COUNTRY STAR OF THE MONTH: HAILEY WHITTERS

What do you get when you take a female country singer that seems to personify Country Music not just on the inside, but on the outside as well? You get Hailey Whitters. She performed a few years ago on the Country Boom stage. When I met her backstage she was dressed in an outfit that reminded me of Minny Pearl and when she took the stage her outfit with corn cob patterns on it seemed like something Dolly Parton would have worn at one time. She also could not have been any nicer or sweeter than she was. The best part was that it was all sincere. She brought that sincerity to the stage as well, but underneath was a bit of rebel waiting to jump out. She put on a fun show that even included a couple getting engaged on stage. She seemed to be destined to jump forward not just with beautiful singing, but a fun attitude that fans of her style could get behind.

It took another year or so, but she finally broke through with her song Everything She Ain’t. It’s a song that hearkens to the girl-next-door being who the boy in the song should really be with and not the girl he thinks is everything. Her pure voice and song writing take me back to the rural settings I grew up around without it being so full of sweetness that I get a toothache. When she sings her song Raised you really get the heart of Hailey and where she is coming from. When you see her she stands out from the other female artists in Country Music because she looks like she’s in costume with her signature look. Hailey’s voice and lyrics are pure country and she stays away from the regular tropes that litter female singers and has songs that the guys are singing. In A Field Somewhere sounds more like a male artist would be singing it in a honky tonk yet we get treated to her beautiful voice carrying it across the speakers that doesn’t change when you hear her in concert. Hailey has written for Allan Jackson and Little Big Town and collaborated with them as well. She is the girl next door that if you have the chance you marry her. If you want songs about small town – real small towns then she will fulfill that hunger. Here’s hoping that Nashville and the powers that be get her more exposure because she is the girl that can run with the boys like Jackson Dean, Warren Zeiders, and Morgan Wallen and the style of music they are putting out, In fact, lets have her lead the charge.