Hannah Harper began discussing her fatigue just as the confetti had begun to settle on the American Idol stage. The tone of a 25-year-old mother of three who has just spent months performing for cameras while skipping bedtime, rather than the courteous, talk-show manner in which winners typically mention exhaustion. She needed two weeks, she told USA Today. Only two. After that, get back to work.
That particular detail reveals something about her, and perhaps even about the type of career she is going to pursue. The majority of Idol winners have radio singles and arena tours as their initial goals. In contrast, Harper is traveling to locations like Strawberry Point, Iowa, and Corning, Arkansas. County fairs, theaters, and festivals. The kind of places where the green room consists of a folding chair behind a curtain and the merchandise table is managed by someone’s cousin.
The original song that made her go viral during auditions, “String Cheese Tour,” is about postpartum depression and the little, unglamorous moments of motherhood, like when a toddler climbs onto the couch and asks you to open a snack wrapper. It’s not the type of content that typically starts a pop career. Perhaps that’s the point.
Observing Harper during her press week gives the impression that she isn’t all that interested in the conventional playbook. She performed a worship song by Chris Tomlin to close the show. She freely discusses her relationship with God, her ministry, and her husband’s sacrifice. She received a Facebook shoutout from Tomlin himself. Congratulations were posted by Franklin Graham. The statistics regarding Christian-themed performances on this season of Idol are truly startling: all three finalists sang worship songs on national television, and five contestants from Season 24 publicly expressed their faith.
It’s possible that a segment of America that was always present but seldom focused on prime-time talent shows has just caught up with the Idol audience. Another possibility is that something else is changing. In any case, Harper is said to have received some advice from Carrie Underwood, one of the judges and a 2005 winner, following the victory. She seemed taken aback by the advice. Of all people, Underwood would be aware of what was about to happen.
Because historically, the difficult part is what lies ahead. Winners of idols don’t always go on to have successful careers. The easy part is the trophy. Most of them lose steam, become embroiled in label disputes, or are quietly forgotten in the two years that follow, while the runner-up secures a larger tour. It’s possible that Harper’s decision to start small—playing Mountain View and Meansville before Madison Square Garden—was motivated by necessity, wisdom, or both.
On June 2, she will make her Grand Ole Opry debut. In country music, the Opry continues to have more significance than outsiders sometimes realize. The closest thing Nashville has to a cathedral is this room that gives permission. When you first stand in that circle, you can practically feel the floorboards remember everyone who has been there. After a televised victory, Harper will be 25 years old and likely still high on adrenaline.
It’s difficult to ignore how purposefully rural everything feels when looking at the tour schedule, which includes more than 25 dates from June through November, visiting locations that most national acts avoid. She stops in Willow Springs, where she was raised. She’s already sold out in Lebanon, Missouri. That routing has an honest, almost obstinate quality. She is going to the voters who supported her.
It’s really unclear if that will result in a long career. The country music industry is infamously closed. Outside of their core audience, faith-forward artists frequently reach a ceiling. Harper, however, appears to be aware of everything and unconcerned. In the future, she wants to give people neck hugs, she told reporters. You don’t pretend to say something like that.