Hailey Stout
There is no question but that Hailey Stout was born to sing. Tagging along with her mother, Teresa—a confident, raspy-voiced rock front-woman—Hailey’s life path appeared clear from the very beginning. And, from age four, the budding songbird seized every available opportunity to try out and develop her own natural vocal gifts—choirs, talent contests and living room sing-alongs. So, it should come as no surprise that today, at 21, this native of tiny Clatskanie, Oregon, possesses the entire package—youth, beauty, creativity, will, motivation, work ethic, legitimate music training and, most especially, a voice that blesses every note and word it embraces.
Multi-talented Hailey first arrived in Nashville in January, 2007, as one of five national finalists in the 25th annual Colgate Country Showdown—representing California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Hawaii. After rocking the hallowed boards of the Ryman Auditorium for the Showdown’s GAC broadcast, Hailey finished the competition in second place out of 50,000 contestants nationwide. Although she narrowly lost out on the $100,000 grand prize, Hailey did win a diehard devotee in Grammy-nominated songwriter/producer Rand Bishop (Toby Keith’s My List).
2007 continued to be an eventful and productive year for the youthful songstress. Hailey made the bold move to Nashville in March. With the support of Bishop’s company, Writer Zone Music, Hailey was immediately ushered into the producer/publisher’s recording studio to sing song demos. It wasn’t long before performances were being captured that revealed a truly legitimate recording artist. Thus far, the Hailey Stout/Rand Bishop production team has completed seven masters that clearly define the artist’s musical direction and vocal dynamic—from a clear, breathy simmer to one of the most passionate and powerful belts you’re ever likely to hear. And, to ice the cake, Hailey co-wrote four of those songs.
July, 2007 took Hailey back to her old Pacific Northwest stompin’ grounds, where she drew large, loyal crowds as the opener for the Trent Summar and The New Row Mob tour. Then, she capped off an active summer by opening for Travis Tritt at the Watermelon Festival in Winterville, North Carolina. Although she is a virtual unknown, Tritt’s merchandise table entertained an unprecedented 90 requests for Hailey Stout CDs.
This girl is the real deal. As they say back in Oregon, “Hailey rocks country!”
