A married celebrity sent Hannah Dasher a DM, according to the country singer, though she is keeping the person’s identity private. During a recent appearance on the “Like a Farmer” podcast, Dasher was asked to name the strangest direct message she had received. Her first answer apparently required a quick legal and moral edit.
“Well, I don’t know that I could share it because they’re famous and married,” the 40-year-old musician said. “So let me think of another one.”
She then suggested her Christian faith had also influenced which professional opportunities she was willing to pursue. “I could have gone on some pretty big tours, you know, if I wasn’t a Christian,” she said with a smile.
Dasher did not identify the celebrity or give further details about the message. After considering other possibilities, she returned to the same conclusion: “I guess that would be it, right? I don’t know.” She added, “Oh, I think about that one.”
How Hannah Dasher built her country career
Raised near Savannah, Georgia, Dasher has said she grew up listening to 1990s country music. After college, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue songwriting and performing, initially supporting herself by selling boats and outboard motors at Bass Pro Shops.
That job ended after she was caught writing songs while working. It was not the company’s preferred use of paid time, although it did point fairly clearly toward her eventual profession.
In 2013, Dasher secured her first publishing agreement with BMG Chrysalis. She later signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing through a partnership with Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three.
Her first significant major-label cut arrived in 2017, when Brad Paisley recorded “Go to Bed Early,” a song Dasher co-wrote, for his album “Love and War.” For a songwriter trying to establish herself in Nashville, having Paisley record a track represented a meaningful industry breakthrough.
Dasher’s audience expanded sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic through “Stand By Your Pan,” her TikTok cooking series combining Southern recipes, country music and comedy. The videos drew more than one million followers and gave her a platform beyond the usual country radio and touring routes.
What happened to her Sony Music Nashville deal
Dasher signed with Sony Music Nashville in 2021 and released her debut EP, “The Half Record.” The project included “Leave This Bar” and “Girls Call the Shots.” That year, CMT selected her for its Next Women of Country program, and she performed multiple times at the Grand Ole Opry.
The arrangement did not last. Dasher has said Sony “pulled the plug” on her recording contract shortly after the EP came out, forcing her to continue as an independent artist.
On the podcast, she described losing the deal as both unexpected and necessary for her personal development.
“I think losing my record deal was a huge humbling that needed to occur in me and it was the last thing that I thought was ever going to happen,” she said. “But the devil will steal your confidence when moments like that happen.”
She said the setback left her in a lull, but she eventually returned to the reasons she had moved to Nashville in the first place.
“I just had to remind myself that I didn’t move to this town for anybody but me,” Dasher said. She also drew motivation from the people who loved and depended on her, adding that she knew she needed to begin writing songs again.
How her cookbook helped restart the process
Dasher stepped away from songwriting for a period while working on her cookbook, “Stand By Your Pan: 100 Easy and Affordable Comfort Food Recipes So Good They’ll Hurt People’s Feelin’s,” which was published in March.
She said writing the book became a useful way to rebuild her creative routine after the loss of her record deal. The format was different, but the practical work of developing ideas and finishing a project helped get “those wheels turning again.”
“I’ve kind of been out of the songwriting thing for a couple of years because of this, and now I’m back into it and I caught the fever again, if you will,” Dasher said. “I’m so excited to be working on new music and just to be growing this thing.”
Working independently has also changed how she approaches new material. Without a label setting boundaries, she said she feels less pressure to meet outside expectations about what she should record or how she should present herself.
“This time it’s just so much more free,” she said. “I don’t have any rules over me that I feel like I’m having to write for, or that I can’t do this or I can’t say this. I’m just making this as authentically Hannah as it can be. Just real.”
Why Dasher believes traditional country is returning
Dasher also addressed country music’s recent surge in mainstream popularity. From her perspective, the genre never truly disappeared, and the renewed interest in its 1990s sound was predictable.
“I think country is always trending,” she said. “I knew this ’90s thing would come back around.”
She recalled pushing for pedal steel guitar while working with her former label because she believed its traditional sound suited her music. That preference sometimes created friction with executives seeking a different production style.
Dasher compared the debate with earlier changes in Nashville, pointing to Patsy Cline’s resistance to the pop-oriented arrangements that helped define the Nashville Sound. Those recordings used orchestral strings and smoother production, choices that were controversial to traditionalists at the time but later became regarded as classics.
Her broader point was that stylistic cycles matter less than whether the songs continue to connect with listeners. “I just think good stuff sticks around,” Dasher said. “And I just think people right now are really craving authenticity.”
For Dasher, that means returning to songwriting on her own terms, with traditional instrumentation still in the plan and considerably fewer corporate instructions attached.
