"Hometown Kids" is a song co-written and recorded by Canadian

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

duo

The Reklaws The Reklaws are a Canadian country music duo from North Dumfries, Ontario, formed in 2012. The duo consists of siblings Stuart and Jenna Walker. They have released three albums, ''Freshman Year'', ''Sophomore Slump'', and '' Good Ol' Days''. Th ...

. The duo wrote the song with Gavin Slate and Travis Wood. It was the debut and lead single off their debut studio album ''

Freshman Year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

''.

Background

Stuart Walker told ''The Boot'' that the sibling duo "wanted everybody to understand that we are just college kids at heart". It was the first song they wrote with prolific

Canadian country Country music has a long history in Canada. The genre evolved out of the diverse musical practices of the Appalachian region of the United States. Appalachian folk music was largely Scottish and Irish, with an important influence also being the ...

songwriters Gavin Slate and Travis Wood. Jenna Walker said the song is "important to us because it was our first major, like, ime tosit down ndreally configure who we are as artists and what we want to say".

Critical reception

Jenna Melanson of ''Canadian Beats Media'' called the song the "perfect summer anthem". Mary Ayers of ''Teenplicity'' referred to the track as a "joyful country jam" that "creates a yearning for fun summer nights with friends". Canadian

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

added the song to his personal

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

playlist.

Music video

The official music video for "Hometown Kids" premiered on August 17, 2017. It features Jenna Walker and Stuart Walker of the Reklaws, as well as forty of their closest friends. The video was filmed in their hometown of

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers, in the central part of the Ontario Peninsula. The city had a population ...

and directed by Ben Knechtel.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from ''

'' CD booklet. *

Todd Clark Pilot Speed (formerly known as Pilate) was a Canadian rock band, who were active in the early 2000s.Gerry Krochak, "Pilate strives for sincerity". ''Regina Leader-Post'', October 23, 2003. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the band consisted of vocali ...

—

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, programming, backing vocals *Anthony Lucido —

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*Andrew Mendelson — mastering *Justin Niebank — mixing *Gavin Slate —

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, programming, backing vocals, production, engineering * Jenna Walker — lead vocals * Stuart Walker — lead vocals *Derek Wells — guitar,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

*Travis Wood — backing vocals

Chart performance

"Hometown Kids" reached a peak of #16 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Canada Country The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart for the week of December 9, 2017.

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2017 debut singles The Reklaws songs Universal Music Canada singles Songs written by Todd Clark Songs written by Gavin Slate Songs written by Jenna Walker Songs written by Stuart Walker (singer) Songs written by Travis Wood (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Todd Clark