Hannah Ellis

“I decided I wanted to pursue music as I got into high school, but I already had a scholarship to go to University of Kentucky,” remembers Hannah Ellis. She was determined, but instead of dropping out college to directly pursue her dreams, she used her situation to her advantage. University of Kentucky was only two and a half hours from Nashville by car, so during college, she made the drive and forged connections in the music industry herself.

In 2012, she interned for Big Machine Label Group; there, she met Janine Appleton, who would go on to become her publisher years later. A year after her internship, she graduated college and made the official move to Nashville. She worked her way up the ranks in the industry and in 2015, signed her publishing deal with Curb Records. “It’s been really incredible because since then, I signed with CAA and I’ve had songs cut by Danielle Bradbery and Russell Dickerson,” Hannah says. “It’s just been really special.”

Growing up with parents as wedding singers for a side job, singing was always a part of Hannah’s life. She delved into the writing side of the process when she was 18. “That was around the time that Taylor Swift was becoming the norm, when they expected artists to be able to sing and write and perform and do all the tricks,” Hannah laughs. When discussing her own writing process, Hannah says, “Sometimes it’s conversations that I’ve had in days previous, or I write down little things that someone said or I thought of. Sometimes it’s just where I’m feeling emotionally or where I’m at in my life, or, honestly, where my friends are at in their life.”

The idea for Hannah’s latest single, “Home and a Hometown”, came to her as she drove home to Campbellsville, Kentucky from Nashville. “I realized I was driving pretty fast to get there, and I was like ‘Oh, I always really want to get home to see my family’,” Hannah explains, “But then I realized the same thing happens when I’m coming back to Nashville. Then I had the thought of ‘I really have a home and a hometown.’” She mentioned the idea to her artist boyfriend Nick Wain and they ended up writing the song with Mark Trussell.

As soon as the demo came back, Hannah called her publisher because she knew it was the song she wanted as a single. “I feel like so many people in our generation leave home to go chase our dreams and move to big cities, but we don’t lose that sense of coming home whenever we go home to our families. We still love where we were raised and grew up,” Hannah says. To keep the music video as authentic as possible, the video’s director actually came home with Hannah to her hometown for the Fourth of July. Everything in the video is authentic, from her niece’s first birthday, to the parade of tractors on the Fourth of July, to the fireworks.

2018 was a busy year for Hannah in terms of live performances. Hannah completed a tour with Filmore in late September, performed at CMA Fest and even had the chance to perform at her alma mater, University of Kentucky. “Creating community with the fans in a 30 minute show where I’m on stage is really special,” Hannah says. “It allows it to feel like we really know each other before we even get the chance to sit down and have a conversation.” But out of all of her performances this year, playing at Mercury Lounge in New York stands out as one of the most special. It was the first time the whole crowd sang “Home and a Hometown” back to her.

When asked if she gets nervous, Hannah strikes down the thought immediately. “No, never. The stage is my home,” she says. Big names like CMT agree with her; Hannah was named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country of 2018. This means that over the next few years, CMT will do all in its power to make sure Hannah and her cohort’s music has the best shot at being well-received by the fans. In early 2019, Hannah will head out with Cassadee Pope and Clare Dunn on the CMT Next Women of Country Tour.

Hannah’s first experience with CMT Next Women was when she watched Kelsea Ballerini perform early in her career, before “Love Me Like You Mean It” was even on the radio. She wanted to be where Kelsea was. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘If I can just be on that stage, that’s going to be such a special moment’,” Hannah remembers. “It was a really beautiful, full circle moment to get to sit up there and play some songs at the event last November and to be a part of such an incredible community of women down here.”

Hannah promises that she’s working on a full album at the moment, although there’s no release date. The future album may feature “Past the Past,” an unreleased song that Hannah says is the best she’s ever written. “I’m definitely the kind of girl that can get in my own head and overthink things, so that song is just about if you get can get past the past, then you can move forward and be able to feel love and give love,” Hannah teases. Until then, Hannah is excited to see her fans on tour and also has a Christmas cover video coming out in the next month.

Words by ELIZABETH FORREST | Photos by CATHERINE POWELL