Hadlie Jo Inks Publishing Deal With Sony Music Publishing Nashville In Partnership With GREAT DAANE MUSIC

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Singer-songwriter Hadlie Jo has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with Sony Music Publishing Nashville in partnership with Whitney Daane‘s GREAT DAANE MUSIC.

“Hadlie Jo writes songs with an authentic heart and delivers them with a traditional honesty that reminds you why you fell in love with country music,” shares Sony Music Publishing Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston. “We couldn’t be more excited to champion Whitney and Hadlie Jo as they bring her unique songs to life.”

Hailing from Jena, Louisiana and growing up in Midland, Texas, she played music with her dad and began writing songs at 12 during COVID, where she honed in on her guitar skills. She also plays piano, banjo, mandolin and fiddle. In 2025, she graduated with honors with a degree in Commercial Music from South Plains College, majoring in Voice.

She soon after moved to Nashville, where she began working with songwriter/producer Jimmy Melton and A&R exec Renee Bell. Jo has collaborated with Vince Gill and Sharon Vaughn, co-penning Gill’s “Nothing Like They Used To Be.”

“I am beyond excited that I get to work with Rusty Gaston, Chelsea Kent, and the whole amazing Sony Music Publishing team, as well as with my ‘fairy song mother’, Whitney at GREAT DAANE MUSIC,” says Jo. “Getting to write with so many incredible songwriters, many of whom I have idolized for years, is literally a dream come true, and the fact that my first big cut is by one of my musical heroes, Vince Gill, and that I got to write it with Sharon Vaughn and him blows my mind! Now I’ve got to get to work to prove all of them right for taking a shot on a young artist and writer that just got to town with her Gibson guitar and her medical support dog, Lucy!”

Jo has a rare genetic immune deficiency, hypogammaglobulinemia, with an Antibody Deficiency. “My hope is that I can bring awareness to my unique condition and normalize having to work around illness or special needs for other kids,” she explains. “Participating in the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and Musicians on Call is one of my goals for 2026 now that I am 18. Sometimes it can be challenging, but I never let it hold me back, and Lucy, my medical support dog, makes that possible… and she has her own headphones!”

Her new single “Things” will release this Friday (March 20). It was co-penned alongside Melton and Mike Mobley, and is a homage to the floods in Texas last summer, and her first night in Nashville spent sheltering in an Airbnb bathtub for hours during a tornado.

“You can’t replace your loved ones, but losing your home, all your belongings, all your photos and memories is devastating,” says Jo. “It’s like erasing your life and starting over. My heart goes out to everyone who has suffered that kind of loss… ‘they’re not just THINGS.’”

Madison Hahnen
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