After spending a few years in South Carolina, Kelly longed to write more songs and the spring of 2020, with the pandemic and its quarantine, gave her more time than usual. She spent the spring and summer writing and ended up with ten original songs. She introduced them to the band and they agreed it was time to record. In June of 2020, they went to Atlantic Coast Recording Studio and began working with Ed Dennis as their sound engineer. Ed is kind of a throwback, and a huge fan of organic sounds. He mixes a minimal amount of digital recording media with old school analog equipment. This provides the warm live sound that the band was looking for and can be heard on the album. Ed can also be heard playing pedal steel and guitar, along with Chad Hammer on cello. Kelly & The River Band will release their debut album Make It Happen on June 26, 2021.