Check Out Hannah Wicklund’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Wicklund.

Hi Hannah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Music has been an anchor in my life since I was very young. I started with classical piano for many years and found my way to guitar around eight years old. Six months into playing, I formed my band The Steppin Stones. Being from a small resort island (Hilton Head Island, SC), I was fortunate to have extensive opportunities pop up seemingly immediately. From restaurant gigs to local festivals and fundraisers, as well as performing for different resorts, I started making money with my music at age 9. We added in original material and started recording EP’s and albums when I was 12 years old, some songs I still play live to this day, including ‘Looking Glass’ and ‘Mama Said’.

I knew by 12 years old exactly what I wanted to do, and decided at that point I wouldn’t go to college and rather graduate an additional year early from school (I had skipped 5th grade) and start touring at the ripe age of 16. Acting as my own manager and agent, we were hitting the Wild Wing Cafe circuit in the Southeast and starting to play our first real-ticketed club shows in places like Atlanta, Charleston, Orlando, anywhere that would let three teenagers play.

Once I turned 18, the “music business” entered the picture. Scooter Braun flew me to LA three days after my birthday and offered me an artist development deal, which I did not take. I wanted it to be a band and was not yet willing to use my name and become the solo artist that I ironically am today. Shortly after that, I got my first agent and moved to Nashville from Charleston 6 months later. We began touring nationally, played our first major music festivals and did our first European tour within a short span of time before I released my last record, ‘Hannah Wicklund and The Steppin Stones’ in 2018. I did all of that with just an agent before I had management, which was its own adventure.

Between 2018 and now, it has taken some time for me to gather the right team, which any artist will tell you, is so very important. The pandemic along with some health hiccups seemed to steal two years away, but it was lovely to come out of that time even stronger and more resilient than before.

As I’ve been getting my newest release finished, I was on the road this year with Marcus King and Greta Van Fleet, playing the songs off that 2018 album. I’m extremely grateful for that last record and the fact that I’ve been able to tour on it for so long, but safe to say I am very eager to share these new songs with the world and get to play them live next year.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A few words I would never use to describe my journey would be ‘smooth road’, but that’s the case for most of us musicians. The struggles I have, and continue to face, evolve through time, but the lessons learned have become quite consistent and simple; Trust yourself. When my world opened up so quickly and so broadly, there were many different people coming and going from my life- and lots of promises and bullshit to accompany them. The transition from childhood to adulthood amidst all that chaos was difficult, and the disadvantage of being young and impressionable also threw me for a loop because I had been so sure of myself for so long. Having already written and recorded multiple EPs and full lengths before I turned 18, I knew exactly who I was. Then along came an onslaught of meetings with people telling me what they thought my music should be, and who I should listen to, and what their ideas of my career were. It took a while for me to figure out how to compartmentalize all of that information and not let it distract or change my perception of myself. It’s funny because now at 25, almost finished with a record I consider to be my best work thus far, I had to fight off so many opinions of this music and essentially become the 16 years old version of myself again, untainted by outside influences, and it feels good to be back.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I set out to become an equal parts singer, guitar player and songwriter from the very beginning. In the world of rock n roll, there are so many brilliant examples of artists like this and I always aimed to become one myself. My guitar playing has certainly assisted in my expression more than I could have planned for though, becoming a more emotional rather than technical tool in my arsenal. In a show of mine, I leave myself room to go off on a few tangents, which are easily my favorite part of the show. Essentially, if I were to pick one aspect of my career I’m most proud of, it would be my live show, hands down.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Honestly, persistence is probably the characteristic that deserves the most credit for getting me to this point. The phrase ‘death by a thousand cuts’ has made more and more sense to me through the years, but it has been my tireless dedication to see my dreams through that has gotten me past each hurdle and hardship.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hannahwicklund.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahwicklund/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hannahwicklundss/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HannahWicklund?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChQgDZ3dyJ-ZXuTAm_YunkQ