From a young age Hailey Benedict fell in love with music and songwriting. She attended her first country music festival at ten years old and fell in love with every aspect of country music.

In 2016, Hailey and her sister went to a Keith Urban concert and ended up on stage! Keith asked Hailey what she wanted to be when she grew up and she answered with “a singer/songwriter,” which inspired Keith to hand Hailey a guitar.

“Next thing I knew I was playing an original song at Rogers Place in Edmonton in front of 20,000 people,” she said.

Hailey started songwriting at nine years old. She chose to sing a song she wrote in social studies class “Clean Slate” when Keith asked her to perform, which ended up being her very first single. The experience Keith gave Hailey inspired her to know that a career in music really is possible.

“I am forever grateful to Keith for the opportunity and it ignited a fire in me that this is what I want to do with the rest of my life,” said Hailey.

As a songwriter Hailey pulls inspiration from books, movies, and personal experiences.

“I have always been inspired by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran as songwriters who have both said that you have to continuously write and sometimes get through 100 bad songs before you get one good one,” she said.

Hailey Benedict already has many awards under her belt with being awarded 2022 CCMA Interactive Artist of the Year, 2022 Country Music Alberta Horizon Female Artist Of The Year, 2022 CCMA Rising Star nominee, and many more.

“I have been a part of the Alberta Country Music Association since I was 11 and everyone in the association have become family to me and I wouldn’t be where I am without their support, which means the world,” she said.

This past summer Hailey released her single “Damn You July,” which is about feelings of resentment after a breakup. The song can be for any loss of a person in your life and dealing with the feelings and memories afterwards.

Hailey recently released her first Christmas track “Freeze.” Although there are so many great Christmas songs out there she could cover, Hailey wanted to take on the challenge of writing her own.

“The whole song is about spending time with the people you love most around the holidays and for me my favourite part of Christmas every year isn’t the gifts but its the people all around me,” she said.

In the new year Hailey plans to continue writing new music and play live shows. Over the summer Hailey will be busy with many festivals including Big Valley Jamboree, Country Thunder, Rivers ‘n’ Roots Music Festival, and more!

Make sure to listen to her new Christmas song “Freeze” and stay tuned for more updates on Hailey’s music and upcoming shows!

Since being a finalist on NBC’s America’s Got Talent (AGT) in 2022, Drake Milligan has continued to impress fans with his unique traditional country twang and performance quality as he is known to command a stage.

“It is kind of scary but also addictive being on that stage in front of many people especially in the live shows having millions of people watch you,” he said.

AGT was the perfect opportunity for Drake to showcase who he is as a musician and show the world what he has been working on and launch his music to the world.

Drake’s biggest takeaway from the show was being able to put on a performance to that caliber.

After AGT, Drake Milligan released his debut album Dallas/Fort Worth. He wanted the album to show his range as an artist and how every song showed a different side to him as an artist. The album has a mix of everything with sad songs, party songs, western swing, and songs that pay homage to his musical influences.

Drake moved to Nashville in 2017 and started writing songs for the album, which made it about a four year process putting Dallas/Fort Worth together.

“Dance of a Lifetime” is a favourite of his off the album and has become a very special song for him and dedicated fans, who have used the song for their first dance.

Drake Milligan recently reached a huge milestone with his first #1 song on his collaboration with country duo The Reklaws, “Honky Tonkin’ About.”

“It feels amazing, that is my first number one ever and to have it with the Reklaws, who I became fast friends with is great,” he said.

Drake Milligan is on his first headlining Canadian tour making stops in Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Calgary.

“I am looking forward to seeing new people and places and have some fun in Canada,”

Drake Milligan has already achieved so much success in his career with over 60 million streams globally and 6.5 million streams in Canada alone and is currently working on new music, adding new dates for live shows in the new year, and is keeping up the momentum!

Make sure to stream Drake’s debut album and get tickets to his upcoming shows!

Karli June is one of Canada’s leading country music artists with three CMAOntario Nominations in 2023 for “Rising Star”, “Album of the Year” and “Songwriter of the Year!” 

Karli grew up on a dairy farm where music was always playing out in the barn, where she fell in love with music.

“I knew I loved music from a really young age and just had that inner knowing that it was what I was supposed to do with my life,” she said.

Rogers Media recently named Karli the “One To Watch” with her most recent single featuring Ryan Langdon, “Feel Like Home” and in heavy rotation across the Rogers Country stations in Canada.

“My hometown means a ton to me – and the song is about finding somebody that feels like coming back to where you’re from,” she said.

When looking for a male artist to collaborate with, Ryan Langdon’s name came up between Karli and her manager. Ryan loved the song when he heard it and his voice was a perfect fit for the collab!

Karli said the the song sounds like it was written exactly for him!

In 2022, Karli released her debut EP Where You Came From, which touches on many things that make her who she is, including her small town roots, ups and downs of life, faith, and of course her fun side.

“I wanted to have all of those elements as part of my first EP and really tell the story of who I am as a person and artist. We recorded it throughout the pandemic with Karen Kosowski,” she said.

Out of Karli’s releases so far, “Feel Like Home” has been her favourite.

“I love the energy of it and seeing what it means to the listeners,” she said.

Instagram: @itskarlijune

Twitter: @karlijunemusic

Facebook: /karlijunemusic

Website: https://www.karlijune.com/  

Music is not a new environment for CCMA Breakthrough Artist of the Year nominee, Nate Haller. At the age of 17-years old Nate started playing many different types of music. At the time he was playing guitar for Canadian country artist, Kira Isabella. Nate wasn’t too familiar with guitar at first, but had the opportunity to learn with Kira’s music and ended up playing with her for six or seven years.

As he continued to play for Kira Isabella, he was introduced to The Reklaws and started playing guitar for them. While playing for other artists, Nate started writing his own music. With the pandemic putting live shows on hold, he had time to launch his own music career as a solo artist.

Nate Haller released his debut album Party In the Back in November of 2022. As he was putting the album together he was living in a house with Stu from The Reklaws and their music director who Nate worked on the record a lot with.

“That record is really special to me and I am proud of the whole album,” he said.

The tone of the album is fun and high energy, which is also what Nate wants to bring into his live shows.

“I want people to forget what might be going on in their lives and have fun at a country show,” he said.

On his debut album, Nate released a track with The Reklaws and Brett Kissel called “Somewhere To Drink,” which was such a fun experience for him, especially while filming the music video with everyone.

Nate Haller was a 2023 CCMA Breakthrough Artist of the Year nominee this year with his first nomination.

“To be nominated for anything at the CCMA’s is an honour,” he said.

Nate is currently working on new music and is keeping busy playing shows.

“I’m really excited for people to hear the next chapter of my music,” he said.

Make sure to listen to Party In the Back and follow Nate Haller on Instagram at “imthehaller” to stay up to date on his shows and new music!