Singer/Songwriter Leads Vanguard of Nashville’s
Best and Brightest Rising Female Artists
“Hannah Bethel sings with a maturity that she will be the first to admit…
she’s grown into. With each and every lyric of ‘Train’ you can tell it’s a lyric that she has lived…and after all, isn’t that what music is all about?”
-Chuck Dauphin, Billboard
NASHVILLE, TN — The Boot Exclusively Premiered the new music video “Train” by singer/songwriter Hannah Bethel on Wednesday, 10/10 at this link: http://theboot.com/
The single will available to fans via all major digital outlets on 10/12.
“Train” is the latest creative outing from Bethel, whose artistic vision places her at the vanguard of the best and brightest rising artists in Nashville today. The scope of her talents allows her to move seamlessly between Rock Country, Pop and Americana. “Train” was co-written by Bethel and sister, Wynter Bethel, and produced by Brad Hill and Lalo. The powerful and hauntingly beautiful music video was filmed and directed by Dawson Waters in the mountains and deserts of West Texas.
“Train” opens with rhythmic underpinning like the steady rhythm of steel on rails – with ethereal Eastern-flavored slide guitar flourishes, before Bethel’s contemplative vocal is introduced accompanied by tremolo guitar washes that set the stage for the Southwestern-themed verses. The track rises to an atmospheric crescendo where her urgent, ever-intensifying vocal expresses the pain of love lost and the knowing determination of moving forward. As drums thunder out the driving backbeat, the listener becomes a captive passenger on a wild emotional train ride with Bethel’s hand firmly driving the locomotive before she gently reaches her final destination of inner peace.
Bethel grew up listening to Country and Seventies Rock in the backwoods of Northern Michigan. Drawing on influences from Tom Petty, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Willie Nelson, among others, she spent her teenage years traveling the Upper Midwest performing at fairs, bars, talent shows, coffee houses, shopping malls and Country Western shows. Bethel self-released her first record at age 17, and the following year she moved to Nashville.
Bethel released three more records after coming to Nashville No Stopping, Standing, Parking in 2010, The Freedom EP in 2012 (named Independent Country Album of the Year by Examiner.com), and Never Ending Sky in 2015. All of these projects received international airplay and her music videos have been featured on The Country Network, ZUUS Country, The Nashville Network, GACTV.com, CMT.com and hundreds of retail outlets across the U.S. Her well-developed and unique style has led her to receive acclaim from such renowned music industry critics as Robert K. Oermann, and she was also named “Who New to Watch” in CMA Close Up magazine.
Bethel has spent the past few years touring the United States, performing shows from Alaska to New Jersey and everywhere in between. She has shared the stage with such artists as Joe Nichols, Rodney Atkins, Trisha Yearwood, Charlie Worsham, Buddy Jewell, Frankie Ballard, Canaan Smith and Nine Days.
“Writing this song marked a huge turning point in my life, and I struggle to put into words just how profoundly it has impacted me. I wrote ‘Train’ with my sister during a time when I was not brave enough to say out loud what I truly wanted,” states Bethel. “I was exhausted from years of touring and making records independently and barely getting by. My personal life felt like it was unraveling and my confidence in my artistry was fragile at best. I had been trying for so long to make myself fit and feel whole in my career and in a relationship. I valued the opinions and feelings of others higher than my own and I realized that I was starving for the approval and attention of people that were not meant for me. Writing this song shifted my perspective from, ‘Why can’t I catch a break? Why are these things happening to me,’ to ‘Why do I continue to allow these things to happen?’ This song gave me the strength and honesty to fight for the life of my wildest dreams, and to walk away from things that no longer served my joy and my peace.”
Based on early reaction to “Train,” Bethel has indeed unlocked her inner creative freedom and exuberant joy with a song that is sure to resonate with fans of great music – from an artist who has earned the right to make music on her own terms.