Hailey Whitters’ Songs: How Iowa Roots Shape Her Authentic Small-Town Sound

Hailey Whitters is known for her unique country style, contrasting her small-town rural Iowa roots with the sounds of modern-day Nashville. Whitters became widely known for her 2022 album Raised and the hit single "Everything She Ain't." She's also a strong songwriter, having written songs for artists such as Little Big Town and Alan Jackson. This article explores how her upbringing in Iowa shapes her songwriting and storytelling today.

Whitters grew up in Shueyville, Iowa, a tiny town (just 1.49 square miles) with a 2025 population of just 717 people. It's a close-knit community with a strong German heritage. Whitters lived there until she moved to Nashville at the age of 17. She grew up in a typical blue-collar household with five siblings. Her family runs a corn farm, which really grounded her in rural Midwestern life and work ethic.

As a child, she often visited her Aunt Cindy and Uncle Phil's farm, where Cindy was "homesteading before homesteading was cool," with animals such as cows, pigs, chickens, and goats. This left a lasting impression. These early experiences in Shueyville laid the foundation for the authentic country narratives that would follow.

Several Iowa locations feature in Whitters' songwriting. Her parents' home, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Phil's farm, and her grandfather's sod farm (Whitters Turf Farm) are all cleverly woven into her music. The farm inspired "The Grassman" and the humorous "Our Grass Is Legal." The line "Plantin' family trees on the same gravel road" from "Middle of America" nods to her cousins living near her aunt and uncle's farm.

Prairie High School, known as Cow Pie High, is the backdrop for her music video "Everything She Ain't," where Whitters was homecoming queen. The DanceMor Ballroom in Swisher, with its original and still-usable dance floor, also features. These places ground her songs in tangible and relatable settings, bringing her small-town Iowa upbringing to life.

Whitters' songwriting is characterized by its specificity. She believes "the more specific a line is, the more universal it is." Unlike Nashville's tendency to keep songs vague to appeal to wider audiences, she draws from real people and real moments, such as running into her brother at Shuey's Restaurant. Whitters' songs tell stories of ordinary people in her hometown. For example, "Boys Back Home," from her Raised album, is all about the rite of passage for high school seniors who camp and drink in Green Castle woods.

Whitters has been dubbed Corn Queen by her fans as a playful nod to her Iowa roots, and it's a nickname she embraces, particularly with the release of her 16-track 2025 album Corn Queen. It includes "White Limousine," which she says defines the "Queen" side of the album. She explains, "Corn is this simple, humble crop, and ‘queen' implies royalty passed down through blood," reflecting her blue-collar upbringing.

It's not just Whitters' voice you'll hear on this album, though. She collaborated with the likes of Charles Wesley Godwin, Molly Tuttle, and The Wilder Blue. The album cover, featuring Whitters carved out of butter, is another nod to the agricultural theme. The album's single "High On The Hog" was named one of the Best Songs of 2025 by Rolling Stone.

You can see Whitters' Midwestern work ethic through her long, steady climb in country music. Moving to Nashville in 2007, she spent over a decade perfecting her craft. She waitressed and wrote songs before breaking through. She wrote hits such as "Happy People" for Little Big Town, "The Older I Get" for Alan Jackson, and "Low All Afternoon" and "The Real Thing" for Martina McBride.

Her song "Ten Year Town" reflects the 12 years she spent trying to make it in Nashville. Now, 17 years into her Nashville journey and over a decade on the road, Whitters is a testament to perseverance and dedication.

Whitters' breakthrough single, "Everything She Ain't," captures her girl-next-door nature. The song went Gold, garnered over 175 million TikTok plays, became her first top-20 country radio hit, and debuted at No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100. She recalls hearing it on her hometown radio station, 98.1 KHAK, describing it as everything she's worked for in the last decade.

Other notable songs include "Boys Back Home" and "DanceMor," which celebrates the historic dance hall. "Hearsay" tells tales of small-town gossip all centered around the infamous Black Squirrel bar. And she's gone far. Whitters has toured with major artists, including Luke Combs, Shania Twain, and Luke Bryan, and performed at festivals such as Coachella and Bonnaroo. She won the 2023 Academy of Country Music Award for New Female Artist of the Year and was nominated for Country Music Association New Artist of the Year.

While Whitters has lived in Nashville for around 14 years, she maintains a strong connection to Shueyville. She says her Midwestern upbringing is relatable because "we've all lived in a similar way — the only thing that's different is the scenery."

Hailey Whitters' authentic country music celebrates her Midwest roots, offering a unique perspective often absent in mainstream country music's Southern-focused narratives. Raised celebrates Iowa while remaining universally relatable. In a genre experiencing a surge in popularity and a growing emphasis on inclusivity (especially among millennials and Generation Z audiences), Whitters' music resonates. Her lyrics are honest, specific, and heartfelt.