Janet Lynn Hattabaugh

Janet, at 22, has had the pleasure and honor of being compared to Alison Kraus and Emmylou Harris. Janet has been introduced as a “purist,” and as “the little girl who can make the hair on the back of your neck stand and draw a grown man to tears.” Janet may have just moved to the big city of Nashville, TN, but she grew up in the little country town of Pekin, IN with an extended family of musicians. She learned to appreciate the beauty of the acoustic sound from her father, a talented finger picking guitarist, at an early age when he would sing to her and play James Taylor, John Denver, and Dan Fogelberg covers. She was also raised listening to Vince Gil, Patty Lovelace, Travis Tritt, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Nickel Creek, and Sarah McLachlan just to mention a few.
Janet started singing as a small child and asked for her first guitar at age 13, and then started taking lessons from Jeff Guernsey, a master of the fiddle and a guitarist, who played with Steve Warner and Vince Gil. Janet has been performing live since age 16. At first she would perform with her dad who would accompany her with guitar and harmony vocals. They played local venues and restaurants, then began graduating to local festivals and events throughout Indiana, Kentucky and Eureka Springs, Arkansas while beginning to build her band.
She has entered many local and national talent search contests such as Nashville Star, in which she made it to one of the last rounds of the audition process in Nashville, TN in 2008, and the Colgate Country Showdown in Indiana and Kentucky. Janet along with her band won the WAMZ Colgate Country Showdown at Louisville, KY in 2007, opening for Joe Nichols. She’s performed at the Eureka Springs Bluegrass Festival in Arkansas with her dad and the Ronnie Reno band.
Along with Janet’s vocal talent she has discovered an interest in writing her own songs and music, which she performs in her live shows. She began writing songs at age 17, and her first co-writing experiences began with her mother. To this day they still co-write many of her songs including “Lesson Learned” and “Joker and the Fool.”
In 2008 Janet had the wonderful opportunity to meet producer Cliff Downs and graphic designer/video director Glenn Sweitzer of Fresh Designs. Janet began making many trips to Nashville with her Dad to co-write and work with Cliff Downs and Glenn Sweitzer. Janet, now in 2010, has just made the move to Nashville, TN to pursue her music career, work on her first cd, and finish up her first music video for “Everyday Magic” with Glenn Sweitzer.