Riley Clemmons, who says her music expresses her life experiences, will be the featured Christian act at the 2024 Festival of the Bells in Hillsboro.

The festival runs July 4-6 this year and Clemmons will be the featured act on the Fourth of July.

The featured acts for Friday and Saturday have not been announced. All the performances are free to the public.

Brian Robinson, who has organized the festival’s Christian concert for several years and saw Clemmons in concert about three years ago, said she is high energy.

“She’s very vocal about sharing her faith and what God has did for her in her life,” said Robinson, adding that her music explores her life’s valleys and mountaintops. “In all the interviews and things I’ve seen, she is very adamant about her faith, sharing her faith, and using music as a way to do that.”

Clemmons’ first single “Broken Prayers” was released in 2017 and racked up 30 million-plus streams. In support of her 2018 self-titled debut album, she hit the road for the first time with Tauren Wells. In 2019, she released her next chapter with “Fighting For Me,” which amassed more than 80 million global streams. So far, she’s gathered nearly 210 million total career streams and 50 million YouTube views, according to her website.

She set the stage for Godsend in 2020 with “Healing” and “Over and Over,” and in early 2021, she released a fast-growing single, “Keep On Hoping,” which amassed 1 million streams in the first two weeks of release and quickly climbed the Billboard and radio airplay charts, the website says.

“When I wrote the song, there was a sense of heaviness from the sheer amount of voices I was hearing on TV, on the internet, on social media, and from people in my life,” she said on the website. “I realized, ‘How are you ever going to hear the truth, if you’re not making room to hear it?’ I knew I wanted to make this anthem for myself and anybody else who needs it. If the world feels heavy and gets too loud, don’t forget there’s still hope — you’ve just got to make room for it.”

Her single “I’m Not Alone”, relapsed last April, pairs her raw vocals with piano. The lyric from the title track of Clemmons’ second full-length release represents a creative vision that came to her nearly two years before the arrival of her latest album, Godsend. The concept sent Clemmons on a journey through a 12-track realization that with each of life’s challenges comes a gift and ultimately, a Godsend, according to the website.

“I had the title Godsend for so long,” Clemmons said. “I loved what it implied, but I needed to live enough to fulfill what the word itself meant. I opened the note on my phone, and I just started writing the song ‘Godsend’. It became the anchor around which I wrote every other song. These are honest stories of failure, lows, highs, loneliness and struggles with self-worth and relationships. They all made me take a step back and wonder if, ‘Maybe there was a purpose to all of this that I just didn’t see.’ Well, now I do.”

Introduced to music at a young age by her parents, the website says Clemmons grew up listening to everyone from Van Halen, The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac to Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Billy Joel, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande. Her father influenced her love for classic rock, while her mother sang in church.

Some of her other songs include “Stuck Inside My Head”, “Headspace”, “When Nothing Hurts” and “Irreplaceable.”

The festival’s Christian concert is funded by churches and Christian businesses throughout Highland County, who Robinson said have never failed to step up and make it happen.

“I’m just glad we get to do it,” Robinson said. “There’s not very much you can get for free anymore.”

Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522.