HAILEY DAWN

Undiscovered Nashville’s ‘Pre-Famous’

Tuesday August 1, 2023

@ The Clubhouse at Sonny’s in Nashville, TN

(Review By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

On what was their first Tuesday ‘Pre-Famous” show after their Saturday night residency this summer, Undiscovered Nashville transformed the Germantown hotspot, The Clubhouse at Sonny’s, away from the natural weekender atmosphere and back into a true listening room aura with a depth filled diversity within the lineup on what proved to be an eclectic night of music.

Earlier rounds included performances from hot rising talent Stephanie Ryann, international flare from Sweden’s Lisa Bjorck, and a singer-songwriter essence from Hailee Moore, while the two featured rounds that headlined the night brought a troubadour vibe to the stage through Shane Wiesman and a perfect blurring of genre lines from Hailey Dawn that spotlighted each end of her varied influences.

One of the absolute joys of living in Nashville is being able to witness the continued growth of a singer-songwriter as they stick to their craft, learn more from each co-write, and discover who they are as an artist and the path they want to take with their music. That in a nutshell is a spot-on description of Hailey Dawn.

“This is a song I’m actually working on in the studio right now called “I’d Rather Be High,” introduced Hailey as the bluesy grit that she naturally carries within’ her soul filled voice walked alongside the moodiness of the instrumentation as she trailed through her bad decisions, regrets, and chasing after the things that break her heart, lamenting that she’d rather be “high” than having to deal with the feelings she’s faced with when looking in the mirror.

After sharing pieces of the story behind the late night co-write with Leah Crouse, who happened to be in the audience, “West Coast Baby” held tightly to her extremely eclectic vibe as she forged her way through its airy, pop infused rhythm, allowing space for her voice to float atop the breezy melody within her intriguing singer-songwriter style as she whispered into the raw edges of her vocals to pop the chorus in all the right places.

“Family Man,” a song introduced to cheers from the females in the crowd as being about men who can’t commit, saw an ear popping, keyboard drive through the intro initially capture the crowds attention as Hailey then tilted her voice into its sass fueled, bluesy natured tones, sitting it over the embedded slyness of the “yeah right” lyric which perfectly grabbed hold of the doubts her better half had created within her through his actions, resulting in a powerful bridge that slapped home the punch of her forcefully repeated demand, “Get outta my house!”

“I’m going to be putting out a cover this year, and it’s a little intimidating cause it’s a Beatles song,” Hailey understandably told as she hushed the crowd to a stunned silence, adding her own twists to the amazing “Eleanor Rigby” while infusing the masterpiece of a song with an irresistible lounge like feel that wrapped into the haunting mood that the original naturally carries.

“I wrote this next one a bit about me,” she told as she opened her diary with “Tennessee,” delving into her country side on her first official single as she painted beautiful visuals through her homegrown ode to small town Tennessee, namechecking church steps, fireflies dancing in the sky, dreamers chasing their dreams with a guitar in hand, etc.

Plugging her co-writer Leah Crouse for the second time on the night, “Lonely Lullaby,” a song she introduced as being about how sometimes in life you’re not ready to accept things even when you know, stayed bent on her country flare as she metaphorically cried her way through the softer pace of the heart tugging lyric to close the night by quieting the crowd to total silence as they leaned in for an intentional listen to each and every poignant lyric Hailey delivered.

FULL SET LIST
1) I'd Rather Be High
2) West Coast Baby
3) Family Man
4) Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles cover)
5) Tennessee
6) Lonely Lullaby

• Prev
• Next