Jennifer Hanson gained her first serious onstage experience in second grade, singing Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" in front of the entire school accompanied on guitar by none other than her father. Before long her dad would leave a gif with the Righteous Brothers and relocate to Nashville to play with the group Alabama, a career move that would have a profound effect on the direction of his daughter's life and music. In addition to the work of singers like Parton, Emmylou Harris and Patsy Cline, Hanson was exposed for the first time to the town that would become her home and to the one-of-a-kind musical community that would become her inspiration and creative base of operations.
"My dad made the move to Nashville in 1987, and I started coming to town in the early '90s," Hanson says. "We'd circulate around and try to meet people, trying to find songs and get my voice down on tape. I was a young teenager and this was before LeAnn Rimes, so Nashville considered me too young."
In retrospect, Hanson realizes she was far from ready back then, but those early forays into Nashville's creative community ignited her passion for country music and served as a constant, sometimes painful, reminder of how much she had to learn and how much work there was to be done. "When I first got to town, I was young and impressionable and I didn't know what it was I wanted to sing about," Hanson says. "I realized quickly that in order to be an artist I had to find my place, my niche, and find out what makes me different."
Over the next several years, Hanson would find the answer to those questions, and find herself, through her songwriting. She moved to Music City full time in 1995 and wasted no time getting started. She has since seen her name on the charts, both as an artist and as a songwriter on, among other compositions, "Leave the Pieces" by The Wreckers.
"I know that being an artist and making music is a lifelong journey," Hanson says. "So whatever happens, I'll be here writing and singing these songs and being a part of the Nashville community because that's what fills my soul, that's who I am."
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