Country singer Hailey Whitters is a Midwestern Corn Queen
Hailey Whitters. // photo by Harper Smith
Iowa-born country singer Hailey Whitters had been working in the music industry for well over a decade before her hit single, “Everything She Ain’t,” hit the charts and made her a bigger name. While Whitters had success when she co-wrote Little Big Town’s 2017 song, “Happy People,” her own 2022 album, Raised, was what finally brought the musician’s own voice to the forefront.
Her latest release, April’s Corn Queen, builds on Raised‘s lyrical themes and sees Whitters being equally exuberant and introspective, running the gamut from “White Limousine” and its dreams of fame to the thoughtful reflection of loss that is “Casseroles.” It’s a real delight, as was speaking with Whitters via Zoom ahead of her show at Knuckleheads on Thursday, September 25.
The Pitch: I love the fact that Corn Queen has a butter sculpture on its cover. Could you please explain for our readers who might not know the significance of that, just how perfectly Midwestern that is?
Hailey Whitters: Yeah, it is some definite Midwest core for sure. I mean, so I grew up in Iowa. Going to the state fair, we have a cow sculpted out of butter every single year. It’s a big deal. I mean, when I was putting this record together, t just felt a little sacrilegious to put a picture of my own face on a record called Corn Queen.
This was just like a funny, satirical way to pay homage to the roots. It’s kind of iconic in its own way. I think that the butter sculpture is a legend around the Midwest. It’s kind of like the pinnacle of Midwestern core. I was hanging with some dairy princesses in Minnesota, a few summers back. They were telling me the rules. Basically, once you become the dairy princess, they will sculpt your bust out of butter. That’s what win or whatever.
You have to have generations of your family in dairy in order to even be eligible for a dairy princess. We didn’t do cows. We did corn and beans so I guess this is my only chance at ever getting a sculpture.
Your last album, Raised, was your breakthrough. What has it been like, in the decade since your debut, to finally really start getting acknowledgment from the industry at large?
It’s so wild. I grew up with that Midwest mentality of just put your head down and work hard, you know? It has been, shoot, I think I’m coming up on 18 years in Nashville. It’s been a long time, and in a way, it’s just like, I have been doing this so long, and only in the last few years it feels like really being put on the map. It’s kind of wild.
But that record, it really changed everything for me. “Everything She Ain’t,” after decades of pounding the pavement, that song finally went to radio and introduced a whole lot of new people to my music and whatnot. It’s been wild. I’m hanging on for dear life over here, and I think that this record in particular and a song called “High on the Hog” really pulls the curtain back on what that experience has been like for me.
I think a lot of people think like, “Oh, you’re famous. You get your hair and makeup done. You’re rich now,” and little do they know, it is not that. There’s a lot of blood, sweat, and tears still being put into this dream every single day. It’s a grind but I love getting to make music and I love getting to perform.
You get to collaborate with so many people. You really got your start writing songs for artists like Little Big Town, the last album had that collaboration with American Aquarium, “Middle of America,” and on this one, you’ve got Molly Tuttle, Charles Wesley Godwin, and the Wilder Blue. What’s it like getting to bring along other people for your ride?
Collaborating is so much fun. Seeing a song kind of go in a different world with a different artist’s interpretation is a really cool experience and I’m fans of all of those people. That’s really special too, to get someone that you look up to and you admire who’s willing to jump on your record. That means the world to me. All of those artists were so brilliant, so great in their own right and I was just so tickled that they were willing to jump on a song.
You’ve also collaborated with–and I feel like this is like super Midwestern core–Big Grove Brewery in Des Moines to make Corn Queen lager. Not only are they a very Midwestern brewery, but you can find that beer in every Casey’s throughout Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri, which itself feels very Midwestern. Are you a beer person?
Heck, yeah, I am. I’m pregnant right now, so I’m a non-alcoholic beer person, but hey, hit me with a slice of Casey’s breakfast ‘za and a Corn Queen lager and that’s a great day.
You’re on tour and you’re performing on TV. How have your crowds changed as your star has risen?
Seeing the rise of “Everything She Ain’t,” I feel like a lot of people knew who I was and came out to shows and whatnot. I feel like touring’s gotten just kind of interesting across the board in the last year, and not just for me, but with other artist friends and whatnot. I don’t know if everyone just hit the show scene hard after the pandemic and whatnot, but shows feel a little slower right now, this year and whatnot.
I don’t know what it is yet, but the diehards are there still and they’re in the front and they’re singing every word. And at the end of the day, I think means the most to me, ’cause it’s a hit will come and go and it’ll bring some people in the door, but they’ll leave just as quickly, but the people who are there to hear the record top to bottom and through our loving and resonating with everything that you’re putting out, those are the people that you know you want in the room at the end of the day.
What’s the song off of Corn Queen that you look forward to performing most every night?
Okay. That’s hard. They all have their different reasons. I tell you, one that is challenging to perform every night is that we have put a song called “Casseroles” into the set for these headlining shows. I don’t know if it’s ’cause I’m pregnant and hormonal or what, but that song and singing it live is just really hard to get through.
It’s a song about loss. We did it the other night at our first stop in Nashville, and I just really had to contain myself from not just completely losing it on stage. It was pretty hard.
I’ve talked with artists about this before and I cannot conceive of what it’s like to get up there every night and sing a song that is, in this case, about losing your brother and how you have to prepare or decompress after. Do you talk with your band mates about these difficulties?
Totally, totally. I mean, they’ve seen me cry many times on stage. I have a song in particular about my brother. It’s always super emotional, so it’s definitely a thing, you know? And I don’t know–it’s kind of cool in those moments. I just feel like there’s a vulnerability in the room, with you and the fans, and there are fans that’ll be crying too, and nothing really brings you together like a good cry, but we pick it right back up. After that, we have a, we follow it with a song called “White Limo,” which you suck up the tears quick on.
Headlining tour, new album that came out this summer, you’re gonna be a mom–that’s a very big summer going into fall for you. What are you doing to keep yourself cool and grounded?
I mean, I try to go on walks. Especially being pregnant right now, the physical health directly impacts the mental health, so I try and stay active. I feel like I’m doing a lot of shopping. Retail therapy is a thing, whether it’s stuff for the baby or just vintage shopping.
I’m just soaking it up. It is a big year, both professionally and personally, and I know everything’s about to change come November, and so I think it makes the professional side of it just a little sweeter. It’s like, this could be my last tour for a while, and that’s scary because I’ve been touring since I was 18 years old. I think just makes it sweeter to go out on stage knowing that I may not get to see the fans for a while. I really wanna just do it big and leave it all out there on these shows.
Hailey Whitters plays Knuckleheads on Thursday, September 25, with Emily Nenni. Details on that show here.
