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Calgary Herald

Thirteen-year-old Airdrie singer-songwriter Hayley Isabel to play Country Thunder

Article content Hayley Isabel was only 11 years old when she went to her first Country Music Alberta Awards, but she had already mastered the fine art of networking. Article content She had seen Kyle McKearney perform and had zeroed in on the veteran award-winning, alt-country singer-songwriter as someone she would like to collaborate with. So whenever they would meet, she would remind him of that. Article content Article content Article content 'Whenever I saw Kyle around, I would give him my little business card that I had,' says Hayley. 'I think I gave him my business card like five times. Eventually, he reached out to me on Instagram and asked me all of these really random questions about my music career, like how serious I am about it, where I want to go with it and why I love country music and all these questions. A month later, he asked me to open for him at the Ironwood. He was doing a record release for his album A Traveler's Lament, which was a huge deal for me. At the time, I was 11 and I was not ready to open for Kyle McKearney, but that really pushed me to work really hard so I could put on the best show. ' Article content Article content Now 13, Hayley has not slowed down. McKearney has collaborated with her on her sophomore single Fly High. At the time of this interview, the two were set to enter OCL Studios within a few days to record Hayley's newest single, Tag. Article content Article content In the meantime, she has graduated from Airdrie markets and open-mic nights hosted by her guitar teacher to playing gigs at the Strathmore and Calgary Stampedes and on the Big Valley Jamboree Horizon Stage. She also won the 2024 and 2025 Alberta Country Music Youth Horizon Award. Alberta Music gamely called her a 'pint-sized powerhouse' on its website. Her most recent single, Colour Changing, is an endearingly melodic coming-of-age tale co-written with Sonia Deleo. Article content On Friday, she will be opening the Country 105 Stage at Country Thunder backed by a five-piece band. This opportunity arose from another round of networking, although this time it required a little less effort on her part. While at the Country Music Alberta Awards in March in Calgary, she was approached by a booker from Country Thunder and asked if she wanted to play. Article content Hayley officially began performing on her 10th birthday when she played an open-mic night in Airdrie hosted by her future guitar teacher Steve Jevne, who will be playing lead guitar for her at Country Thunder. She played some originals, plus covers of The Band Perry's If I Die Young and Vance Joy's Riptide. Before that, she had taken piano lessons at the age of six. After learning Mary Had a Little Lamb, she brought her piano teacher a Taylor Swift book — Hayley cites Swift, Lainey Wilson and Jackson Dean as inspiration these days — and by the age of eight had switched her attention to guitar. She began listening to acts such as Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and has recently discovered 1990s rock. Article content She started booking gigs at markets and festivals. She sang the national anthem at the Calgary Stampede every day, and also played the Window on the West Stage. Article content Article content As for future plans, Hayley says she hasn't decided whether her singles are leading to a full-length album or EP in the near future. Article content 'One day, an album sounds really cool,' she says. 'The music industry is a little bit different, with singles being released a little more often than albums. There are a lot of really successful artists who release singles, so I'm not really sure what plans for that will be right now.'