While getting its start in college, playing mostly tailgates and house parties, rock band Edgehill’s initial following was unsurprisingly comprised of teenagers and 20-somethings. But this year, lead vocalist Chris Kelly has noticed an uptick of older faces in the crowd. “I remember the first time I saw someone with gray hair in our audience, and I was like, ‘Did you find us on the radio?’ ” he recalls with a laugh.
His hunch was well-founded: As Edgehill — consisting of Kelly, 23, guitarist/vocalist Jake Zimmerman, 26, and drummer Aidan Cunningham, 26 — prepares for its first headlining tour this fall, it will hit the road with a pair of bona fide radio hits in hand. The grunge-influenced “Doubletake” scored the band its first Billboard chart entry, climbing up Alternative Airplay before reaching No. 1 in April. Now, Edgehill’s alternative pop follow-up, “Love to Go,” is ascending the same list.
For Kelly, growing up in Charlottesville, Va. with a mom who worked as a music teacher and flutist and a dad who was a singer-songwriter outside of his day job meant that a career in the industry was always in the cards. “My mom had me matching pitch when I was a baby, essentially getting me to coo to a pitch,” Kelly says. “There was never a time when there wasn’t music going on in the house.”
Growing up, he developed eclectic taste, with favorites including John Mayer, Frank Ocean, The Backseat Lovers and Peach Pit. His move to Nashville in 2021 to attend Vanderbilt University — plus some later guidance from his bandmates — ultimately steered Kelly toward the ‘90s alt-rock influence that shapes Edgehill’s sound today.
Kelly met Zimmerman at a jam session during his early days on campus that August. “We just sat next to each other in the same circle of people; he was the first person I played with,” Kelly says. At another session a month later, they finished what would become the group’s first single: “Shooting Glances,” which the band self-released in June 2022. “Almost instantly we were like, ‘Let’s keep doing this,’ ” Kelly says.
The next time they linked up to write, it was fueled by a melody that came to Zimmerman in a dream, à la Paul McCartney with The Beatles’ “Yesterday.” Again, the duo fleshed out the makings of the track within a few hours. “There was such an innocence to that beginning part of the band where we were just excited to be finishing songs together,” Kelly says. That second song became “Love to Go,” which they wouldn’t release for another four-plus years.
Edgehill’s current iteration took shape the following summer, in 2023, when Kelly met Cunningham while working at a coffee shop during a break from Vanderbilt. “I decided I was going to take a gap year. Then, I took another gap year… and I’m still on it,” Kelly jokes.
From left: Edgehill’s Zimmermann, Kelly and Cunningham.
Hannah Hall
With Cunningham in tow, Edgehill continued to build as a trio, adding to its catalog of original songs and growing its fan base on social media by posting popular covers by The Beatles, Radiohead and The Smashing Pumpkins. The clips helped the band land on the industry’s radar, and soon enough, Nashville-based indie rock label Severance Records (a joint venture launched by Big Loud in January 2024) reached out, with president Steve “Stevo” Robertson and former co-president Mike Easterlin coming to see the band live. By May 2024, Edgehill had signed a record deal with Severance/Big Loud Rock.
“They were such people people,” Kelly says. “A lot of these meetings you’re discussing numbers and it might not feel super intentional. We talked about music for two hours, just chopping it up about our favorite bands and what inspires us. We could tell they cared; there was a higher level of personal investment.”
Edgehill wrote its debut album across the next six months, released a live EP from Nashville’s East Iris Studios that fall and simultaneously toured in support of labelmates Dexter and the Moonrocks. Manager Chris Georggin (Pat Magnarella Management) was in the audience at a Chicago show that October, and after seeing them perform, reached out to join the team. “They were able to completely take over a crowd,” Georggin recalls. “After they played, there was a line for people getting merch. It’s a sign if you can capture that kind of excitement [as an opening act].”
That December, the band was ready to record; its full-length comprised six new songs plus three they already had in the can — including the then-still-unreleased “Love to Go.” While the team mapped out a rollout strategy in the first half of 2025, Georggin noticed that the band members were eager to get back on the road, emphasizing that touring is a big part of their identity. “They talked about how they used to play house shows, and I was like, ‘Well then, let’s do that,’” Georggin recalls. “I come from a mentality of, ‘We can wait around, or we can build the scene.’ ”
Inspired by the success of The All-American Rejects’ House Party Tour around that time, Georggin set up a Google form for potential intimate host sites for Edgehill performances. Within days, he received responses from people all over the U.S. “Then it was just a matter of, ‘Okay, how do we route this? And which one’s going to be a legitimate experience versus a liability?’ ” Georggin says.
During those shows, Edgehill continued to play “Love to Go” — with lyrics depicting love interests trading turns giving one another the cold shoulder — which had become a fan favorite over the years. After releasing “Doubletake” last August, there was little question about the best pick for a follow-up. “When we were thinking about songs to come out, the obvious [one] was ‘Love to Go,’ ” Georggin says. “It’s been played at every single show. The fans love it. I think it was one of those songs that the band was kind of scared of.”
“Love to Go” officially arrived Jan. 16, along with the announcement of the band’s debut album, Ode to the Greyhouse, released in February. Only once “Doubletake” started to lose steam in late June did the team push “Love to Go.” Within two weeks, it became Edgehill’s second entry on Alternative Airplay; it reaches a No. 23 high on the chart dated Aug. 8 in its fifth week. (“Doubletake” topped the ranking in its 27th week on the list.)
In September, Edgehill will kick off its 24-date Moving Out Tour in Charlotte and continue on the road through the end of October. The trek is aptly named: Kelly hints that while everyone has re-upped their leases in Nashville and wants to complete another album cycle based in Music City, once that’s complete, they’re eyeing a move to Los Angeles. But until then, the focus is not just on celebrating the band’s current wins, but preparing to create the next ones, too.
“We’re constantly getting into weirder music — our tastes are always shifting,” says Kelly. “We have an idea of where we want to sit.”
A version of this story appears in the Aug. 1, 2026, issue of Billboard.
