Hailey Whitters Shares How She Recruited Trisha Yearwood for ‘How Far Can It Go?’

Hailey Whitters released Living The Dream, the deluxe edition of her album The Dream, in February, with an impressive list of guest artists. That list includes Trisha Yearwood, who joined Whitters for the young love celebration “How Far Can It Go?” During an appearance on Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music Country, Whitters opened up about recruiting Yearwood for the song, sharing that she’s been a fan of the star for years.

“I’m just a die hard Trisha Yearwood fan,” Whitters said. “‘She’s In Love With The Boy,’ it came out… I was 10, when that song came out and it was the song… Singing into a hairbrush microphone, barefoot on the lawn and forcing my family to sit around and listen to me, sing this song. I mean, Trisha was just everything that I wanted to do and be in country music. And so I came from a fan-girl perspective.”

Whitters wrote “How Far Can It Go?” with Hillary Lindsey and Nicolle Galyon and shared that the trio was “just trying to channel a modern day, ‘She’s In Love With The Boy.’” “When we got that one and we’re thinking about who could be on it, I mean, I was like, ‘If we could get Trisha Yearwood, that would be insane,’” she recalled. “And we got that phone call. I remember getting that… I kind of was like, ‘No, she’s not going to do it. I’m not going to get my hopes up…’ But we got that phone call and [fiancé] Jake [Gear] and I literally jumping up and down, screaming in the house, texting everyone in my family and friend group that I knew would just die. It was just, it was insane.”

Whitters shared that the first time she heard the song with Yearwood’s vocals on it, she was at home in Iowa “driving those same back roads that I used to drive in high school, in my truck hearing her voice come through the radio.” “Only now this time, 14 years later, I’m getting to hear our voices together on a song and something about being in that place, again,” she said. “The place where it all started for me and getting to hear that and feel that moment was just literally one of the, ‘Living The Dream,’ moments.” In addition to Yearwood, the deluxe edition of Living the Dream also features appearances by Little Big Town, who joined Whitters for “Fillin’ My Cup,” Jordan Davis, who appears on “The Ride,” Brent Cobb on “Glad to Be Here” and Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey on “How To Break A Heart.”