If you don’t already know the name Hannah McFarland, you will soon. This female singer/songwriter got her start performing at age 15 and hasn’t stopped pursuing her dreams since. She’s worked tirelessly playing local gigs, writing music that showcases her authentic self and building a presence on social media – all of which has led up to her latest accomplishment of singing a record deal with The Core Records/Capitol Records.
This rising star moved from her hometown of Mobile, AL to Nashville in 2016 to attend college at Lipscomb University and further her music career. She quickly earned recognition for her undeniable talent and while still in her teenage years, began opening for major acts like Kelsea Ballerini, Old Dominion, and Travis Tritt and has even teamed up with Zach Bryan to perform his Grammy-winning hit, “I Remember Everything.”
While building her performance resume, McFarland was also developing her writing skills and recently signed with one of the world’s leading publishing companies, Warner Chappell Music. She has already made waves with previous releases like “The Bed I Made,” “R.I.P.,” “Run out of Cowboy,” and her collaboration with Austin Snell on “I’ve Been Drinking,” but this fall, she made her major-label debut with the vulnerable ballad, “Hey Highway.”
“It hits me like sometimes I forget that I’m in the middle of all of it and then I’ll just sit back and be like, oh my gosh. I signed a record deal. This is actually an artist’s dream,” she told Country Now.
A big part of McFarland’s mission as an artist is to always show fans her most authentic self, whether that be through breakup anthems, powerful displays of the heart or an overarching need for unity, which she showcases in her unreleased tune, “Common Ground.” Penned by McFarland alongside Kaylin Roberson, the new song once again puts her unmatched songwriting on display as she tackles the divide within the world and expresses a hope that once day, we can all come together and reach an understanding among the opposing views.
She is showcasing this song and more from her growing catalog while touring the U.S. as support for hitmaker Kip Moore’s Nomad World Tour 2024.
We recently caught up with Hannah McFarland to discuss the evolution of her passion for music, lessons she’s learned along the way, new music on the way and more. Read on to find out more about McFarland in this exclusive Q&A below.
You got started performing at age 15. What made you want to get into performing? How did your love for music develop?
I just was always singing with my family. My dad kind of raised us up on old country music, Merle Haggard, Keith Whitley, all that stuff, and I can just remember us being in the carport at our house during our little family cookouts and dad would always make me sing and I hated it then, obviously. But then, I don’t know, somewhere along the way when they kept going like, ‘wait, you can sing,’ I was like, ‘wait, can I?’ Because you know parents are always like, ‘oh my kid can do this, my kid can do this.’ So I always thought my parents were just hyping me up because they had to because they’re my parents, but no.
Do you remember your first performance and what you were feeling in that moment?
I got up and sang at, it was like a sandwich shop or something in my hometown where some band was playing, and they convinced me to get up. And I was so nervous that I quite literally broke out in hives for one song. After that, when other people were like, ‘wait, you can sing,’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe I actually can.’ So I got my first guitar when I was 15 and I played my first show like three months later or something. I opened for my cousin’s band back in Mobile in my hometown and then yeah, I think my second show ever was opening for an artist, Frank Foster, at Soul Kitchen, which it’s funny because we’re just about to announce my first headlining show there, December 20th. That was my second show ever and it was a sold-out crowd of like 1,100, 1,200 people. I think I had just turned 16 at that point and after that, it just kept going from there. I would leave school and go play my restaurant shows for like four hours and then got to the point where I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m doing this every day.’ My grades obviously started to not look so good because that’s all I was doing every day after school. So I slowed down a little bit on shows.
What motivated you to make the move to Nashville?
When it came time for college, I moved up to Nashville so I could kind of be in the middle of the music thing. I had a choice to make I guess because I was cheering through all this too. I was doing competitive cheer and I wanted to cheer in college so bad. I wanted to go to Auburn and cheer but game-time decision I changed it up and I went to Lipscomb because I got the full music scholarship there. So I went there and I ended up cheering there too so kind of best of both worlds, but yeah, it was super fun. So that was kind of how I found my way to Nashville because I knew that my parents were absolutely not going to let me move here unless I was doing it for school. So I ended up doing that.
You’ve had some amazing opportunities over the years to open for major acts like Kelsea Ballerini, Old Dominion, Travis Tritt, etc. Talk about those experiences and how they’ve helped you grow as an artist.
Those were all shows that I opened for when I was still 16, 17, 18. So in my hometown, especially Soul Kitchen, that venue was like, they’d have acts come through town and they would just throw me on. Like they really genuinely just believed in me and they gave me chances when I was so fresh in it. Looking back, I’m like, oh my gosh, that was a bold choice of them because I had no idea what I was doing. But, yeah, so they would just kind of throw me on random opening shows when I was so young. And it’s so funny because I always tell everybody I hated doing like the bar and restaurant shows. I hated doing the cover shows, but now I’m like, thank god I did that because I was just very blessed for it, but I was thrown into these three big tours…and I’m like, if I hadn’t done those, I would have actually no idea what I’m doing. So I feel like I got those reps in and all those random cover shows to be able to at least hold my own somewhat in these tours now.
Did you receive any kind of standout advice or learn any valuable lessons through these shows that you keep with you now in your career?
I don’t know. I feel like I’ve had so much, especially recently, I’ve been so blessed with a bunch of mentors recently just in other artists really believing in me. But I’d say probably the one piece of advice that has really stuck since the beginning that I feel like I’ve tried to follow is not to try to perform anybody else’s craft. Take my own that I kind of made up here and just follow that and not try to fit into somebody else’s category or do what somebody else is doing. But a big part of all that also is just my faith. I genuinely believe that this is my purpose and this is how I’m supposed to make a difference, as much as I can. But I think that all falls into the same category of just doing my own thing and not trying to do what anybody else is doing.
What kind of messages are you hoping to send with your music and by leading with authenticity?
I think that the world and just the audience and the listeners are craving just real stuff now. I think the days of like, the untouchable artists…I feel like we have some of these artists that it seems like nothing’s ever wrong with them and I think that that is so not true. I think now, especially for women, we want to see what’s actually going on behind the scenes and stuff that no one really talks about that everybody’s feeling. But I feel like, again, that all falls into that same category of not trying to be or do what other artists are really doing.
You recently signed to The Core Records/Capitol Records. So what was going through your head as you took this next step in your career?
Oh my gosh. Well, first of all, I feel like so many moments, and I still kind of struggle with this, it’s like, I have so many artist friends that I feel like really deserve this too so I would say the biggest thing about it, which might be more of like my biggest struggle about it was just knowing that I got this. I know there are so many people out there that want this opportunity so just making sure that I use the best of my ability and do it for the right reasons. But I mean, I worked for 11 years for this moment, so I don’t know, I feel like everything’s finally coming together. It hits me like sometimes I forget that I’m in the middle of all of it and then I’ll just sit back and be like, oh my gosh. I signed a record deal. This is actually an artist’s dream.
Talk about choosing to release “Hey Highway” as your debut single.
It was one of the first songs that did really well with kind of my, I would say, my little social media audience, but I just really believed in it and the day we wrote it, I just felt like there was something special about it. It seems like other people felt the same way and it was honestly a unanimous decision when we were choosing with Capitol and The Core. We all went into it knowing we had all these songs that we could choose from, but we all felt like “Hey Highway” was kind of the first good introduction into all this, because it shows off…I think something that carries my music is really just the lyrical stuff and lyrical side of things, and I felt like it did that. I think that it kind of set me up in a good lane so that people know what they’re going to get from me.
“Common Ground” has been gaining traction through snippet’s you’ve shared via social media. Can you take us into the writer’s room and share how this song came to be?
Well, it’s actually so funny. I don’t think I’ve told anybody the story. So it’s actually a co-write with Kaylin (Roberson), who I wrote “Hey Highway” with and a bunch of my other stuff. She’s one of my favorite people to write with and we walked into the room and I was like, ‘guys, I don’t really know what to write about today. Cause I’m not going through a breakup. I really feel fine,’ but I think that I still had stuff weighing on me just because of the time that was going on for the election, I feel like there’s so much unrest in the world with wars and just everything you see in the news is just so bad and so negative. I was just like, I don’t understand why we can’t find something that we all relate on because at the end of the day, we’re all fighting for basically the same stuff. It’s really just one of those moments of like, golly, I know we can’t, I know there will always be these differences, but I wish everybody could just get along, and we all felt like that that day. So we sat down and wrote “Common Ground,” and again, I feel like people related to it, and it’s something that I feel like everybody’s feeling, but no one really talks about.
Did you get to perform this song live during your first weekend as an opener with Kip Moore?
Last weekend was my first weekend with Kip and Kaylin’s on the road with me. It was when we were going to print out the set list right before the show, I was like, ‘ what if we just throw it in there?’ Because it was right after the election and so we did. It seems like it gets a pretty good response each time, and again just one of those moments of everybody feeling it, but no one really talks about it. I feel like hopefully it brings a little bit of middle ground to, to all of this that’s going on right now…And that was our first time playing it live, so at first we were like, ‘ooh, I don’t know how this is going to go.’ We had a few little speed bumps through it, but yeah, I’m excited to be playing that one out there. And Kip also really likes the song. When I first posted it, he had responded back to it. He was like, ‘man, this is the one. This is the song.’ So I was like, ‘oh yeah, let’s throw it in.’
What does it mean to you to be a special guest the Nomad World Tour this fall/winter?
I think something that’s interesting that I just realized the other day, Kip Moore was one of my first concerts I ever went to, if not the first. And now I’m opening for him. So I just find it crazy. And then with the Brett Young tour, I would cover his songs at every one of my shows. So just little things like that, I’m like, how did this happen? All these things that growing up, I never in my life would think that I would be in the position that I’m in now. It’s all just full circle. I thought those were pretty interesting points that I’ve realized over the past few months of being on tour with them.
Fans can keep up with Hannah McFarland on Instagram.
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