(Willow Springs, MO) On a recent episode of Wake Up Willow Springs, the weekly Willow Springs update show aired on Classic Country KUKU 100.3 the hosts were joined by Hannah Harper who is currently competing on American Idol.
You can learn more about Hannah Harper at https://www.hannahharpermusic.com/
Listen to Wake Up Willow Springs Saturday Mornings at 9:45.
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Wake Up Willow Springs is brought to you by Robert Hollis and Shelter Insurance of Willow Springs, Missouri. Now, here’s your host, Wendell Bailey.
00:00:10,840 –> 00:00:23,080 [Wendall]
Welcome to Wake Up Willow Springs with Hannah Harper, and we’re excited about having Hannah on here with Lori Foster, and we’re, we’re ready to go!
00:00:23,080 –> 00:00:24,560 [Hannah]
Good morning.
00:00:24,560 –> 00:00:34,420 [Lori]
Good morning, Hannah. It’s Lori. It’s great to have you on this morning, so we’d love to hear how things are going for you and what, what you could talk about with us this morning.
00:00:34,420 –> 00:01:04,060 [Hannah]
Yeah, I’m excited to be on here. This is so fun, especially this is airing in my own hometown. I think when this airs, I, I don’t know if I’ll be ar- around or not, but, uh, there’s a lot of exciting things going on right now. We’re about to step into Hollywood week, um, this coming week, and, uh, I think that’s when a lot of things get narrowed down. They go from a big number to, I think, down to 30. So [chuckles] lot of, um, emotions and, um, fears, but overall, I’m really excited to step into it.
00:01:04,060 –> 00:01:11,620 [Lori]
Well, can you tell us a little bit about that that’s airing this week, Hannah, and will we expect to see you on the show?
00:01:11,620 –> 00:01:47,060 [Hannah]
Yes, you can expect to see me this Monday on that episode. I think that’s airing on the 23rd. Um, I think that they went from 100 plus down to 30, and I sung… I can give a spoiler on what I sung. It’s a Lee Ann Womack song called Little Past Little Rock. It was one of my most requested on my pages, so I thought it would be fitting for that round. Um, and it was very nerve-wracking. Like I said, um, I’ve grown up singing in churches, and you sing on a platform where you don’t expect to hear feedback in a sense of, uh, you know, you sing for the Lord. [chuckles] And then you get in front of judges, and you, you wait, and you stand there nervously to hear what they think of you.
00:01:47,060 –> 00:01:47,300 [Lori]
Mm-hmm.
00:01:47,300 –> 00:02:04,500 [Hannah]
And, uh, that was probably the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done in my life because that was our first live performance in front of an audience. My very first audition was just in front of the, in front of the judges. So, um, I was scared, to say the least, and my knees were shaking, and hopefully, you can’t see my whole body trembling on camera.
00:02:04,500 –> 00:02:05,080 [Lori]
[chuckles]
00:02:05,080 –> 00:02:10,140 [Hannah]
But, uh, I’m nervous to see how it all, it all airs.
00:02:10,140 –> 00:02:29,660 [Lori]
Well, that’s very exciting, and, and we’re pretty proud of you here in Willow for, for being, uh, a contestant and making it that far. And so we also know that you got a hometown concert coming up, and you pretty much sold out the Star Theatre pretty quickly on that. So can you tell us a little bit about, uh, what folks that get to attend will get to see that night?
00:02:29,660 –> 00:02:39,780 [Hannah]
Yes. So next Friday, February 27th, I’m, I’m gonna be at The Star in Willow, and, uh, it sold out within 15 minutes, which is absolutely crazy. Um-
00:02:39,780 –> 00:02:40,510 [Wendall]
Well, we’re not the biggest-
00:02:40,510 –> 00:02:43,100 [Hannah]
I have been to The Star. What was that?
00:02:43,100 –> 00:02:47,200 [Charlie]
We’re not the biggest theater in, in the world. [laughing]
00:02:47,200 –> 00:02:47,370 [Hannah]
[chuckles]
00:02:47,370 –> 00:02:47,799 [Lori]
[chuckles]
00:02:47,800 –> 00:02:47,960 [Charlie]
Yeah.
00:02:47,960 –> 00:02:59,840 [Hannah]
Right. Yeah, I think I, I spoke with Sherry Levin about it, and she said that there was only gonna be… I think there was, it seats 180 people. Um, so I’m pretty sure 100 of those people are my family-
00:02:59,840 –> 00:02:59,890 [Charlie]
Are-
00:02:59,890 –> 00:03:26,370 [Hannah]
… and the rest are people who, I guess, somebody paid to come see me ’cause I can’t believe they paid for a ticket to get in there. [chuckles] I’m really excited about it, and, um, I, I hope we can do another show in Willow later ’cause there were so many people who wanted to be a part that couldn’t get tickets in time. Um, but this is my hometown, and it’s, it’s sweet to have this prior to, um, the next step in Idol, wherever it goes, or if we’re hitting the road. I don’t really know where it’s gonna lead-
00:03:26,370 –> 00:03:26,370 [Lori]
Yeah
00:03:26,370 –> 00:03:30,580 [Hannah]
… but I, I thought it would be fun just to spend time with everybody
00:03:30,580 –> 00:03:32,740 [Hannah]
and get to know the community better.
00:03:32,740 –> 00:03:40,520 [Lori]
That’s great. Now, Charlie, you’ve got a couple of granddaughters that are pretty excited and wanted to ask a couple of questions. So you want to ask Hannah a couple of questions for them?
00:03:40,520 –> 00:03:51,740 [Charlie]
Oh, oh, my goodness, they are so excited, you know. And, uh, the, uh… First of all, I wanted to congratulate you. I see that your song, String Cheese, wound up at number one on Billboard yesterday. Is that right?
00:03:51,740 –> 00:04:01,080 [Hannah]
That’s crazy! I, I was trying to fact-check that. I got a bunch of messages, and I couldn’t see it, but I know at one time it was on number 14. I don’t know about it being on, on number one. That’s wild.
00:04:01,080 –> 00:04:24,680 [Charlie]
Yeah, I saw it on Facebook yesterday, and I thought, “Wow, that is really, really neat,” the, uh, thing to do. But, uh, yeah, I’ve, I’ve got two little granddaughters named… One’s named Maisie Quinn, the other one is named Enola, and, uh, I, I asked them if they, if they could ask you a question, what would they, what would they ask? And they said, “Well, what would your advice be to a little girl who really wants to be a singer?”
00:04:24,680 –> 00:04:45,950 [Hannah]
Oh, my goodness. Well, I’d just say, I mean, don’t let anybody get in your way. You know, if you wanna sing, you sing wherever, to whoever. I always remember going to the grocery store, and people would walk up to my mom, and they knew that she’d sing, and they’d say, “Hey, Katrina, can you sing us a song?” And I would get so embarrassed ’cause she would start singing in the store, and I was like, “Mom,” like, “you’re embarrassing me.”
00:04:45,950 –> 00:04:45,980 [Charlie]
[chuckles]
00:04:45,980 –> 00:05:22,080 [Hannah]
And now that I’m an adult, um, it instilled a confidence in me from my mom that she did that as a young girl, that it don’t matter what people say. If you feel like you wanna do it, you better just do it, you know? And your only competition is yourself, no matter where you go, because what everybody else has to say don’t matter. And I’d love to meet those little girls, sing with those little girls. That would be so sweet, but mainly just, if you have a dream, chase it, because nobody else is gonna do it for you. And I mean, you got their whole… They got their whole life ahead of them. So I hope that if they wanna be singers, then they pursue that.
00:05:22,080 –> 00:05:42,020 [Charlie]
Well, I tell you, there’s nothing better than family support if you’re, if you’re trying to be a singer, and, uh, and you, you have a wonderful family that supports you in everything you do and, uh, backs you up when you’re singing and plays good music for you. Uh, En- Enola is my other little granddaughter, and she says she just wants you to know that she loves you, she loves your voice-
00:05:42,020 –> 00:05:42,730 [Hannah]
Oh, [chuckles]
00:05:42,730 –> 00:05:45,340 [Charlie]
… and String Cheese is her very favorite song.
00:05:46,012 –> 00:05:51,211 [Hannah]
… Well, that tickles me so much. I hope I can meet them. If not, bring them by the Star when I’m over there.
00:05:51,212 –> 00:05:51,292 [Charlie]
Well-
00:05:51,292 –> 00:05:53,472 [Hannah]
I’m gonna do a meet and greet prior to, uh-
00:05:53,472 –> 00:05:53,482 [Charlie]
Okay
00:05:53,482 –> 00:06:09,632 [Hannah]
… or maybe after. I can’t remember which we had planned, but, um, if, even if people didn’t have tickets, I was gonna be out there and say hey to them just ’cause I’ve been a stay-at-home mom ever since we’ve lived in Willow, and, you know, I don’t really know how you make friends unless you go to D&W and you ask [laughing] the register- the lady at the register if you want to be your friend, you know, ’cause-
00:06:09,632 –> 00:06:09,982 [Charlie]
Wow!
00:06:09,982 –> 00:06:11,772 [Hannah]
… I stay at home all the time. So-
00:06:11,772 –> 00:06:11,952 [Charlie]
Yeah
00:06:11,952 –> 00:06:14,972 [Hannah]
… this is a good way for me to get to know the community a little bit better.
00:06:14,972 –> 00:06:29,752 [Charlie]
It is. It’s great, and I’ll tell you something else we, we do once, once a month, is we have a really good jam at Pizza Americana, uh, on the third Saturday night of every month. You’d be welcome to just drop by anytime you want and, uh, and sing and play with us. We’d have a ball. So, uh-
00:06:29,752 –> 00:06:31,272 [Hannah]
That sounds like a good time.
00:06:31,272 –> 00:06:40,752 [Charlie]
And I, I think you also have another… You have another concert coming up at Pine Meadows out here, just, uh, uh, outside town here in Willow Springs. That’d be in June, I think, right?
00:06:40,752 –> 00:06:46,272 [Hannah]
Yes, I’m gonna be at Pine Meadows. I believe that is, um, June 20th. Um-
00:06:46,272 –> 00:06:50,252 [Charlie]
But we, we lost your v- we lost your volume just a little bit.
00:06:50,252 –> 00:06:51,252 [Hannah]
Oh, can you hear me now?
00:06:51,252 –> 00:06:53,632 [Charlie]
That’s better. Yeah, yeah. And, uh-
00:06:53,632 –> 00:07:00,072 [Hannah]
Yes, I will be at Pine- I’ll be at Pine Meadows on June 20th out there, and we’re gonna host a full band concert also.
00:07:00,072 –> 00:07:16,652 [Charlie]
Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, that’s gonna be great. Well, I’ll be looking forward to it. Wendell, you, have you got any more questions for Hannah? No, Hannah, we’re excited about your coming here, and, and we’re really, really looking forward to your visit back here. Yeah.
00:07:16,652 –> 00:07:36,392 [Lori]
Yeah, the only thing I’d ask, Hannah, is just, you know, how, how much has this experience… What have you grown and learned out of this experience? I think that’s, uh, something that’s, you know, pretty important as you’re going through it. You’re still going through it, but you’ve also come a long way since this all probably started. So what would you tell all of us that you’ve learned out of it, and what, what else would you like us to know about you?
00:07:37,412 –> 00:08:19,362 [Hannah]
Oh, man, the experience has been unreal, and the love that I have felt from so many people, um… American Idol aired the audition, and I think at one point, over 45 million people had viewed it. And just hearing that number alone and that many, that many people had heard me, seen my face, tell my story, it really blew my mind. But more importantly, the opportunity that I had, you know, just to tell my story and speak about the Lord and, and how He’s brought me through postpartum and motherhood and different, different things like that, was really encouraging to me. But, um, going through the competition has taught me so much about myself that I didn’t know I needed to learn. Um, I’ve sang my whole life, and in this realm, it’s, it’s a totally different ballgame.
00:08:19,362 –> 00:08:19,372 [Charlie]
Yeah.
00:08:19,372 –> 00:08:32,882 [Hannah]
So there’s a lot of things in the competition that had I not stepped in, I never would have learned, um, especially interviews. You know, I struggled. One of my very first inter- interviews with Idol, they said, “Tell us your name,” and I said, “Hi, Hannah Harper.” And the lady said, “No, you’re Hannah Harper. That’s your name.”
00:08:32,882 –> 00:08:32,932 [Charlie]
[laughing]
00:08:32,932 –> 00:08:34,872 [Hannah]
I was like, “Oh, my goodness, I’m so nervous.”
00:08:34,872 –> 00:08:35,072 [Charlie]
Yeah.
00:08:35,072 –> 00:09:25,572 [Hannah]
So I, I think that’s another thing. It’s just a confidence thing. For so many years, I relied on my dad to talk for me, ’cause he was, he was the spokesman for our family band, and, and I would just stay in the shadows, and I could sing, but don’t ask me to talk. So that’s one area that I’ve had to grow. Um, but more than anything, just bringing my kids along for all of this is so exciting for me, and it’s a new challenge. You know, there’s so many, so many things about this that would have been so much easier to pursue before I had three babies. Now I’m just kind of dragging them along. Um, but there’s a lot that I’ve learned, and I’m really excited about the competition because, um, we get one-on-one time with vocal coaches. We get one-on-one time with interview professionals on how to better handle ourselves and stage presence. So there’s so many things about that alone that no matter where I place in the competition, I’ll walk away with a lot of knowledge, and I’m really excited about that part.
00:09:25,572 –> 00:09:30,092 [Charlie]
Mm-hmm. Well, that’s great. I think Dave Nelson here has a real quick question for you.
00:09:30,092 –> 00:09:38,932 [Speaker 4]
Yes. Good morning, Hannah. One short question, and we’ll make it quick: Are you going to do “String Cheese” for us Friday?
00:09:38,992 –> 00:09:48,511 [Hannah]
Yes, I plan to do “String Cheese” at the Star. It will be on my setlist as, as probably forever. It’s one of my most requested songs, so if anybody’s there, they’ll hear it.
00:09:48,512 –> 00:10:03,932 [Charlie]
Well, Hannah, I hate to cut you off. We’ve really enjoyed visiting with you, but we’re, we’re out of time for the show today, so, uh, we wish you the very best. You’re an incredible talent, and, uh, the city of Willow Springs and everybody around here is, is, is sure backing you for a winner, okay?
00:10:03,932 –> 00:10:06,072 [Hannah]
Well, I appreciate it so much. Thanks for having me.
