Hannah Murphy is Wide Open Country's Said What I Said promotion winner for her song, "Things You Carry."
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The contest encouraged people to submit songs about the fallout of what's been said, and Murphy immediately knew that "Things You Carry" fit the bill.
"These are words that, from a positive perspective, once spoken aloud, you have no choice but to
move forward, towards something better," she told Wide Open Country. "Additionally, it's about realizing that those fears and experiences were necessary steps you take on the way to that 'something better.'"
Murphy described the song as "a 'truth will set you free' type situation."
"I feel like it's a universal experience—for those with anxiety at least—that everything always seems
bigger in our heads," she said. "Once we have the courage to just say them out loud, there's relief and healing."
Murphy penned the song in 2022 after she was in a car accident that "could have been truly horrific."
"Afterward, I was so shaken that I was running through several worst-case scenarios in my head over and over again for days," she said. "Sometime during all that, a lightbulb went off, and I realized that this was not unique to the incident, but a pattern of thinking I'd always used to keep myself safe."
"It was sort of profound to realize that you absolutely have to make the choice to put down these fears and reframe perspective on the heavy stuff in your life in order to move forward towards something better," Murphy added. "It's about taking ownership of how those experiences have shaped me but also knowing when to let them go."
Read on to learn more about Murphy.
Hannah Murphy Q&A
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SONGWRITING?
My songs started to have real structure around 13 years old, just after I taught myself guitar. So, technically 14 years now! But even as a little girl, I would always make up songs and rhymes. I've literally always been fascinated and fueled by music.
WHAT GOT YOU INTO MUSIC IN THE FIRST PLACE?
I was raised by a single mom who loved to harmonize with the radio and quiz me on the classics—everything from the Eagles and Pink Floyd to James Taylor and Ella Fitzgerald. We were always listening to great songwriters.
I decided to pick up a guitar during a really difficult chapter in our life. We were super broke and really struggling. I had so many feelings, with nowhere to put them, so I hyper-fixated on learning guitar. I'm talking several hours every day with a Mel Bay book—the songwriting came instantly. Mom pulled me out of school in eighth grade to pursue performing, and that was the real start.
WHAT DOES WINNING THE CONTEST MEAN TO YOU?
Winning is, at its core, extremely validating. Winning this competition validates, in my own eyes and in the eyes of people who have heard hundreds of thousands of incredible songs, my ability to write a relatable, vulnerable, and well-structured song. As a writer, I feel like whatever path I am carving out for my career might just be going relatively well. It really brings the song around full circle too. I faced many fears while writing this song, and doing so has opened up some pretty cool doors!
WHAT SONGWRITERS AND ARTISTS DO YOU COUNT AS YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS? WHY?
Honestly, the list is so long: Joni Mitchell, Alison Krauss, James Taylor, Nina Simone, Eric Clapton, Nick Drake, and Marty Robbins. Just a totally stacked lineup of writers that are particularly vulnerable in their interpretations of words and melodies. I think there is a great deal of transparency among all those artists as well. You actually don't have to try too hard to decode what it is they're saying. I think that's how I like to write. Vocally, there's either a lot of jazz and blues, or a good bit of folksy restraint. It's all over the place, but so is my writing.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PLANS IN 2026.
Starting in June, the boys in the band and I will be back in the studio—shout out West End
Sound in Atlanta—for my first full-length album! Hopefully we can get a move on and get a single or two out before the end of the year—look out for some lap-steel and mean mandolin pickin.'
With that, the start of some national touring in the fall. I am eager to get some mileage under my wheels and expand my reach beyond Georgia and Tennessee!
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CAREER DREAM?
Two years ago it was to play a famous venue in Atlanta. I've headlined that four times now. Last year, it was releasing music for the first time. Done. As a kid, it was to meet Stevie Nicks. (Still is.)
I suppose my biggest dream right now looks like a publishing deal with a label and/or snagging an opening tour slot with someone far better connected than me! I just want to keep moving, keep growing as an artist, and keep hustling as much as possible. So far, I am grateful to have accomplished so many of my dreams. I'm excited to see what the future holds.
WHAT WOULD YOU TELL OTHER ARTISTS WHO ARE CONSIDERING ENTERING THE CONTEST?
Just do it! The best thing you can do for yourself is to cast your net wide. It's like betting on yourself, but you can do it from home and in your pajamas with no real net loss. I didn't enter solely on the premise that I expected to win anything AT ALL, but of all the things this career will require of us, submitting songs you loved enough to record is low-stakes.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photo by Rayna Sylvia
