Springfield native wins independent music award at Grand Ole Opry

November 20, 2024

By Tyler Graves

tgraves@mainstreetmediatn.com

Original article published here: https://mainstreetmediatn.com/articles/uncategorized/springfield-native-wins-independent-music-award-at-grand-ole-opry/

Just weeks before returning to her hometown of Springfield for a reunion show, country music artist Alicia Harvey continues to make her mark in the independent music scene, after receiving a Song of the Year award for her newest single at the 10th annual Josie Music Awards in Nashville.

Held on October 27 at the Grand Ole Opry House, the JMAs, the largest independent music award show in the world, recognizes the best independent artists in the country across a variety of genres.

Out of the over 196 honors presented that night out of 75,000 total submissions, Harvey received the award for Song of the Year Country/Female (Multiple Songwriters) for a song titled Losin’, which she co-wrote with David Easterling.

In addition to Song of the Year Country/Female, Harvey was also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year (Country) and Female Artist of the Year. After beating out 11 other nominees to receive the award, Harvey says she was taken aback and overwhelmed by the honor.

“I didn’t know until the ceremony, and it was a complete shock,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it. It was my first year applying. Each artist can basically nominate themselves, or someone else can nominate you, but I nominated myself because I released my first EP in February.”

Since moving to Knoxville in 2015, Harvey, a 2003 graduate of Springfield High School, has continued to make a name for herself locally, releasing her debut self-titled EP last February, with the now award-winning Losin’ as the album’s first single.

Despite continuing to build her musical career, Harvey says she plans to stay plugged into the local music scene in east Tennessee, while making occasional trips back to Nashville for songwriters’ rounds and performances.  

“I don’t get to make it back as often, but my goal next year is to plug a little but more into the writing community, but not play 120 shows a year. I thought I probably need to slow down just a tad, because I still work full time too.”

And while remaining content as an independent artist, she wouldn’t rule out a chance to someday break through and sign with a major label if the right opportunity for her presents itself.

“Nowadays with social media and the way things are its harder to get signed these days, unless you have high social media numbers and you’re just going viral and things like that,” Harvey said. “That’s kind of what the labels are focusing more on these days, your numbers. But with being independent you can be fully in control of your career and decide what happens when. You just don’t have the financial backing, which unfortunately can put the career on a slow path.”

“I just figured I’ll do the best I can and if the right person hears it and the right label comes along, that would be great,” she added.

Local residents will have the opportunity to hear Harvey’s music in person on Saturday, November 23, where she will be performing at BS Brew Works in Springfield from 7-9 pm.

Calling it her “hometown show,” Harvey will be playing songs from her new EP and also have CDs and other merchandise for sale. Although she usually returns to Springfield for a performance at least once a year, this most recent gig was booked thanks to the help of a friend who gave her a call at the brewery last summer with the idea to play there.

“I stay pretty busy and don’t get to come home very often, so it should be a good time. I’ll have a bunch of family and hometown friends come out to see me. It’s been a little over a year.”

Harvey also says that aside from other historic venues she would love to perform in someday, it has been a dream of hers to return to her hometown for a large festival-style show for the entire community to enjoy.

“The Grand Ole Opry is a big goal of mine, but another goal is to put on a huge show in Springfield, to be able to block off part of the street and just have a big block party.”

More information about Harvey and her music can be found online at www.aharveymusic.com/ as well as her Spotify and YouTube pages.