Originally hailing from Bentonville, Arkansas, Fancy Hagood is an accomplished artist now based in the vibrant musical hub of Nashville, Tennessee. Hagood made the bold decision to leave college and embark on his music journey in Nashville. Eventually, he found himself in Los Angeles, California, where he signed a record deal and shifted his musical focus towards pop.
His career gained momentum as he opened for prominent pop acts like Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor, even charting with his single ‘Goodbye’. Despite these achievements, Hagood struggled to gain significant traction on radio. Eventually, he decided to part ways with the label and opted to return to Nashville, reaffirming his commitment to his roots in Music City.
In 2021, he made waves with the release of his debut album, ‘Southern Curiosity’, a project that has amassed an impressive 30 million streams and continues to captivate listeners worldwide. Notably, ‘Southern Curiosity’ earned a nomination for Best Country Record at The Libera Awards 2022, solidifying Hagood’s place as a rising star in the country music scene.
Building on the success of his debut album, Fancy Hagood dropped his latest single, ‘Blue Dream Baby’ last summer, featuring the acclaimed Kacey Musgraves. The track caught the attention of music icon Sir Elton John, who praised Hagood’s talent, stating, “We need more people like Fancy.” Additionally, Hagood has been hailed as an “artist to watch” by his own musical inspiration, Brandi Carlile.
Beyond creating music, Fancy Hagood shares his passion for the industry through his Apple Radio show, Trailblazers Radio, where he engages in discussions about the evolving landscape of music. Currently, he is hard at work on his sophomore album, slated for release in autumn 2024, promising yet another exciting chapter in his musical journey.
After seeing Fancy in numerous locations across the C2C festival in London recently we declared him to be this year’s ‘Breakout Artist’ and we thrilled to be able to catch up with him to talk all about it.
Thank you for your time, Fancy, it’s been a pleasure to see you sing your songs at this festival for the first time. I’m not sure whether you are too immersed in the festival or not to have felt this but there’s a buzz around the festival about you. The name on everybody’s lips!
Ahhhh. That’s lovely. I have felt a warmth at this festival that has been amazing. I’m kinda emotional everywhere I go. When you think about being involved in music, putting on shows and resonating with people what’s been happening here this weekend in London has been a dream of mine for years. To hear you say something like that means the world to me.
Watching you play live is so engaging. You’re such an intelligent, thoughtful, emotional artist. Have you always been like this or has the songwriting developed and evolved that side of you?
I think I have although I’d say the answer is yes and no. Yes, when I’m thinking about writing a song I always try to be thoughtful and mindful but I’ve had such a crazy career that has taken me down so many different roads and I’ve tried my hand at so many different styles of music that I think getting lost in that makes me think that I haven’t always been as mindful or thoughtful about it.
With hindsight, I know I am making music that matters to me now. I also think about how I can be of service to other people through my music and my writing. I want to tell stories that resonate with people and maybe connect with people that, up to now, haven’t been able to see themselves in Country music. That means being a little bit more raw, more vulnerable – I’m on the verge of tears all the time on stage! (laughing) I wear my feelings on my sleeve. The short answer is that it does come natural to me but I haven’t always been that way.
You mentioned from the stage on Friday about living in Hailey Whitters’ Ten Year Town’ song where she describes herself as being ’12 years into being in a 10 year town.’ Where do you find the perseverance to have got to this point from?
I’m absolutely delusional! (laughing) I’m delusional enough to believe in myself. There has been so many points in my career where there have been people sitting in really high places that have told me that it’s not going to happen, that I’m not an artist.
‘What if you just wrote songs for other people,’ is what what I’ve been told so many times. I’ve heard it all and every step of the way I’ve just believed in myself. It’s not always been easy and I’ve had my struggles but my community of friends have supported me and seeing good things happen to people I know, love and care about too has helped me to see that it can happen for me too.
The Osborne family has had a big influence on your life. John is producing your new record, his sister, Natalie, is your manager, you even lived with them for a while after the tornado blew through town and damaged your home. Is there a tight knit community that you exist in in Nashville that has your back?
My best friends in the entire world are the Osbornes and Lucie Silvas. Kacey Musgraves and another friend of mine called Lisa, they are my ‘everydayers.’ My sweet partner, Jeremy. I have the support system of my dreams and it keeps me grounded and it keeps me humble and inspired.
My career doesn’t always look like that of Kacey’s or John and TJ’s or Lucie’s but the truth is that we all have the same amount of passion and we keep each other in check.
Tell me about the video to ‘Southern Sound.’ It’s so impactful – tell me about the ideas and inspirations behind it.
My team consists of me and my manager Natalie and we’re blessed that more and more people are coming on and helping us but that video came from a conversation that Nat and I were having about the legislation emerging in America and, specifically, in our home state of Tennessee that’s anti LGBTQIA+. I’m queer and I’m lucky enough to have had parents that accepted who I was and loved me but I know that is not the story for a lot of people.
Seeing this wave of hate that is happening in our country right now towards a community that means so much to me meant that we wanted to put a video out there that tells a story and to let people know that there is always a place for them. I also wanted people who don’t agree with our lifestyles or our culture to see a different side to theirs and maybe tug on their heartstrings a little bit.
I get Vince Gill vibes when I listen to you sing. Who have been your musical inspirations over the years?
Wow, thank you. I’ve listened to so much different music my whole life. I grew up in the church so Christian and Gospel music was an early influence. I think I still use a lot of melodic choices in my writing from that era. Little Big Town, the Chicks, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Nickel Creek have all been big influences on me. Then the queens: Dolly, Reba, Tanya Tucker.
Elton John is also a huge inspiration to me. Not only musically but who he is as a person and the space he has taken up in this the world and the change that has brought. His philanthropy is also an inspiration – his work around AIDS and the money he’s raised to help combat that is really wild. The late Leslie Jordan has always been an idol of mine too. I was lucky enough to strike up a real tight knit friendship with him. I’m inspired by people who can be just exactly who they are through all the adversity that they face and yet still inspire change and happiness.
Are the barriers to queer acceptance in Nashville better than they were a decade ago or is that just a fallacy?
I hesitate answering these questions because I think the atmosphere in Nashville is that there is more acceptance happening and there are greater efforts at inclusivity. For as many gatekeepers that aren’t moving the needle for greater diversity there are people in the industry that are. Someone I can point to is Leslie Fram at CMT who does an amazing job of including artists that don’t always get a seat at the table.
You can see change happening and I think that is really special – that being said, there is still only one openly gay artist signed to a major label, right? I’m gonna say this: there’s only one male openly gay country artist signed to a major label. That’s unacceptable because there is more talent out there than that. It hasn’t changed TJ’s career – in many respects it has accelerated it and Brothers Osborne’s audience is growing. There are other artists, signed to other labels that are also having success but it’s outside of Nashville. I’m talking about Music Row, that’s who I want to call out because there’s a lot of queer representation happening, specifically with gay men, elsewhere.
As Nashville grows and changes, hopefully more people will start making the calls and giving out the deals to artists like me and other queer people. We are marketable. We are palatable – which is the word that comes up in every meeting I’ve ever been in! Look at Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Allison Russell, TJ Osborne, Brooke Eden – there is worth in queer talent and there is worth in queer art and the labels in Nashville need to take note of that.
Tell me all about the new album you’re working on. I’m so excited to hear this new music.
So, I can give you my own goals but as an independent artist there’s no-one there cracking the whip on me, right? My goal is to release the album in the third quarter of the year. I’d like to start putting out singles pretty soon – we’re working hard in the studio and I am so proud of what we are doing – it makes me emotional just to think about it! The people involved…………it’s just magical. It’s my dream and getting to do that with your friends is really just so special.
I want to make sure that this album, even more so than ‘Southern Curiosity’ lets the message be known that I’m here, I’m queer, I’m as Country as hell and I’m not going anywhere!
