After performing her emotional original song, “String Cheese,” during her memorable audition, Hannah Harper, a 25-year-old stay-at-home mother from Willow Springs, Missouri, quickly became one of the most talked-about contestants on Season 24’s American Idol.
The deeply personal track, inspired by the talented singer’s experience with Postpartum Depression, brought judge Carrie Underwood to tears and earned glowing remarks from Luke Bryan, who compared her vocals and storytelling to country icons Dolly Parton and Kacey Musgraves.
For Harper, the moment to sing in front of the celebrity panel, especially as a mother who spends her days at home, was almost too surreal to process.
“A lot of anxiety, more so than anything,” she told Music Mayhem of her emotional audition. “It still doesn’t feel like real life. Every day, I’m like, ‘Am I going to wake up from this dream?’ You know what I mean? So all of it’s been a whirlwind, but really exciting.”
“To see [the judges] and meet them in person and to get feedback from them, let alone the opportunity to meet them, is cool,” she continued. “But to sing in front of them and then hear how I can better myself and better my career, it’s something that not many people have the opportunity to do.”
Although she’s open to constructive criticism, Harper is no stranger to music. It has been the center of her life for many years as someone who came from what she describes as an “unconventional musical family.” Growing up in a family band, traveling coast to coast was a regular occurrence for Harper, who performed bluegrass and Christian music alongside her mom and dad, Katrina and Gaylon, as well as her siblings, Dillon and Dalton, and Dillon’s wife, Makeena. Those years on the road helped shape the heartfelt storytelling that now defines her musical style.
While she has built a musical foundation, Harper’s life took a new turn in 2016 when she married her husband, Devon Mendenhall, whom she met in a church where she was working as a worship leader. Just a few months later, the couple learned they were expecting their first child. Today, Harper and her husband share three children — all of whom are boys.
Watching their mom on national television has been emotional for the family — especially for Harper, who says she “just cried.”
“That’s all I could do,” she explains. “I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing for two months, just crying because this is so overwhelming.”
Harper’s young sons, however, are mostly just amused by seeing their mom on screen.
“They saw the audition, and they were like, ‘That’s our house, and that’s you, Mom,’” she says with a laugh. “They thought it was really cool, but they have no idea what’s going on. I kind of like that because it’s just normal life, and they’re too little to be influenced by stuff like that right now.”
“String Cheese,” Harper’s first song ever released as a solo artist, debuted at No. 14 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart with more than 1,000 units sold — an incredible feat for a singer/songwriter who is completely independent. Although she released the song digitally, Harper explains that move drew some confusion.
The song was originally released under her first and middle names, Hannah Noel, making it difficult for fans to find her. Still, the song’s success is especially meaningful because of how it was made. Harper wrote the song herself and recorded it with her brother in an unlikely place: a tiny studio in the back of his sawmill.
“It was just a little mic and his computer,” Harper recalls. “I sat at the desk, and we sang it and recorded it there.”
After releasing the track independently through CD Baby and sharing it on her personal Facebook page, Harper assumed only a handful of people might hear it. Seeing it land on the Billboard charts took her by surprise. “There aren’t a lot of artists who hit the Billboard charts who have their hand in every part of the process,” she says. “So I felt even more proud that I did it all myself.”
Following her viral success of “String Cheese,” Harper’s momentum has only grown bigger. During Hollywood Week, which was held in Nashville, Tennessee, she soared into the Top 30.
“Hollywood Week was intense,” she recalled, “You had to stay dressed from the time you woke up until you went to bed, and you didn’t know when you were going to hit the stage.”
For her Hollywood Week performance, Harper chose Lee Ann Womack’s hit “A Little Past Little Rock,” a suggestion originally made by Bryan after her initial audition. Despite accidentally mixing up a few lyrics — something viewers never noticed — the performance earned a big applause from the judges. Bryan even stood up and cheered.
“I was shaking in my boots,” Harper remembered of the moment. “I thought I was going home.”
Instead, she advanced into the next phase of the competition, which took place in Hawaii. “Every time they say you’re going on to the next round, I can’t even believe it,” Harper says, joyfully. “I just feel like I’m living a dream and I’m waiting to wake up.”
During the “Ohana Round” of Idol, Harper chose to honor her late Grandpa, PawPaw Lew, whom she described as a “patriarch,” with a performance of “Go Rest High on That Mountain” by Vince Gill, which ultimately earned her a spot in the Top 20.
“Gosh, there are so many parallels with your voice and Dolly [Parton], and it’s just so beautifully country,” Bryan raved of that performance. “But just remember that key that you got to at the end, and really live in that space because your voice really opened up there. You’ve got the goods! and that was … Your voice is so beautiful to me.”
Over the next two weeks, the remaining Idol hopefuls will perform for America’s votes at Aulani as they continue competing for a spot in the next round, guided by superstar mentors Brad Paisley and KeKe Palmer.
Follow Hannah Harper’s journey on American Idol by tuning in Mondays at 8/7c on ABC, or stream the episode the next day on Hulu.
