Makenzie Phipps Talks Influences, Writing Solo, and the Support of Family

With over a million streams on Spotify alone, Makenzie Phipps has spent several years recording and posting singles while traveling between Nashville and her hometown in Virginia, before finally settling in Music City last year. Phipps’ debut single, “Maybe,” was named “Female Country Song of the Year” at the 2021 Josie Music Awards, and she hasn’t looked back since being named “Future Star of Tomorrow” by the North American Country Music Association International. Fresh off the holiday release of her version of the Christmas classic “O Holy Night,“ Phipps is gearing up for 2025, writing and recording and booking live dates throughout Tennessee and beyond.

“I’ll be releasing a song beginning of February called ‘Love Me Sober,’” she said, talking about her new single produced by Grady Saxman (Luke Combs, Dustin Lynch). “Grady did a phenomenal job at bringing in the musicians that really captured how I wanted the song to sound. I like to write about the more serious topics that somebody out there may need to hear. You can just tell by the title there’s not going to be too much ambivalence about what this song must be about.”

Even though she’s in her early 20s, Phipps influences go way beyond her generation. “For starters I love Loretta Lynn, “she said. “She was one of the very first people I ever started listening to growing up. Then of course I love artists such as Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, all of them. But in today’s time my favorite artist is Ashley McBryde, I absolutely love her, I really look up to her. I think that she truly does have the country sound that I feel country music sometimes may be missing.”

Phipps has appeared on Lower Broadway and at Sunday Mornin’ Country at the Grand Ole Opry House, in addition to venues throughout Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and, of course, Virginia. “I’ve played down on Broadway,” she said, “and I do also go to writer’s rounds, so I’ve been at the Commodore and open mics at the Bluebird. Before I moved here I was traveling back and forth from Virginia to Tennessee, doing shows every other weekend there because I still have so much support there.”

She’s played piano for years, but Phipps tends to write on guitar and mostly on her own, with some occasional input from her accompanist, guitarist Shane Begley. “I feel as though I need to get a better foundation built for myself on how I write before I can start writing with these seasoned Nashville writers,” she said. “I’m grateful for Shane because he’s so incredibly talented with instrumentation. I can play like basic rhythm on the guitar, but as far as all the stuff that I have in my head, that’s where I turn to him and he brings in the different elements that really bring the song together the way I want it to sound. We’ve been going back and forth for four or five years now.”

Phipps expressed how grateful she is to have something so many aspiring artists don’t have, and that’s a supportive family. “When I decided to move down here my parents actually moved with me, and I was very, very appreciative,” she said. “A lot of people out there have the dream and they decide to come to Nashville on their own, and they don’t have any sort of family or friend support, and it can be really scary. I’m very fortunate that my parents have always had faith in me with my music and that they decided to take the next step and move with me.”

You can follow Phipps at the usual social media sites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvl9Nwldg2w

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