Hailey Whitters got a big break from Brent Cobb in the fall of 2019, when he asked her to open his Sucker for a Good Time Tour. Now that she’s “living the dream” — finding acclaim with her newest album — she simply had to enlist her fellow singer-songwriter for a song.
Cobb joins Whitters on “Glad to Be Here,” a new track from the forthcoming deluxe edition of her 2020 album The Dream. He co-wrote the song with Neil Medley and Brent Rupard, and it just so happened to fit Whitters like a glove.
“Throughout the whirlwind release of The Dream, I kept catching myself sayin’, ‘I’m just glad to be here.’ I truly felt at peace with my process and was enjoying getting to see dreams come true that I had nearly given up on, believing they would ever happen,” Whitters shares in a press release. “I went to go write a song about it, and realized Brent Cobb, Neil Medley and Brent Rupard had already done it — and done it really well.
“I knew I couldn’t top it,” Whitters adds, “so I recorded this one and asked my pal Brent to sing on it with me … [I]t was a high honor to have him singin’ on this one with me.”
“Glad to Be Here” is one of five new songs on Living the Dream, the deluxe version of the 12-track The Dream. Each of the new cuts is a collaboration: In addition to Cobb, Whitters’ special guests include Little Big Town, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey, Trisha Yearwood and Jordan Davis.
“All of the artists featured on this project are responsible for me being able to hang up the apron strings and make music full-time,” Whitters shares. “The royalties from Little Big Town’s cut on “Happy People” helped pay for part of The Dream, Brent Cobb and Jordan Davis were two of the first artists to take me on tour, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey are my two songwriting idols and favorite co-creators, and Trisha Yearwood is one of the first artists that got me excited about moving to Nashville and pursuing country music.
“I wanted to show fans full-circle what ‘living the dream’ looks like for me — from where I started with “Ten Year Town” to the bucket-list moments that have resulted since I released my record,” she continues. “I felt it was important to show them what can happen when you don’t give up on yourself.”
Living the Dream is due out on Feb. 26.
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