Story by Emily Williams, Features Editor
Photo contributed by Haleigh Martin
Haleigh Martin stepped up to the mic at Mr. J’s Grill and Pub and drew in a deep breath. Glancing out at the chatty, expectant crowd at open mic night, there was only one thought going through her head at what was her first live performance.
“Don’t mess up,” she coached herself. “Don’t mess up at all.”
She adjusted the strap on her guitar, brushed the hair off her shoulders and began to sing. The chatter of the crowd dwindled down to a soft lull until there was complete silence. All except for Haleigh Martin and her guitar.
She finished her song, stepped back from the mic and watched as the crowd erupted in praise.
For the 18 year old Paducah native, this was the beginning of a beautiful journey of dedication and passion in pursuit of her music. This was the night that bridged the gap between ordinary and extraordinary.
Even as a young girl in a small-town church, Martin knew she loved music. After her church worship leader and his family announced that they would be moving away, he asked Martin to take over for him at 12-years-old. Taking on this new role, she was immediately placed into a position of leadership in her church and given the opportunity to grow musically.
Martin said her faith is very important to her and she takes God’s plans for her life very seriously.
“For five years, I was this little kid leading praise and worship,” Martin said. “But I loved it, so that’s kind of how I knew it was my passion.”
With a strong support system of family and friends backing her up, Martin decided to come to Murray State to pursue a career in music business. She said under the direction of Karen Kane, music business program director at Murray State, she fell in love with the program and campus and decided it was the place for her.
Kane, who brings years of experience to the classroom at Murray State as a former senior director of marketing with Warner Brothers and a former director of artist development and marketing with Sony, said Martin is one of the most exceptional students she has ever taught.
“I’m pretty close with all of my students, but Haleigh is special,” Kane said.
Kane said while she knew Martin played out and performed in various locations around the area, she usually tried to keep a wall up about her students and their performances. Her students were seen as business majors rather than as artists.
“I knew that she performed out, but she never talked about it,” Kane said. “She never brought it up to me.”
Kane said after Martin did her internship with Curb Records on Music Row in Nashville the previous summer, something told her that she needed to check out what she was like as an artist, not just a business student. So she went online and checked out some of Martin’s work.
“She’s really good,’” Kane said. “I mean, she’s really good.”
Kane said having been in the music business for a long time and having heard a lot of acts, Martin was like a breath of fresh air.
“You don’t hear very many really good ones,” Kane said. “You especially don’t expect to find them right under your nose in your class.”
Kane said Martin never asks for favors or special attention.
“When you discover things on your own, especially in the music business, that makes it even better,” Kane said. “In our industry, that means something. It’s so much more powerful.”
Martin said after her initial gig at Mr. J’s with the help of another local artist and friend, Stephanie Wood, things seemed to take off. She was asked to perform at Barbeque on the River in Paducah, Paducah Beer Werks, JP’s Bar and Grill and venues in Paris, Tennessee. Most of her weekends are spent performing in the area or in Nashville.
“From Mr. J’s, it kind of just exploded,” Martin said.
Martin said her first co-write was in Nashville with Mark Evitts, a Murray native. Martin said she was 16 when she first wrote a song with Evitts.
She said Evitts studied music at Murray State before moving to Nashville. He now tours with Rodney Adkins and composed the string arrangements for an album by Joey and Rory, a duet who won third place on CMT’s “Can You Duet” in 2008.
“Joey and Rory’s album that Mark did arrangements for is their Roots Gospel album ‘Hymns That Are Important To Us,’” Martin said. “It won a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album in 2017. Mark taught me a lot about Nashville and helped introduce me to the business,” Martin said.
Martin has a long list of people that she credits as having helped her and encouraged her in her pursuit of music. Mark Evitts, Stephanie Wood, Karen Kane, her family, Vince Dodd and her friend Addie Peters are just a few to name.
Martin said the Haydens, a family that she is particularly close to and who supports her endlessly, go to almost every performance that she has.
“I’ve known the Hayden’s since I was very, very young,” Martin said. “Our families are very close and they love me like one of their own children.”
Martin said Kevin Hayden was also in her praise and worship band when she began to sing and lead worship. She said Hayden sometimes plays rhythm for her even to this day.
Addie Peter, senior from Tell City, Indiana and one of Martin’s closest friends through the music business program, said she met Martin in keyboarding class. She said as soon as she met Martin, she knew there was something special about her.
“I remember she looked up and said hi,” Peter said. “And I was like, ‘She looks like she’s somebody. Do I need to know who this person is?’”
Peter said Martin’s focus and dedication to her work inspired her.
“Watching her work so hard in her career encouraged me to work hard in my career,” Peter said. “I think without her being in my life, I wouldn’t have worked so hard to get to where I am in the program.”
Peter said as Martin’s roommate, she sees firsthand just how well she balances work, school and time with friends and family.
“She’s a friend that’s always there,” Peter said. “She’s always there for you, but she’s always working and she’s maintaining like, a 4.0 grade average all the time. It’s insane to watch.”
Peter said Martin captures a crowd in a unique way at her local gigs.
“In a normal environment, if you’re in a restaurant and there’s a singer, most people ignore them,” Peter said. “But she gets on stage and opens her mouth, everyone turns. Everyone in the room turns because you hear it. And everyone is like, you know, ‘That girl is going to be a star.’”
One unique aspect about Martin that makes her stand out as a musical artist is her head of big, curly brown hair. A drawing of her hair is featured on her Haleigh Martin Music t-shirts.
“The hair is something that, when people see me, they’re like, ‘That’s Haleigh,” Martin said.
Martin said she considers her music to fall under the progressive country genre, drawing a lot of influence from artists such as Patsy Cline and Tori Kelly.
“I think the fact that I have those jazzy, soul influences in my music is unique,” Martin said. “People have told me that they’ve never heard anything like that. So that’s pretty cool, when people kind of recognize those things in your music and mention it.”
Martin said she remembers the first song she wrote for her middle school principal.
“She found out that I sang and she was like, ‘We’re gonna put you on YouTube,’” Martin said. “So I wrote a song. I was in eighth grade and she pulled me into her office and they put me on her YouTube channel. After that, I started my own YouTube channel a few months after that.”
Martin said it has been encouraging to have a number of local artists around her to support her, write songs with her and spur her on.
“There is such a lively and strong music scene around here,” Martin said. “It’s so inspiring and it seems like it doesn’t matter what your kind of music is as long as you’re passionate about it. People around here, they dig it and they are just so supportive and it’s the same way in Paducah as well. It’s almost like a small Nashville around here.”
Martin said in the music business program, they talk about what each artist’s ‘I made it’ moment would look like specifically for them. She said her ‘I made it’ moment would be performing her music at the CMA’s or the Grammy’s.
“I wouldn’t even have to win anything,” Martin said. “Just performing for that audience would be enough for me.”
Kane said she believes Martin has both the talent and intelligence to make it in the industry.
“When somebody comes along like that, who is as talented and easy-going as she is, that’s a good combination,” Kane said. “She’s got anything that anybody would ever want in an artist. I think Haleigh will be wherever she wants to be in 10 years.”
Martin said she will release a single on May 14 on M-Track Records.