We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Olivia Harms. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Olivia below.
Olivia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?
My hope is to write songs that folks can connect to long term. Music is one of the most powerful things in my opinion, so I strive to write music that can comfort listeners during a hard time, lift them up when they’re feeling low, or just be that friend that gets them excited to go out on a Friday night. Music connects people on a higher level than anything else. So I hope my legacy can be writing music that helps others, sheds a positive light on the hard times in life, and leaves a memorable impression.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Olivia Harms was born Western Music royalty, but the rhinestone cowgirl has stepped out on her own to craft a sound that is equal parts Texas, Bakersfield, and Nashville country.
The daughter of Western Music Hall of Fame member Joni Harms, Olivia grew up on a 150-year-old ranch in Canby, OR, and made her first appearance on stage when she was two days old. Her mother had labor induced so she wouldn’t miss her show. Twenty-eight years later, Olivia is following in her mothers creative bootsteps and basing herself out of Granbury, TX.
Olivia’s second album “Rhinestone Cowgirl” was released in 2021. Produced by D. Scott Miller and recorded in Nashville, the 11-song collection calls out to the cowboys, name-drops George Strait, swings through Buckaroo territory and packs plenty of twang and steel guitar. Olivia co-wrote every song. “I was going for a very traditional country vibe, but with some Bakersfield style country-western swing to bring back honky-tonks.” Olivia explained.
Her artistic identity has been honed since she was an infant. The singer grew up performing on stages all over the world with her mother. Olivia remembers yodeling in Europe and singing “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” in New Zealand.” When she was 6 years old, Santa Claus delivered her first guitar and sparked her love of songwriting. Ten years later, at 16 years old, Olivia went to Nashville to record her first album.
After high school Olivia went to Oregon State University while further pursuing her music career, and her second passion of agriculture. She graduated college with a degree in agriculture business management and cattle production, then she dove headfirst into the music business. Olivia books her own shows, handles public relations, and manages all her social media accounts in addition to writing, recording and playing more than 200 shows a year. “I try to be a real one-woman show” she said.
When Olivia was ready to record her second album. She wrote songs with noted country writers including Wood Newton (The Oak Ridge Boys “Bobbie Sue,” Kenny Rogers “20 Years Ago”) and Dennis Morgan (Barbara Mandrell “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool,” Ronnie Milsap “Smoky Mountain Rain.”) From her autobiographical “Gypsy” to the lighthearted “Hey There Cowboy” and the deeply personal “Goodbye,” “Rhinestone Cowgirl” is Olivia Harms.
After the release of her second album in 2021 Olivia was ready to hit the ground running after her dreams. She has since relocated to Texas and has released two singles to Texas Red Dirt Radio. Her first single, “Neon Blue,” peaked at #29 on the Texas Top 100 Chart. Her highly anticipated second release, “Hey There Cowboy” debuted on the Texas Top 100 Chart after only 3 weeks and is on the rise!
Olivia has found her niche genre, playing music for western lifestyle and honky-tonk lovers. She has been recognized for her hard work and perseverance to stay true to herself and play music that is authentic to her. In March of 2022 Olivia was honored to be in COWGIRL Magazines third class of “30 Under 30”, a gala hosted at The Drover Hotel in the Fort Worth Stockyards highlighting 30 western women under 30 years old that are making a difference in the western industry. Olivia was honored again in June of 2022 to be announced as “Singer of The Year” at the First Annual Women of The West Gala at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame Museum in Fort Worth, TX.
These days, Olivia spends the majority of her time touring Texas and the surrounding areas, returning to the northwest for tours in the summer and winter. Regardless of where she hangs her hat, she’s well in touch with her western roots.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
There’s no guidebook for how to build a list of venues for a musician. So I had to go about it the old fashioned way, go out and market myself. I started researching venues and events that had live music in my area, contacting them, being persistent, and sometimes even stopping by to put my name with a face. Slowly but surely with a lot of hard work and patience I started gaining a list of venues that hired me and ask me back, sometimes even suggesting other venues. It’s taken a lot of self marketing and selling myself to get the clientele/list of venues I have now.
Any advice for managing a team?
Keep your end goal in sight, but have smaller weekly or monthly achievable goals that you can set. Then when you get to that goal you can pay yourself on the back and have a Mile marker for you progress. It’s important in small business, especially when you’re running it alone, to feel like you’re making progress. The small goals can help you see the growth and know that all your hard work is paying off.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.oliviaharms.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/oliviaharmsofficial?igshid=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: Olivia Harms | Canby OR – Facebook https://m.facebook.com/Oliviaharmsofficial/
- Youtube: Olivia Harms – YouTube https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCBnjYxfktmENeVf_b-ivu_Q
Image Credits
McFarland Productions