Mary Heather Hickman and a Small Town Saturday Night

Arkansas-born, Mary Heather Hickman moved to Texas as a young child and now claims Tennessee as her home. Since she was a young girl, Mary Heather has dreamt of songwriting and singing like some of the traditional artists she grew up listening to. She traveled quite a bit performing at Opry shows across Texas and school talent shows all the way through high school. Mary Heather's dad told her as a young child if she was going to sing, she needed to write her own songs. Her dad's advice made a lasting impression on her and she started writing songs in elementary school, building up that dream to one day live in Nashville and write songs for her career.

After graduating high school, Mary Heather took a trip to audition for NBC's hit show The Voice. The experience she had there clarified her route into music. Meeting other artists with the same goals, hearing their music, seeing their paths, and the kindness of the show staff gave her a real-life look into how and what to do for her next step in starting her music career. Mary Heather moved to Nashville and started writing in groups a few times a day but also as a solo writer and writing songs for local bands. She used many of those songs for her own performances as well. The songs Mary Heather writes fall into an energetic, fun, and sassy lane, where the lyrics are memorable, a bit edgy, and have an unapologetic storytelling style. Being an independent artist has had its benefits with scheduling and planning releases, and she is enjoying that freedom for the time being.

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Mary Heather is open to signing with a label if the right thing comes along with the right relationship but would be running the details by a few people before making a solid decision. The last 5 years of writing in Nashville have given her opportunities to open shows for Justin Moore, Toby Keith, Hank Williams, Jr., and Eli Young Band as well as be featured on Women of Country on iHeart Radio. Mary Heather Hickman's single Treasure currently has almost 3 million streams on Spotify and Baptist Parking Lot has almost 1.5 million streams as well. Mary Heather is becoming a TikTok sensation boasting over half a million followers. Small Town Saturday Night is set to release in mid-April and is no exception to that sassy tongue-in-cheek storytelling way she is mastering.

It will be available on April 14th on all streaming platforms.

Congratulations on your new release Mary Heather Hickman, thank you for our fun conversation In a Country Minute (more like an hour)

Don Louis Taking Texas By Storm

Country music has a wide variety of styles represented under its umbrella. Traditional, modern, and rock country all fit under the arch of the umbrella. Country music is rooted in gospel and bluegrass styles where writers have weaved their faith into their music and lyrics, paving the way for other genres to discuss their beliefs.

Texas artist Don Louis dived into the country music scene and is quickly gaining a following from TikTok from his single Neon You off of his 7-song EP This is for You. Don Louis was raised in Commerce, Tx, a small college town known for football. It was no surprise that with his 6'4" frame, he played football in high school, and continued in college on a football scholarship but ended his college career after a couple of injuries. He began working on writing music and singing songs, his deep sultry tone captivating attention. Don diligently studies traditional and modern country music making sure his individuality stands out in the Texas country music scene. Don has put emphasis on building music with substance and entertaining his audiences with soulful mixes of music. Don makes monthly trips to Nashville booking 3 writing sessions per day for a week at a time and soaking up knowledge from those seasoned writers. Don Louis integrates his faith in lyrical art in songs like Homecoming catagorizing himself as a "redemption country singer". His soulful tone glides confidently through the lyrics grabbing your attention to the message in the song.

Don Louis is taking Texas by storm filling up shows across the state and will be expanding his live shows in the neighboring states through the Spring and Summer. He is busy utilizing social media to build his fan base and it is growing on his social media platforms at record speed. He routinely adds fresh content and video clips of his music to those sites. To keep up with Don, click the buttons below.

Don Louis's newest release Bad Decisions is available on March 31

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Thank you Don Louis for sharing your positive influence through music and chatting with me about all of that!

Rose

In A Country Minute

Ethan Phillips creating musical magic

Songwriting is a magical talent to me. It is important for me to know where and who songs come from, the lyrical context, the emotion in the story, and of course, who is the inspiration for the lyrics. Even though Nashville has a large population, it maintains the hometown atmosphere through the communities of songwriters and artists. I have recently been in contact with a group of songwriters who are also friends. Each one of them said the same thing, which I found interesting- they limit social media use and honestly don't like it but since that is the best way to reach people they wouldn't otherwise, they use social media platforms to build their audiences.

Ethan Phillips is one of the songwriters I enjoyed speaking with. We began talking about his elementary school years when he showed an interest in birds of prey. Around 10 years of age, Ethan began working with a woman near his hometown, who was an expert on birds. He learned and assisted her with many types of birds, some of which needed to be rehabilitated from injuries. Ethan Phillips became the youngest person in the state of Georgia to be a falconer at 14 years old. He began writing music at the young age of 13. Ethan is from Northeast Georgia and grew up singing gospel music in his church. He later made demo tapes singing gospel songs to send to area churches. He may be re-recording those same songs with the seasoning experience he has gained since the original recording was made.

Ethan Phillips studied graphic design at Piedmont University in Demorest, Georgia. To the surprise of his family after graduation, Ethan moved from Clayton, Georgia to Nashville in 2019 joining friends in their pursuit of music. Ethan spends the first half of the week working as a graphic designer at a newspaper and the latter half of the week in writing rooms and playing shows at local venues. Ethan finds inspiration in the music culture of the south- gospel, bluegrass, and country music. He has respect and understanding of the power of music saying "not many things can change a person's life like music can." He said he wouldn't mind being the guy in the background writing the songs that people sing along to when other artists cover them but also likes participating in writers' rounds showcasing his own music. It is important for him to be in a comfortable environment to be creative. Every writer brings their ideas or concepts to their writing group and they will work on those projects until they are satisfied with the results. Ethan explained that he has had songs that looked or sounded complete to someone else but they didn't to him so he shelved them. Sometimes those will take a year from start to finish and said "it can wait until it's ready to be finished, there's a life of a song."

Ethan Phillips plays shows in Nashville but has been heavily focused on the writing aspect of music. The timeless styles of James Taylor and John Denver have been influences for him in songwriting and performing on stage. His favorite songwriters are the writers that have penned some of the biggest hits of this generation- Mac MacAnally, Skip Ewing, Paul Overstreet, Tim Mensy (Menzies), and Bob McDill.

Ethan Phillips has songs that are currently being cut by other artists and will be available later this year. He is otherwise in the process of building his catalog of songs and upon completion, will be working to get a publishing deal.

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Thank you so much, Ethan, for chatting with me, sharing your experiences, and of course, laughing with me too! I appreciate your time!

-Rose

In a Country Minute