Hailey Steele and Friends

“Diamonds take patience and pressure and time.” This isn’t just the tag line in a song from Hailey Steele’s self-titled EP. To her, it’s become a motto – a hopeful thought that carries her through rough days.

No stranger to the Nashville struggle, her highs and lows can be heard in her music. Steele’s lyrics touch on being a twenty-something girl who’s not sure how she’s going to pay her rent, wishing that she had things a little more figured out by now.

Steele grew up in a one-stoplight town in South Dakota. Although nobody in her immediate family was musical (her parents are both special education teachers), her love of music began early on. If the TV was on in the house, she was standing three feet away from it singing along with the videos on CMT. Her parents started taking her to concerts when she was young, and she grew up loving everything from Patsy Cline to Patty Loveless to The Eagles to Def Leppard.

When she was just 10 years old, Steele opened for Loretta Lynn at a casino in South Dakota, where she befriended a Native American Chief named Dennis Alley. Soon after, Chief Alley began introducing her to all of his musical friends, including BB King, Aaron Neville, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson. By the time she was 15, Willie was inviting Hailey to sing onstage with him during his finale. “My experience with Willie will always be so special, but when I look back on it now that I’m older, it seems like it was almost spiritual. He’s a huge part of my story.” Steele’s friendship with Willie and The Chief led her to many unique opportunities, such as performing at Farm Aid and singing a duet with Willie at the historic Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.

At age 19, Hailey moved to Nashville and began writing songs. Not long after, Hailey had found herself surrounded by a community of talented artists, writers, producers, and believers. One of those believers was producer Paul “Relli” Barber. “Relli and I had been talking about making a record for four or five years. Either the timing was never right, or we were too busy, or the money wasn’t there. But he was always extra invested in the music. Over the course of our friendship, I’d sent him almost every song I’d written.”

McBride, a celebrated songwriter and founder of McBride and the Ride says of Hailey, “I’ve worked with a lot of upcoming artists over the last twenty years. Some you remember and some you forget. But some you just know they have what it takes to make it, and Hailey Steele falls into that category. She has the determination and talent to separate her from the rest of the pack, and a voice that leaves an impression on those who get the chance to hear her.” Steele says that this EP will give listeners the perfect idea of who she is, because if you know her songs, you know her. “I couldn’t be any happier with how this EP turned out. Every single note on this thing speaks for who I am as an artist. Now I’m ready to get out there and share it with the world.”

In 2013, she became the youngest member to be inducted into the South Dakota Country Hall of Fame.