We were lucky to catch up with Nancy Hays recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nancy , thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I believe that my latest release and music video, Heart Like a Train, is the most meaningful project I have ever worked on. This song has a very unique history. Releasing it involved me working in collaboration with many of my favorite artists, including my beloved daughter, actress Caroline Heffernan.
I was a singer/songwriter in my 20s in Nashville in the late 1980s. Although I tried, I was never able to get a major recording contract during those years. But I left behind a body of work, which included songs I had written myself and songs I recorded for other writers. One of the songs I recorded in 1987 was Heart Like a Train, a song composed by two Country Music Hall of Fame songwriters (the late Ronnie Samoset and Matraca Berg). 36 years later, in 2023, the song had never been recorded by any other artist but Nancy Hays. So I decided to finally release it so that the world could hear it. I can’t think of any other song in American history that has a story like that. It’s a gift to me and to the world to finally give birth to this classic country song. It truly is a newly discovered buried treasure!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a country artist that has been singing original and classic country songs in the studio and in concert for over four decades both in the US and in the UK, where I have made five tours. I still work with the same live band I worked with in my 20s, Nancy Hays & The Sawyer Brothers Band. They are awesome musicians and great people. My long time producer, Randy Gardner, has produced most of my recordings on my five albums and handles my tech and tour arrangements. Randy is also a life long friend. Recently, I have worked with an amazing award winning documentary filmmaker, Stephan Mazurek and his artistic partner, Liz Sung. They took my Heart Like a Train song and made an extraordinary little story film out of it. This music video and the song sung in it, is probably the best thing artistically I have ever been part of in my career to date.
In addition, over the years I have collaborated with choreographers that have written line dances to my music and who guide me in creating songs that are perfectly phrased to maximize dancer’s enjoyment. Choreographer Jo Thompson Szymanski is responsible for making my song “Come Dance With Me”, an international hit. Jo created a dance for it, and then taught it to hundreds of dance teachers, choreographers and dance enthusiasts. As a result, it spread to every country in the world! Every day thousands of dancers hold hands and sing and dance to “Come Dance with Me”. It has become a national line dance anthem that continues to win awards and gain in popularity each and every year.
The collaboration between music and dance and other artists (including filmmakers) is what makes Nancy Hays unique as an artist. My songs are shared art, and dancing to them involves the listener actively participating in the musical experience themselves not just with their ears and eyes but also with their feet!
I think I am most proud of the fact that I am still making music that is fresh and new later in life, after raising four kids with my husband, Sean, and making sure, we were both present for them throughout their young lives. I always filled the house with music and shared it with my kids, and as a result, they too are all professional artists. God blessed me with a musical family and we enjoy making music together when we gather at the holidays and during special vacations. My hope is that they will always include music in their lives in one capacity or another.
God has granted me a period of creativity now that they are grown too. During the pandemic I found time to write more songs and play both piano and guitar and nurture new music that is just beginning to emerge. I hope that this provides an example and inspiration to others that you should never put an age limit on your desire to make art and that maybe your best work is still in progress or ahead of you, no matter what your chronological age is. I am very driven to keep going and creating. I hope that desire never stops until God calls me home.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My resilience and determination to record and release Heart Like a Train, also defines who I am as an artist. I knew instinctively that the song Heart Like a Train was a hit in my 20s, even though others did not recognize that at the time. I never stopped thinking about the song as the decades passed. In 2012 when I was on tour in the UK, I decided to finally perform it live in front of an audience. I could not believe the reaction! I took it to a choreographer from the North of England named PJ Badrick and told him I was hoping he would create a line dance for it and then I left the UK. I knew that I wanted to finally release it for the line dance community that was supporting my music, but I still could not figure out how I could, since it is sung in the voice of a young girl and I was well into middle age at that point.
But I would lay awake at night thinking about the song, wondering if maybe my daughters could record it or I could sing it with them so the world could finally hear it. We even tried to sing a mother/daughter vocal version in the studio and it just did not feel right. More years passed and one of the songwriters, Ronnie Samoset passed away.
Flash forward 11 years and my desire to release Heart Like a Train never went away. I took it to my friend, Stephan Mazurek, a successful documentary filmmaker and asked him what he thought of it and if he would consider working with me on a music video. When Stephan heard it he said “This is perfect song for a music video and I can help you with it.” And he did. And when he shot the video, he made me the narrator of the song, which allowed me to sing and play guitar on it and to cast my very own daughter as the leading actress who is the protagonist in the story. It was the perfect solution. The rest is history.
So it took 35 years, but Heart Like a Train was finally born and was released in September of 2023 by the artist I believe it was intended for all along, Nancy Hays. The song is the “Little Engine that Could” and so is Nancy Hays.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is working with other artists and creatives. It is all I ever wanted to do for a career and it has never felt like work. I have been attracted to other artists of all types throughout my life; singers, dancers, poets, actors, songwriters, musicians, visual artists, comedians, performance artists, and writers of literary works. To me, there is no life without art.
Contact Info:
- Website: NancyHays.com, DanceWithNancy.com
- Instagram: @NancyHaysMusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Nancy-Hays-Official-Music-Page/100063668732399/
- Linkedin: NancyHaysEntertainment
- Twitter: @NancyHays
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nancyhays5119
- TikTok: @NancyHaysMusic
Image Credits
Photos by Stephan Mazurek.