews, and all they want to talk about is T.G. lovin’ ‘em every one.” That sparked a conversation and the new song was born. It didn’t feel right for previous projects, so it just sat in a drawer waiting for its big moment. Lang explained, “Everything I’ve been doing has been more spiritual or classic country-based and this song just stood out. It didn’t fit.”
Another track on the new record is the title track “Jealous Green Eyes.” We needed to address this for no other reason than both Lang and I have green eyes. Since green eyes are largely ignored in the songwriting world (yes, I know there are songs that refer to them, but they aren’t nearly as represented as blue or brown eyes). Lang remarked, “I’ve learned that only two percent of people in the world have green eyes. I never knew that. I never thought much about my eyes because that’s what you’re born with and you don’t think a thing about it. As I started wearing makeup, I realized that certain shirts make my eyes look even greener. They can even tend to go a little bit yellow sometimes. I wrote ‘Jealous Green Eyes’ when I was 17 and it’s been sitting in a drawer all this time too. As I started developing the song, I knew it fit right in with the project and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.”
I told Lang that when I saw the album cover, which shows off her green eyes beautifully, I was impressed. “I’m down with this because all we ever hear is all about those ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.’” Of course, if you really sit down and think about it, you can come up with quite a list of songs that mention blue eyes. Lang responded, “I know, and ‘Don’t It May My Brown Eyes Blue.’ Nobody’s here to shout for us girl and here we are!” Maybe we should all take a picture of our green eyes, post them on social media and hashtag them #jealousgreeneyes. A long overdue revolution of sorts.
A private release party was slated for August 7th. “It’s a listening party where I’ll perform all the songs from the album,” revealed Lang. “It’s a catered event for certain industry people. I’m a nervous wreck! I’ve never sung some of these songs out loud outside the studio, you know? It should be an interesting evening. I figure if I wrote it, I can change the lyrics, even if they’re the wrong lyrics.” She laughed, then I laughed, and it wasn’t the only time that happened during our interview. We had a few zingers throughout the conversation. Actually, as I’m writing this, the release party is probably in full swing. I can’t wait to hear how it turned out. Were any new lyrics created during her performance? The world may never know.
If you haven’t heard “This Too Shall Pass,” Lang’s recent single off the album, it’s exquisite. Self-penned and produced by Kelly Lang, it’s easily a new standout in her catalog. We needed to touch on it for a moment. I thought maybe it was inspired by Lang’s battle with breast cancer, but it was something else. She said, “It actually came from my brother. He was having some health issues and I was like, ‘What can I do to help him? What are the magic words to say?’ In his situation there’s really nothing you can say, even ‘This too shall pass’ doesn’t really help. Then I started thinking when people hear those words, it actually does help so many of them. I don’t know too many songs that have that type of flair to them, so I began to write it, but I also wanted it to be a song of warning and encouragement, because good times pass too. You need to hold on to those and cherish those good times. So I encompassed both a warning and hope, all in three minutes. People can get different feelings from that song, depending on where they are in their lives.”
Purchase or stream Jealous Green Eyes HERE.
I have more in common with Kelly Lang than green eyes. We are both cancer survivors. She fought breast cancer and I’ve been dealing with leukemia since 2023. Thankfully, we are both doing well these days and once you’ve traveled down this road, your outlook on life becomes different. I know I had a calling to connect with others struggling with the disease, mainly after I’d navigated the worst of it. It seems Lang had a similar experience. I remember being diagnosed and thinking, “Can I do this?" I shared that with Lang and added, “Obviously we can, right?”
“I’m a 22 year cancer survivor,” she replied. “Before my diagnosis I would have said ‘I’m not strong enough,’ I wouldn't dare think I could handle that.” I agreed, I would have thought the same thing. She went on, “I think the reason I was even burdened to go through with that is because now I’m able to help people make it to the other side. I don’t know, but I probably wouldn’t have been that empathetic before. I was a busy single mom with two little kids, and I didn’t even think about what other people were going through. I was just trying to survive.”
Her next comment resonated with me because I remember having the exact same thought repeatedly early on in my own cancer journey. She shared, “Something I didn’t think was ‘Why me?’ I just thought, ‘Why not me?’ But let’s get through this as fast as I can so I can get on with my life.” For me, I remember constantly telling myself that I would never say "Why me"’ or anything like it. I was no more important than anyone else and we’re all subject to bad things happening to us. It was my feeling that “If it’s gonna be me, I’m not just gonna sit here and wait for it to do bad things to me, I’m gonna try to do bad things to it.” Thankfully that’s just what happened. Kelly Lang and I both made it.
Of course, everyone’s story is different. Lang laughed and said, “I was a rebel. I didn’t finish my chemo treatments, I wouldn’t take Tamoxifen, I hated it. They wanted me to stay on a five-year thing. I’d rather die. I was probably not the protocol person for a doctor to like. I fought it tooth and nail and did a lot of research on my own. It was good for me, but not necessarily good for everyone. I don’t wanna recommend that, but do your research. You don’t have to do everything the doctors say just because they’re in charge.”
Kelly Lang is an inspiration to anyone faced with a cancer diagnosis and she wrote a book, I’m Not Going Anywhere, that I need to get. It sounds fascinating. We dove into that for a minute. Lang related a story about a recent interview she did. “I was just in an interview with a gentleman who played the audiobook. He said the audio was so easy to listen to. He played it all the way to Ohio and back. He said, ‘I feel like I’m sitting at your kitchen table with you and you were just talking to me. I felt your pain and your inflection.’ What a sweet compliment that was because he reads audiobooks for a living! He said, ‘I was very intrigued and engaged,’ and I thought, ‘Well, thank God.’”
Lang did the actual reading for her audiobook which is a big plus for me. It always makes listening so much better. It’s available for purchase by clicking HERE.
In addition to writing songs, performing and producing music and authoring books, did you know Kelly Lang paints? I asked her, “When do you find time?” She came back with her signature laugh and said, “I know. When people introduce me, they’re like, ‘Author, painter, singer, writer,’ you know, I’m exhausted hearing it! I must wear people out!” She confessed, “But I don’t do ‘em all at one time. Like when I’m on a painting jag, I won’t write. When I’m on a writing jag, I can’t paint. I have to compartmentalize it a bit. Right now I’ve got maybe three paintings started. I do it in spurts and I don’t enjoy doing it unless I’ve got nothing else on my mind.”
So is there anything on her mind right now? Of course there is. “The album comes out the 7th and it’s been such a long two-year journey. Actually, it’s a lifetime journey, since I wrote the songs when I was so young, and then I sprinkled in songs I’ve written throughout the years, right up to the current time. It’s like a PG-13 or NC-17 version of anything I’ve ever done, so I’ve been having a blast promoting it. It’s taken a lot of energy and time, so release day will be like Christmas, and then what do you do? I’ll probably go back in and start creating another project.”
Is a little break on the horizon? This has been such a massive undertaking. Lang exclaimed, “I’m headed to the beach next week!” She deserves that. Bringing a big project to completion should always have a reward waiting for you. While I say the album is completed, it isn’t truly wrapped up until fans are able to hear the songs performed live. There aren’t any shows booked currently, but they are in the works. “I’ll be going back out in the fall and doing a lot," Lang assured.
A singer/songwriter like Kelly Lang surely enjoys other artists’ music. I asked her what song, from any genre or era, she considered as close to perfect, lyrically, melodically and musically. Her answer showed up quickly, “I love the song ‘Always On My Mind’ by Willie Nelson. It’s so beautiful and every time it comes on I stop in my tracks, and it’s just his version. I’ve heard it done by other people and I’m like, ‘No, no, no,’ because there’s something about his version that just breaks my heart. It’s something I wish I had written. In any relationship you might think, ‘I could have done that better,’ or ‘Could I have done it better?’ It’s just such a song of regret and it’s such a classic to me.”
Beach bound next week, but what other highlights marked Lang’s summer of 2026 so far? She had a fast response to this question too. “Well, if you know me well, you know I love my swimming pool. Anybody that asks me out for lunch, say next Thursday, I’m looking at the weather first before I agree to anything. I just live for being in my pool! It’s like my sanctuary. I write my songs in the pool. It’s kind of cathartic for me too. It’s a joke amongst my friends, they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, the sun’s comin’ out tomorrow, Kelly won’t be around.’ I crave quiet time the older I get. I don’t know if it’s just anybody, but I used to have to be busy and be around friends, but now I have to be calm. I can’t have any drama around me and I’ve prioritized that. I normally lay out in the pool and have the radio on, but some days I just listen to the birds, I really just like nature. Maybe that’s a good sign, or I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting old,” she said with a laugh.
I pulled a card from a random question card box and read it out loud to Lang. “If you could have the voice of any famous person, living or deceased, whose voice would you want to claim as your own?” Lang answered, “My absolute favorite female vocalist is Gladys Knight, so I’d say her.”
In our final minutes, we talked about Center Stage Magazine briefly. I’m new to the outlet, but Kelly Lang and her husband T.G. Sheppard have been doing interviews and such with Center Stage for a long time. They’re veterans! Lang’s story began, “Missy Wolf (Co-founder of Center Stage Magazine) is so precious. T.G. has her number in his phone and they’ve done interviews throughout the years. We also have another friend named Missy. T.G. will say, ‘Hey Siri, call Missy,’ and he accidentally calls Missy Wolf all the time. She’ll say, ‘Wrong Missy.’ We talk to her by accident all the time!” I found that hilarious and I’m not doing her story justice. The way she told the tale of “Wrong Number T.G.” was so darned entertaining and I don’t know much, but I do know entertainment when it darkens my door.
Be sure to follow Kelly Lang on social media and let her know how you like Jealous Green Eyes, and tell her Center Stage Magazine sent you!
About Patti McClintic
JournalistI’m a pop culture and history nerd. I love my family, friends, random trivia and animals. I found out early I had a natural knack for creating stories and finding my way around the English language. Writing came easy for me. If I was going to write about anything, pop culture seemed like a good choice.
I spent 10 years writing for UK-based Think Country. I’ve interviewed countless artists and reviewed many shows and records. I’ve written show reviews on Charlie Daniels, Florida Georgia Line, Merle Haggard, The Cadillac Three, Randy Travis and multiple CMA Fests. Artists I’ve interviewed include Brett Eldredge, Carly Pierce, Ashley McBryde, Lonestar, Lainey Wilson and Jeannie Seely, to name just a few.
I also had a three year stint working in public relations in Nashville. I learned so much more by seeing the music business from the other side. I am forever grateful to have been given that opportunity at B Noticed PR, a highly-respected PR firm, whose clients have included Exile, Jeannie Seely, Allie Colleen, Brady Seals and Adam Hood.
When I’m not involved in the music industry, you can find me hanging out with my husband, playing cornhole or fishing. I’m a genealogy addict and I love perusing very old newspapers and cemeteries. I’m a proud mom and grandma, so family matters a lot to me, even my cat family members. I’m thrilled to be a part of Center Stage Magazine and looking forward to whatever comes my way while I’m here. There’s really nothing else like it.
