Anyone who's had the pleasure of watching Hannah Dasher on stage (or in her delightful TikTok cooking series Stand By Your Pan) can recognize within seconds that her love of country music runs deep. Even her house, which she showcases to her 1.5 million TikTok followers, is a haven of '60s and '70s Nashville -- from the framed photo of George Jones and Tammy Wynette in her kitchen to a painting from Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter's office that hangs above her mantle. As a child, Dasher studied song lyrics and liner notes and practiced her CMA Awards acceptance speeches with a hairbrush in front of the bathroom mirror. Simply put, for Dasher, country music is life. And it all goes back to her first love: Alan Jackson.
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Dasher says Jackson's "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow," the 1990 hit from the Country Music Hall of Famer's Here in the Real World album, was more than a song -- it was a rallying cry.
"He started it all for me. Country music was my first love. To hear a song that's saying 'you can do this for a living, rags to riches, dreams do come true' -- I caught the fever. I was hooked," the CMT Next Women of Country class member tells Wide Open Country. "The first time I saw it live -- it was my very first concert. I watched it from the arms of my papa -- I was tiny. That's why I was probably the youngest member of the Alan Jackson Fan Club in the '90s."
Dasher also found inspiration in Jackson's prowess as both a vocalist and a songwriter. After moving to Music City, the Georgia-born artist balanced a day job at Bass Bro Shops with songwriting, eventually getting a Brad Paisley cut.
Dasher, who signed with Sony Music Nashville in 2017, released her EP The Half Record in 2021. She'll release The Other Damn Half, featuring the cheeky "That Thing You Like" and "Crying All the Way To the Bank," this fall.
