Elise Harper was raised in the Memphis delta on a diet of country, gospel, and pop music, and it’s made her the rising star she is today – despite only stretching as tall as 4’11”. She moved to Nashville back in 2015 to start her professional journey in music, and she soon became a force to be reckoned with.
While her emotive voice had been her bread and butter up to then, it was in Nashville that she started to also focus on songwriting, meaning that she was able to tell the stories she wanted, and giving her listeners their own journey with her honest, heartfelt writing style and incredible delivery.
New single, ‘Bartender Therapy’, is perhaps Elise Harper’s most classic country tune she’s produced to date. Co-written by Elise, alongside Sarah Jones, Jason Lane, and Craig Wilson, it opens with acoustic guitar, piano, and percussion as it expands into a heartfelt and relatable song. From there pedal steel enters the mix, transporting listeners to a dive bar, where they’re ready to drown their sorrows over a broken heart. Elise’s mellow voice and stirring lyrics certainly pull on the heartstrings of music lovers everywhere, and bring back stirring memories.
There’s a further poignancy to ‘Bartender Therapy’, in that co-writer Craig Wilson unexpectedly died in March last year. Known for his exceptional songwriting talents, Craig considered ‘Bartender Therapy’ to be one of his favourites, and the song, as well as the music video that accompanies it, is a dream that Elise has fulfilled in his memory.
The clip for ‘Bartender Therapy’ tells the story of a young woman as she negotiates the ups and downs of love. Set against the background of a packed bar, and interspersed with scenes of sessions with a therapist, we follow her as she experiences moments of vulnerability, right up to her eventual empowerment. Viewers are invited to empathise with the woman’s experiences, and relate it back to their own relationships, and personal growth.
Watch the music video for ‘Bartender Therapy’, below, and find out more about Elise Harper and her music online on her official website, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.