New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Iowa-born, Nashville-based singer and songwriter Hailey Whitters released a new single "Janice At The Hotel Bar" ahead of her highly anticipated new album The
Dream that will be released on February 28, 2020.
"Janice is an 80-something year old woman a friend of mine met a few years ago in a hotel bar," explains Whitters. "As they sat talking, Janice dished countless bits of wisdom and advice about life and getting older. I personally have always struggled with finding the right work/life balance; oftentimes getting so caught up in the next accomplishment or achievement that I forget to notice the life that is happening all around me. This song has become my little prayer and reminder to pay attention and be intentional. I hope it resonates with listeners in that way too."
"This is the first album that feels 100 percent me. It's a time capsule of my time in Nashville and coming to terms with dreams and what they mean to you," says Whitters, who fully funded the project herself. Along with waiting tables, she sold a guitar and dipped into her savings, money that she had made from touring and stashed away. She also leaned heavily on royalties she received from writing songs for other artists, like Alan Jackson,
Martina McBride and
Little Big Town, who cut her song "
Happy People" (which appears on The Dream). With money secured, she turned to BMG's Jake Gear to produce the album and Logan Matheny to engineer and mix.
Taken as a whole, The
Dream is a collection of 12 tracks, all but two — renditions of Chris Stapleton's "The Devil Always Made Me Think Twice" and Brent Cobb's "Loose Strings" — written by Hailey and a roster of A-list women collaborators including Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Nicolle Galyon and
Brandy Clark.
The announcement follows Whitters' banner 2019 touring season with Maren Morris, Brent Cobb, and Lori McKenna (who co-wrote three songs on The Dream), along with being named one of SiriusXM and Pandora's Artists To Watch 2020 and her single "Ten Year Town" landing at #2 on Rolling Stone's "25 Best Country and Americana Songs of 2019" list.
This year, Whitters will support
Tanya Tucker for select dates on the CMT Next Women of Country: Bring My Flowers Now Tour. During CMA Awards week, Hailey was named one of CMT's 2020 Next Women of Country Class, an effort to support and expose developing female talent, both signed and unsigned, in a male-dominated format. Whitters will also support
Jordan Davis on his Trouble Town Tour in 2020 and will perform at Stagecoach 2020.
Whitters will celebrate the release of The
Dream with a hometown album release show at The Basement East on March 10, 2020. Tickets are on sale now.
Most recently, Whitters released the Harper Smith-directed official video for her single "Heartland" from her acclaimed release The Days, which has been embraced by Billboard, The Boot, The FADER,
Sounds Like Nashville, and Rolling Stone, who named her "Nashville's newest unsigned star."
The
Dream Tracklist:
1. Ten Year Town
2. The Days
3. Red Wine & Blue
4. Dream, Girl
5. Loose Strings
6. Heartland
7. Janice At The Hotel Bar
8. Happy People
9. The Devil Always Made Me Think Twice
10. All The Cool Girls
11. The Faker
12. Living The Dream
Tour Dates:
1/25: Detroit, MI - The Majestic Theatre +
2/20: Council Bluffs, IA - Whiskey Roadhouse +
2/21: Denver, CO - Grizzly Rose +
2/22: Denver, CO - Grizzly Rose +
2/27: Boise, ID - Knitting Factory +
2/28: Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory +
2/29: Eugene, OR - McDonald Theatre +
3/3: Petaluma, CA - Mystic Theatre
3/4: Felton, CA - Felton
Music Hall
3/5: Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades +
3/6: Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre +
3/10: Nashville, TN - The Basement East
3/19: New York, NY - Webster Hall +
3/20: Verona, NY - Turning Stone Resort Casino +
3/21: Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live +
4/22: San Luis Obispo, CA - The Fremont Theater #
4/26: Indio, CA - Stagecoach Festival
5/1: Kansas City, MO - Knuckleheads #
5/30: Beaver Dam, KY - Beaver Dam Amphitheater #
7/11: West Salem, WI - Country Boom
Music Festival
7/12: Chicago, IL - Windy City Smokeout
+ - Supporting Jordan Davis
# - Supporting
Tanya Tucker
