Kimmi Bitter Graduates
"Never Any Younger" featured at elementary school graduation
Kimmi Bitter went back to school this week, as the fifth-grade class at Empresa Elementary School in Southern California sang the award-winning country artist’s song “Never Any Younger” as part of their graduation ceremony.
It was pretty cute. Bitter’s Instagram account includes a short clip of the class singing.
The school’s music teacher, Mr. Cook, heard “Never Any Younger” and reached out to Willis Farnsworth, who is Bitter’s boyfriend and lead guitar player. Cook knew Farnsworth from their days in high school. Cook thought the message of the song was perfect for a graduation, and the stage was set.
Bitter was asked to speak to the class about the song as part of the graduation ceremony.
“I provided a backstory about how the song is about following your truth and taking chances,” she told me during a brief interview this week. “I spoke about how we often feel that we are getting older every day, and though the kids are so young, I am sure the parents feel that even they are growing up too fast.”
“But if you flip that mindset,” she explained, “we are all, at any given point in time, the youngest we will ever be.”
She went on to tell the student to chase their dreams, “because passion is usually your greatest strength and what you will excel in. We love what we love for a reason. Then I told them to dream big!”
A solid message for kids entering middle school.
While Bitter is a big name in the underground and traditional country scenes, she isn’t (yet) a household name. So she was a bit surprised by the request.
“When I found out Empresa Elementary wanted to use my song, I was in shock because it’s not like a famous song,” she said. “My music typically resonates with an older generation because I play music that sounds like it's from the '60s, so it was awesome to see 10-year-olds stoked on my music and excited to meet me. It was so sweet and special to watch a young generation sing words to a song I wrote.”
“Never Any Younger” took her a long time to complete as she “wanted each line to really count.”
“It’s moments like this that make doing what I do as a songwriter and singer really worth it.”
Bitter has a new album slated for release in 2026 and is touring extensively on her first full-length record, fittingly titled Old School. She’ll be in the Pacific Northwest this summer and touring the Midwest, South and all places in between through the fall. She has a number of significant shows during Americanafest this September in Nashville.