Early in Hailey Benedict’s life, she was gifted a voice recorder. It was the innocuous sort of Christmas present that let her start focusing a budding love of singing into something bigger. 

“I would start making songs, just walking around the house when I was seven or eight,” she recalls. She’s never really stopped: those little recordings lead to learning instruments to accompany herself. Now, Benedict’s a rising talent in the country music world. 

Nominated in multiple categories of the 2022 Canadian Country Music Association awards, Benedict has been building momentum with a steady string of singles the past few years, from the good-love sparkle of “Wanted You To” to the smoky good riddance of “Strike 4” and her latest, the uplifting “Level Up.” 

She grew up in a house with a wide variety of music—AC/DC, Cyndi Lauper, and Taylor Swift all got airtime—but her love of country music came about almost instinctively. 

“When I started to write my own songs, it was country music before I even knew it was country music,” she says. “I loved the storytelling aspect and creating these mini stories in three minutes.”  

Then, at age nine, Benedict got to sing in Big Valley Jamboree’s annual competition. She covered “Safe and Sound” by Taylor Swift; with that experience, in addition to taking in the scope of artists performing at that year’s Big Valley Jamboree, something clicked. 

“That was when I really was immersed fully into country music, and I just fell in love with all the different sounds,” she says. “That influenced my writing even more.” 

Growing up in St. Albert meant there were plenty of opportunities to hone her craft: taking music lessons, participating in St. Albert Children’s Theatre, and doing high school shows and performances at the Arden. Benedict also received a Youth Artist award at the St. Albert Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts in 2019, and performed at the 2022 celebration, all of which add up to “lots of things that I think St. Albert specifically is giving back to the arts, which is really cool,” she notes. 

Benedict also got an unexpected, once-in-a-lifetime chance to sing onstage for Keith Urban in 2016. Tickets to Urban’s concert were a birthday gift. She and her sister made sparkly guitar signs, and mid-show, Urban pointed them out in the crowd.  

“We just thought that was gonna be like the highlight of our night,” she recalls. “And then he ended up pulling us both up on stage.” Undaunted, she got to sing for the massive crowd, who roared their approval. 

“I had always wondered what it looks like from the artist's perspective, looking out into a crowd that big,” she grins. “I got chills.” 

Now, Benedict’s career is starting to build an audience all her own. She’s doing some shows in the fall, and was recently down in Nashville, working on new material in the legendary music city. 

“It's a little scary going down there ‘cause you're like, ‘Oh my gosh, there's so many talented people,’” she says. “But then, at the same time, it's even more motivating … It's a big community down there. Everyone really wants to see everyone shine, which is really cool.” 

“I like to write things that people can relate to,” Benedict continues. “That was something that I loved about the people that I looked up to; their music made me feel a little less alone or made me want to celebrate more. So that's one thing that I really want to try and do with my music, is give people things to listen to that make them feel like they're heard and seen.”  

By: Paul Blinov

To learn more about Benedict, visit her website.

- 30 -