Bobby Bones helps Wichita native launch singing career — and her new song about Wichita
Wichita loves a good Wichita song.
There’s “Wichita Lineman,” Glen Campbell’s wistful 1968 classic.
There’s The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” with its famous “I’m goin’ to Wichita” line.
And don’t forget Shawn Covin’s 1996 song “Wichita Skyline.”
Now, Wichita has another song to add to the collection, and this one is written and performed by a hometown girl whose burgeoning singing career is getting a big boost from famous radio and television personality Bobby Bones.
On Thursday of this week, Abby Leigh Anderson’s new single called “Hey There Hometown” was uploaded to all the major music streaming services, including Spotify, iTunes and Amazon Music. The song is an autobiographical ode to Wichita, where Anderson, 33, lived until she left for college at the University of Kansas in 2009.
The refrain of the country music track:
Ohhh Wichita
You’ll always be home to me
I hope you know no matter where I go
These Kansas roots’ll run deep
Hope you’re proud of who I turned into
Nowhere else can hold a candle to
Ohhh Wichita... I owe it all to you…
The song is the result of lots of prodding from Anderson’s boss, Bones. For the past four years, she’s worked as the phone screener for Bones’ nationally syndicated radio show, “The Bobby Bones Show,” which records in Nashville and airs on 200 radio stations across the United States and Canada. The show also is streamed online and is said to reach nearly 10 million people a month.
Bones has long been aware of Anderson’s singing ability, and she’s become a regular participant in on-air morning show chatter. She’s become such a part of the show that devoted listeners now know who she is. For months now, Anderson has been getting recognized by total strangers when she’s out in public.
It all started in 2022, when Anderson sang the national anthem at a marathon in Nashville. She practiced beforehand by singing the anthem live on Bones’ show. When a program director with a radio station that airs “The Bobby Bones Show” heard her sing, he asked that she make an official studio recording he could use on the air. She did, and her version of the song started to go viral as radio stations around the country began to regularly play it.
Not long after, Bones invited Anderson to sing the national anthem as part of his appearance at Tampa’s Strawberry Festival. Then he asked her to tag along to his back-to-back shows at Wichita’s Orpheum Theatre last month so that she could perform in front of a hometown audience.
But before they left, he issued an on-air challenge, asking Anderson to write an original song that she could perform in Wichita. He told her she had a week, and then he would want her to sing the new song on air.
Frantic, Anderson started reaching out to friends who might know songwriters with whom she could collaborate. Within a week, she had her song — a love letter to Wichita that details how her Midwestern roots made her who she is.
“Since the show was going to be in Wichita and I’d be performing it for the first time live, I thought it would be really cool to connect with my hometown,” she said. “I really don’t feel like I’d be where I am today without Wichita. Growing up there, I got a lot of support when I wanted to move to Nashville and continue to sing. Wichita as a city means a lot to me. I’m grateful I grew up there.”
Since debuting the song on the show — and performing it in front of the Orpheum crowds in August — Anderson has been in the studio to record an official version. (The full lyrics are below.) It started streaming on all the major music platforms on Thursday.
A national platform
Anderson said she always loved to sing. She attended Wichita’s Independent School, where she appeared in the school’s talent shows and theatre productions, even snagging the title role in “Little Orphan Annie” when she was in fifth grade.
In 2004, she competed in — and won — a talent competition called “Boeing Idol.” That’s where her mother and stepfather were working at the time. She would frequently perform the national anthem around town and even tried out for “American Idol” a couple of times.
Anderson studied exercise science at KU, but as graduation grew near, she realized that her passion was still singing. She accepted an internship in the exercise science field in Nashville during her final semester of college, and she’s lived in Nashville ever since.
She decided she wanted to pursue music, but the Nashville music scene can be humbling for a young singer, she said.
“Once you get here, it’s kind of like you’re a little fish in a big pond because everybody sings,” she said. “I got into the business side of it and was like, ‘I don’t think I’m good enough.’ I was down on myself and lost the confidence I had back at home.”
She got a job with iHeartMedia putting on events and radio remote events, and eventually, she interviewed for and got the job as a phone screener for Bobby Bones. She’s been doing the job for four years now, and over time, he’s incorporated her into the daily conversation.
Her new song is reaching lots of people, she said, and she’s getting messages not only from Wichitans but also from people who say the song made them homesick for their own hometowns. Anderson said she’s not sure where all the recent attention will lead, but she’s taking it as it comes.
If ever offered a recording contract, she said, she’d be torn about whether to pursue a career in music or return home to Kansas and settle down. In the meantime, she’s getting regular gigs performing at bars and hotels on Broadway in Nashville.
Her ultimate dream, though, would be to become a part of a group like Lady A where she could harmonize with singing partners, a type of music she says is more her style.
“I just kind of love my day job at ‘The Bobby Bones Show’ and plan on staying there and just kind of doing this for fun and pushing myself to play more,” she said, adding that she’s also going to keep working on her song writing.
Oh, and Bones has now issued a new challenge. He wants her to learn how to play the guitar.
“I have until January,” she said.
Lyrics to “Hey There Hometown”
Songwriters: Abby Anderson, Billy Dawson, Chase McDaniel, Eric Dodd
How you been since I rolled out
I still remember it all from the playground
To every Friday night-light-touch down.
I always had a dream to sing
Mom and dad said I can be anything
So I left for Tennessee
But you’re still right here with me...
Ohhh Wichita
You’ll always be home to me
I hope you know no matter where I go
These Kansas roots’ll run deep
Hope you’re proud of who I turned into
Nowhere else can hold a candle to
Ohhh Wichita... I owe it all to you…
Got a job I love now
I’m all settled into this crazy town
I was looking for someone and finally found
A good one back in my stompin grounds
Ohhh Wichita
You’ll always be home to me
I hope you know no matter where I go
These Kansas roots’ll run deep
Hope you’re proud of who I turned into
Nowhere else can hold a candle to
Ohhh Wichita….I owe it all to you…
From the way that I live to the way that I love
It’s all thanks to ya’ll and the good Lord above.
Ohhh Wichita
You’ll always be home to me
I hope you know no matter where I go
These Kansas roots’ll run deep
Hope you’re proud of who I turned into
No where else can hold a candle to
Ohhh Wichita… Man I miss you
