Get Real with Caroline Hobby · Nashville Podcast Network

Huntergirl: Faith Fame and Finding Yourself Again

·50 min·3 clips

Hunter Girl says she started an all-female veteran songwriting class with Freedom Sayings during 2020.

1. Get Real with Caroline Hobby talks with Hunter Girl about faith, fame, and finding herself again through American Idol and songwriting. 2. Caroline Hobby hosts the conversation, and Hunter Girl is the singer-songwriter and American Idol runner-up whose songs connect to her family and her career. 3. The episode follows Hunter Girl’s question of what happens when a fast rise slows down and she has to decide what kind of artist she wants to be. 4. Hunter Girl explains that her name came from kindergarten, when a front-office worker started calling her “Hunter Girl” to distinguish her from another Hunter in class. 5. She says her last name is Walkinowski, jokes that “kindergarten sucked” when teachers had to spell it, and describes the nickname sticking for life. 6. Caroline and Hunter Girl talk about “Clockworks,” which Hunter Girl wrote about her grandfather after he developed dementia. 7. Hunter Girl says her grandfather was “the best cook” and that she wishes she could eat his spaghetti or ask him more questions now. 8. She connects that grief to the way grandparents provide peace, perspective, and stability through life changes. 9. Hunter Girl explains the 20th season of American Idol, including the golden ticket, the platinum ticket, and the four audition rounds she had to complete during the COVID era. 10. She describes crying before her Nashville judges audition, walking in with smeared makeup, and seeing Katie, Luke, and Lionel on the panel. 11. She says the platinum ticket came after a Broadway filming day, where she played with a band she had just met and borrowed in-ears from someone on site. 12. Hunter Girl says only three platinum tickets were given that year, and she still had to survive Hollywood Week to reach the top 24. 13. She describes Hollywood Week as a sleep-deprived stretch in a convention hall where everyone was running on granola bars and nerves. 14. Hunter Girl says many strong singers did not make the top 24, which made her feel lucky to keep moving forward step by step. 15. Caroline and Hunter Girl return to “Ain’t About You,” which Hunter Girl says came from a prayer in her bedroom when she was unsure about her life in Nashville. 16. She says two separate women pointed her toward American Idol within two days, which made her feel like all the flags had turned green. 17. Hunter Girl describes her “finding myself year” around “Somewhere Wild,” when she wanted to reconnect with her Southeast Tennessee roots and her country sound. 18. She says Bob DiPiero and Jeff Garrison wrote the song with her in about an hour and a half, and Trent Willmon later produced it after meeting her through CMT’s Next Women in Country. 19. Listeners who like country songwriting, American Idol stories, and family-centered artist journeys will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners who want short, plot-light celebrity chat may want to skip this one.

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