Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Holbrook.
Hannah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
When I was 10, my grandmother offered to pay for piano lessons. There was a jazz pianist in Fort Collins, where I grew up — Mark Sloniker — and I’d been hearing for years how much fun it was to learn from him. He was my first pick. Within four years, he had me improvising, composing, reading music, playing jazz and classical, and performing. His mentorship set me on a path I’ve never left.
In high school I studied with Pat Burge, who pushed even deeper into improvisation and composition. Then at Colorado State University, Janet Landreth and Forest Greenough showed me how classical music and theory could actually click — and they did. All the while, I was making music with my family. My sisters and I were writing songs together, and when I was a teenager we started touring. By the time I turned 21, we had a record deal in Nashville. Our band was called SHEL.
We toured for years, wrote and released several albums, and got to work with Brent Maher — the producer who discovered The Judds and wrote many of their hits — and Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics. Several of our songs and compositions landed in TV and film, including Nicholas Sparks’ The Best of Me.
Then 2020 happened. Venues closed. Tours fell apart, got rescheduled, then canceled for good. We’d been making our living on the road, and one day that road was just gone. The band parted ways, and I turned toward online teaching and performance.
Shortly after that, I started working with Shane Roberts — a remarkable musician, teacher, and mentor who encouraged me to build out my teaching studio, deepen my musical philosophy, sharpen my thinking, and develop the systems that now shape how I run my business and serve my students.
Everything I do now draws on all of it: the years on tour, the songwriting and recording, the training, and the lesson plans I’ve built to help students move past real obstacles toward real goals.
I’m grateful for every teacher who shaped me, and proud to be one myself. What music teaches — the discipline, the devotion, the love it takes to master the instrument — applies to everything in life. I’m here to help anyone, any way that I can, and I look forward to creating and learning together along the way!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Developing the discipline to practice consistently at a young age was my first obstacle. I didn’t want to be told to do it, and I liked how people responded when I put the time in to master a new piece of music. These things motivated me to work harder.
The next obstacle was learning to collaborate with other writers and musicians, especially when we had different taste in music, or a different vision for how a song should be written or arranged. I learned to choose my battles, and save the music I loved most for people that knew how to help me develop it in the direction I wanted it to go. I learned to take a back seat on other peoples’ projects when they had strong visions and needed support from me.
Another major obstacle came in 2020 when the whole world changed, and many people started working online due to the pandemic. This absolutely altered the music industry, and I had to quickly pivot to online lessons and performances. But I made due! And my fans supported me on Patreon and by taking lessons and funding online shows. They really helped me get through that season.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Apart from my history with the band and touring, and my online teaching studio, I do write and record my music. I’m very proud to be releasing a full length album this year! This is my first full length solo album in my whole 28 years of being a musician! I’ve been putting out a single each month this year, and the full album will be released by December 2026. You can already hear several of the songs wherever you listen to music.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was very shy, but always excited to meet people of all ages. I loved being around adults as well as children my age, and anyone in between or younger. I was excited to have one of my first jobs babysitting my neighbor when I was 13 years old.
I was home schooled and I grew up on 45 acres out in the foothills of Fort Collins, CO, and my closest friends were a 20 min drive away. All that to say, whenever people came to visit or we made a trip into town, I was very excited to see and connect with friends and strangers.
On my parents’ property, I hatched and raised ducklings and had several flocks of ducks that I loved dearly. I learned a lot from them about how to care for God’s creatures, great and small. A tiny fluffy duckling following me around or falling asleep nestled in my hands is one of my favorite things of all time, though I haven’t experienced that in a good 20 years. I think about it often.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hannahholbrookmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahonthekeys/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hannahonthekeys/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hannahonthekeys/videos
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1GAOjRdLnEZOsHoAshVXui?si=K5UpY5t2S9y_RsohkmcC5Q
