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Harper Grae Tells Her Story of How She Rose from ‘Muddy Water’

by
  • Riley is a Senior Country Music Journalist for Country Thang Daily, known for her engaging storytelling and insightful coverage of the genre.
  • Before joining Country Thang Daily, Riley developed her expertise at Billboard and People magazine, focusing on feature stories and music reviews.
  • Riley has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Belmont University, with a minor in Cultural Studies.

Every once in a while, one could not help but feel like being stuck in the rut, or a messed-up situation that has the potential to ruin your faith, almost thinking that you come to a point of no return in your life. But these are also the situations that make us stronger, and with those feelings riling up, no one could be prouder than yourself to say that you rose up from the ‘muddy water.’

Burning Brighter

With Harper Grae’s latest single ‘Muddy Water,’ she had to look back on her past before she went to Nashville and reinstated her image as an artist. Back then, she was Shanna Henderson, a young folk living in Reeltown, Alabama raised by her maternal grandparents. She exhausted her talents by winning competitions from Auburn University and getting a role in The Glee Project.

Now, she is an entirely different person, from her name ‘Harper’ which honors her grandparents and ‘Grae’ spelling out “God Redeems All Equally,” she’s a songwriter for Music City who also advocates loving the LGBTQ community.

RELATED: Gay Country Singers Who Stood Out Loud and Proud

With the ‘Muddy Water’ video coming out, it’s obvious that she has put her all in it. She soaked in freezing water, walked on the rockiest terrain, and had filming during twilight. Grae explained that she did it not because of pressure but that it also serves as a bridge of her past and future journeys. For her fans, she only wanted them to use her music as a catapult so they can also rise out on their pools of muddy water; to live their lives with pride and joy despite failing and failing several times.

Life Full of Stories

Harper Grae considers her life as a part of a great story. She’s a fan of good literature, and nothing is a better inspiration than using pain, sweat, and dust as kindle to the flames. As an artist, Grae greatly admires Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, and Brandi Carlile for their fair share of hardships. She wrote on her blog that if the three stars had a protege, it would probably be her.

RELATED: 60 Greatest Female Country Singers of All Time, A to Z

She finished the creation of her piece with tears on her cheeks. Grae explained that she was finally able to create something she’s really proud of from top to none.

In the music video, it’s not just Harper Grae’s dreams that became reality, but it was also the dream of the awesome team that helped her succeed.

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