Stagecoach: From Iowa musings to 'Jolene,' here's our favorite moments from Hailey Whitters' set

There's nothing like seeing an artist who used to be in tiny font on a music festival lineup rise in the ranks.

That's exactly what country music singer-songwriter Hailey Whitters did with her late afternoon Stagecoach set Friday. Near the beginning of the performance, Whitters reminded the crowd that she was at California's country music festival just two years ago — with her "girl" Lainey Wilson, as she called her — and was singing on a "tiny stage in the middle of the field."

That tiny stage was the SiriusXM's Spotlight Stage, a spot where, at the 2022 festival, emerging artists performed on a small stage in the middle of the GA section before it was time for the bigger artists to take the Mane Stage.

Friday night, it was Whitters' turn to take the Mane Stage. Here's our three favorite moments from her set.

1. 'Between Caitlin Clark and Hailey Whitters, it's a great year for Iowa'

The above quote didn't come from Whitters, to be fair, but it was still a good one to sum up her vibe. During Whitters' upbeat set Friday, Desert Sun reporter Paul Albani-Burgio was standing next to me when the singer started talking about her upbringing in Iowa and how the 2022 song "Boys Back Home" was written in honor of all the country boys she grew up with who taught her how to drink and stand up for herself.

"Between Caitlin Clark and Hailey Whitters, it's a great year for Iowa," he said only half joking.

Whitters' Iowa roots run deep. She even called herself a "corn star" and said she has "corn star" hats available for purchase on her website if anyone was interested. Her drummer's drumset also displayed the message "corn is for lovers," which yours truly especially loved as a Midwestern transplant.

2. All the covers Hailey Whitters sang during her Stagecoach set

Whitters sang both Tyler Childers' song "Feathered Indians" and Dolly Parton's iconic "Jolene" during her Mane Stage set, and I was thoroughly impressed by both. I don't think Childers' song is particularly hard to sing (though that doesn't make it any less of a great song), but it's hard to compete with the original "Jolene" — though Beyonce did a pretty amazing job covering it for "Cowboy Carter." Then again, she's Beyonce.

When I heard the opening notes of "Jolene," I have to admit I cringed a little, wondering why she wasn't choosing one of her own songs to sing after just singing "Feathered Indians" a couple songs before, but I think she made the right choice. Although she's come far, Whitters is still on the rise, and I think she kept the audience on her side by singing a couple other songs she knew would be crowd-pleasers.

3. When Hailey Whitters expressed her gratitude to the crowd for helping her stay in country music

A particularly sweet part of Whitters set was how she took us through the last few years of her career, explaining between songs how she was so close to giving up on a music career after being told by several Nashville execs that she was "too country" and later being told she was "not country enough."

However, her supporters told her all it would take was one song to change everything, and that's exactly how she introduced her first platinum hit "Everything She Ain’t," which the crowd went wild for the second the opening notes started playing. Whitters thanked everyone for making the song so beloved on country radio, and thus being a big part of the reason she was asked back to Stagecoach.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Stagecoach 2024: 3 things we loved about Hailey Whitters' set