Featured photo provided by Miley Henderson
Story by Destiny Mizell
If you want more news like this, sign up for the Sidelines weekly newsletter here! Find it in your inbox every Thursday afternoon.
Seventeen year old Miley Henderson strode onto the carpeted stage of Ford Theater in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
As the only teenager, she stood amongst established artists Maggie Baugh, Denitia and Jack McKeon for the Acoustic Guitar Project’s songwriter round, held earlier this month inside the vereated hall. The Acoustic Guitar Project is a global concert series that selects a handful of artists in a city to record a song in seven days and perform it.
In true Southern singer-songwriter style, she sported brown cowboy boots, a sky-blue, floral babydoll-esc dress and a white bow in her hair. Henderson went first in the songwriter round, which added to her nervousness but fueled her excitement. She channeled her nerves into radiance as she took her place on the wooden barstool in the center of the stage.
She picked up the acoustic guitar covered in signatures from previous participants and placed a capo on the neck. During the two-song set, she debuted the song she wrote with the Acoustic Guitar Project’s guitar. Called “It Don’t Snow in Texas,” the tune explores wrestling with feeling homesick and her overwhelming sense of purpose and belonging in Tennessee.
The night hit a milestone in Henderson’s career. She performed in front of an audience several times — even once at The Bluebird Cafe — but the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is “next level.” The aspiring star dreams of sharing her art with a broader audience. Playing at the distinguished venue and familiarizing herself with local artists inched her closer to that desire.
The night culminated a week of work for The Acoustic Guitar Project. The organization provides the same guitar and a simple recorder to the artists and asks them to write and record a song in seven days without any editing. Those in the program must create a video talking about the song. Once finished, they sign the guitar, take a photo with it and pass it to the next person in the city. After submitting the song, organizers hold a concert for songs crafted during the project. The last step of the program is “Demo Day,” where the artists record songs with Nashville studio musicians.
Henderson got selected to participate because of her heavy involvement with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s songwriting tune-up program and summer songwriting camp for the past two years. Her passion and commitment made her an ideal candidate.
“It [the songwriting camp] is the best thing to ever happen to me,” Henderson said.
The camp opened her up to new experiences and allowed her to expand her creative horizons.
“I like being able to bounce my ideas off of super talented, really creative people and meet with super cool mentors like Caitlin Evanson, Taylor Swift’s fiddle player,” she said.
Despite Henderson’s connection with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, she and her family only moved to Tennessee less than a year ago.
Born and raised in Edgewood, Texas, her family moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, in September 2023. The decision came after visiting Nashville for a couple summers when Henderson participated in the songwriting camp.
“Moving here wasn’t with the idea to get Miley on some red carpet somewhere with a record deal,” said Rose Henderson-Evans, her mother. “Obviously that is mostly her dream, but just the knowledge and experience you get out here is really unmatched to any place else. Co-writing, relationships, confidence, knowledge and experiences are all things she can and has already started to get from being in Nashville and that’s the stuff to lean into. If it takes her to a red carpet, cool. Or if it takes her to a backroom studio, making relationships with other artists and making just enough to pay her bills and keep doing what she loves, also cool.”
Going from a one-grocery-store-and-one-fast-food-joint town to one of the fastest-growing states in the country gave her a culture shock at first. Her new high school is significantly more populated than where she attended her freshman and sophomore years in Texas; It took her a second to get in a groove and adapt. However, she feels a strong sense of belonging near Nashville and thrives in city living.
Growing up, Henderson could always be found singing.
“She has been musical since she could talk, memorizing entire songs — verses too, not just the typical catchy parts — since about four years old, ” Henderson-Evans said.
Blues guitarist Bugs Henderson, who played amongst B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn and more, is her grandfather. As a child, Henderson anticipated star-struck gazing up at her grandfather “playing the guitar like no other” from the concert crowd.
“He is where I get all of my musical stuff from, even though my dad played some,” Henderson said. “I always knew that I wanted to be doing what he did one day”
Her father, who died from cancer when she was eight years old, also encouraged her to pursue her aspirations.
“My dad has definitely impacted me, and honestly I feel like it has made me the person that I am today,” Henderson said. “I probably wouldn’t be as strong minded or want to chase my dreams as badly. It crafted me into the person that I am. With that loss, I had to put all of my love into music I feel like. Even though I wasn’t writing yet, singing helped and once I started writing and playing guitar, something clicked. I know music is where I’m supposed to be, I can just feel it.”
Henderson dove in headfirst into her musical career during the pandemic when she began practicing the keyboard and wrote her first songs around 13. She shifted her focus to guitar and primarily uses it in her songwriting process, one of her daily activities.
She described her music today as a mixture of folk and country, leaning towards folk. Her lyrical inspiration stems from artists like Hozier, Taylor Swift, Caamp and Noah Kahan. However, she expects her sound to evolve as she grows.
Henderson’s 85 year old grandmother and aunt on her father’s side traveled to see her performance. She hadn’t saw her grandmother since last March and had a short period of time together but cherished it. A complete surprise to her, the visit warmed her heart and instilled a sense of pride when she took to the stage.
Her experience with the Acoustic Guitar Project exposed her to different approaches to songwriting and local talent.
“I thought it was a really amazing opportunity and I just can’t wait to get to be in an environment like that again,” Henderson said. “I think moving forward I want to focus on my guitar-playing and songwriting. I want to be more visual with my writing and make the audience feel something just by playing a certain lick on my guitar.”
Henderson dreams of majoring in songwriting with a minor in music business at Belmont, but is eying Lipscomb and Middle Tennessee State University as well. Wherever she decides to attend college, she longs to be close to the vibrant Nashville music scene. Afterwards, she would love to tour and grow a fanbase, but not to a “Taylor Swift or Britney Spears” level.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell and Assistant Lifestyles Editor Shamani Salahuddin, email [email protected]. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Instagram at MTSUSidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
