Sarah Harralson Interview

Sarah Harralson Interview

By Big Al Weekley for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show

“Sarah Harralson presents honest, bare-boned recordings that are authentic,” stated Music Connection Magazine after hearing her debut singer-songwriter EP, Finally Found, in 2014. Her authenticity lies in her lyrics based on true stories followed by melodies that will be stuck in your head hours after hearing it. An authentic storyteller and straight shooter, she is not afraid to tell it like it is in her music. This Knoxville native began writing songs when she was ten years old, her bluegrass musician grandfather being her biggest musical influence. She was surrounded by genres such as country, rock ‘n roll, soul, and pop growing up, but the storytelling aspect of country is what ultimately drew Harralson to pursue that genre.

After her grandfather passed in 2011, Sarah decided she would move to Nashville two years later to pursue music at Belmont University. A year after releasing her debut EP in 2014, she was discovered by Scotty Schultz, drummer of Shooter Jennings (Waylon Jennings’s son). Scotty opened up his publishing company, Raindrop Music LLC, in 2015 and after hearing Sarah’s original song “Watered Down Whiskey”, he knew he wanted to sign her right away. This would be Sarah’s first publishing deal. Scotty decided he would produce her first country EP, Watered Down Whiskey, of all original songs that Sarah has either written or co-written. “This EP will help many people and hopefully some will have their heart healed by her emotional lyrics,” stated Music Update Central after hearing the release of her second EP in February 2018.

Sarah’s country influences range from The Dixie Chicks to Brandy Clark to Johnny Cash with the vocals sounds of Jewel and Alanis Morissette, which comes across on her second EP, Watered Down Whiskey. Scotty Schultz of Raindrop Music, LLC stated that, “she is a driven woman who deserves to be heard,” and the stories will definitely be heard.

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One of the tracks on the EP includes the song, “Radio Static” that was co-written with Johnny Garcia (lead guitar for Garth Brooks). Over time, Sarah began writing and working with Johnny, which evolved to the point where Sarah would sign her next publishing deal with Busy at Play Publishing (Johnny Garcia’s company) in February 2020. During 2020, she released single, “Put a Rock on This Rolling Stone”, which led to her new album, “Whiskey History” in February 2022.  She released philanthropic single, “Blue Ribbon”, in March 2023 that honors her mother fight against Colon Cancer, and all streaming and download proceeds from the song will be donated to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance for Colorectal Cancer Awareness month. She released “Green Thumb” in April 2023, “Blackout Barbie” on June 9th, and her new album, Outside the Lines, releases on August 11th. Harralson’s music has charted 26 times on iTunes and has had nominations for the World Songwriting Awards, Josie Awards, and International Singer-Songwriters Association Awards.

You can find her playing local shows in Nashville when she is not out of town. Her stage credibility includes opening for the likes of Aaron Tippin, Bucky Covington, and also included on festival rosters with Jason Aldean and Old Dominion as headliners. She made her debut at The Bluebird Cafe in 2019 and has also played on stages such as The Analog in Nashville and Ole Red. Besides performing, Sarah also produces music herself and decided to release a collaborative album, West of Me, with co-writer Christine Bauer in early 2019 that she self-produced. Her song “Get Lost in Some Rock ‘n Roll” was featured on the Norwegian show, Norge Bak Fasaden, in 2021, and her song, “Slow Me Down” was featured in a Google Ireland ad in 2022. You can also hire her to write and record a song for you or your loved one through websites, Songfinch, SoundBetter, AirGigs or Fiverr. Sarah is also a voiceover artist and was the narrator of ‘You Belong With Me’ on Pocket FM from 2020-2022.

Besides writing her own material, she has also co-written songs cut by other artists such as “Tennessee” by Whippoorwill, “Thirsty” by Natalia Soul, and “It’ll Be Alright” by Rob Murphy to name a few. In 2020, her song, “Angels on Broadway”, written with James Tristan Redding won the Kyle Walz Songwriting Contest. In June 2021, she was invited to be a voting member of The Recording Academy as a vocalist and songwriter. She was hired to sing on an English version of the Bulgarian hit, “Hello, My Friend” with Barney Esville, and it reached #15 on the Hot Disc UK country chart in June 2023 and was featured on National Bulgarian outlets. She also plays at hospitals as a volunteer musician once a month for Musicians On Call. Sarah hopes that her music will help people in some way across the world. She is a big believer that music heals and aims to present her music in a way that is relatable for others and can heal any open wounds.

 

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