Viral Sensation Karen Waldrup Announces Album Release Date, Partners With Fuel Music

Singer/songwriter, viral sensation, innovative entrepreneur and charismatic entertainer Karen Waldrup is releasing the project she calls the album she's always wanted to make on July 13 in partnership with The Fuel Music. Justified, produced by award-winning producer Garth Fundis (Trisha Yearwood, Sugarland, Don Williams, etc), is an eleven song album featuring a fresh new country sound meshed with the soulful nostalgia of Waldrup's home state of Louisiana.

"I've been waiting to make this album my whole life," exclaims Waldrup. "This music sounds like I walk, it sounds like I talk, and it sounds like the Louisiana girl I am."

Waldrup wrote or co-wrote 9 of the 11 tracks with Nashville friends and fellow songwriters including Julia Cole, Anthony Smith, Donnie Skaggs, Ed Hill, Brian Kolb and others. The album features title track and heart-felt thank you to fans "Justified," the catchy party anthem "What Goes On In This Bar (Stays In This Bar)," Waldrup's viral version of "I Hope You Dance," the Lori McKenna penned love song "Sometimes He Does" and the vibey and sultry "Slow and Easy."

"Getting to work with uniquely talented artists is truly a joy and Karen Waldrup is definitely one of those," praises producer Garth Fundis. "It's a rare occasion you meet someone who also possesses the charm, work ethic and sheer determination necessary to see her dreams come true. She is one of those people too. Don't tell her something can't be done, she'll prove you wrong every time."

Check out "behind the scenes" from the album here.

Pre-sale for Justified begins on June 27.

Throwback to November 2016, Waldrup launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund a new project that award-winning producer Garth Fundis agreed to produce. The life of the campaign was a roller coaster ride, with very low lows and even higher highs for independent artist Waldrup. During the campaign, she heard a preacher say "the moment you take the burden off of yourself to be important is the moment you start living your true potential," and she committed to living that mindset. Shortly after, by request from a 16 year old fan, Waldrup recorded an unedited, one-take cover of Lee Ann Womack's massive hit "I Hope You Dance" in her living room. After sending it to that fan, she also shared the video with her friends at lifestyle brand Country Rebel. They were blown away by the heartfelt cover and posted it immediately on their socials. After millions of views and thousands of interactions on social media, her Indiegogo campaign was over 100% funded and she began recording that dream album. To date, the video has been viewed to date over 28 million times.

Track Listing:

Colorado Kiss - Julia Cole, Karen Waldrup

Nobody's Running Away - Ed Hill, Donnie Skaggs, Karen Waldrup

Parker Presley - Parker Pressley, Karen Waldrup

Justified - Brian Kolb, Karen Waldrup

Slow & Easy - Anthony Smith, Karen Waldrup

What Goes On In This Bar (Stays In This Bar) - Ed Hill, Donnie Skaggs, Karen Waldrup

Sometimes He Does - Lori McKenna

Praying For My Cowboy - Julia Cole, Karen Waldrup

Warm In Your Sunshine - Brett Jones, Karen Waldrup

Cool Hat - Ed Hill, Donnie Skaggs, Karen Waldrup

I Hope You Dance - Tia Sellers, Mark Sanders

About The Fuel Music
Established in 2008, The Fuel Music & Management, LLC, is a leading artist management and artist solutions company that independently distributes music internationally. Based in Nashville, TN, the Fuel team brings nearly 70 years of combined music industry experience in record label operations, major label distribution and marketing, and artist management for artists ranging from upstart bands to GRAMMY Award nominated, multi-platinum artists. More information on the company can be found at www.thefuelmusic.com.

About Karen Waldrup
New Orleans native Karen Waldrup is a triple threat musician, songwriter and recording artist known for her thrilling performances and nostalgically new style of country music.

Waldrup has spent the last few years touring the world performing thousands of shows everywhere from Memphis, TN to Dublin, Ireland and is now a true viral sensation with her social media videos gaining mass appeal and more than 175 million views. Waldrup is the subject of "Waldrup Wednesdays," the hugely popular weekly video series on Country Rebel's Facebook page.

Waldrup is currently nominated for 2 Nashville Independent Music Awards (NIMA) for Best Country Live Performer and Best Female Country Solo. In 2017, she won 3 NIMA awards for Best Live Country Performer, Best Video and Best Solo Female Country Artist and she also landed an original song in the motion picture 'Scales: Mermaids are Real'. The video for her 2016 Summer song "I Got That Kind of Time" spent 5 weeks at #1 and 12 weeks in the top 5 on CMT. Her "Trashy Crashed the Party" video stayed in the top 3 for 5 weeks straight.

Waldrup appeared on Bravo TV's Platinum Hit with hosts Jewel & Kara Diaguardi, and had music featured on Bravo TV's reality series My Fab 40. She was a Nashville Rising Star finalist in 2015 and was previously named a GAC Top 25 Songwriter. Karen has been featured on NASCAR ESPN LIVE, the NFL Experience Superbowl XLVII and hundreds of other outlets world wide.

Waldrup's new album Justified is slated for release on July 13, 2018.