'Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin' Stones': A Review

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Hannah Wicklund has always been ahead of the game. The South-Carolina born powerhouse musician started on the road to rock and roll at just eight years old. When she turned nine, she began honing her craft through live performances and she hasn’t stopped since. Wicklund graduated high school at age sixteen, and instead of opting for the collegiate route, she enrolled in the school of rock, becoming a full-time touring musician. In 2018, she released her debut album Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones under her own label: Strawberry Moon Records. All of this before she had even turned twenty-three.

Wicklund, now twenty-five, cites many classic rock artists as her source of musical inspiration, from Fleetwood Mac to Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix to Tom Petty. She also gathers influence from Motown superstars like Etta James and Marvin Gaye, notes of which are detectable in Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones. The ten-track album is a concoction of dirty, gritty rock and bluesy twang, both of which take a back seat to the true star of the show: Wicklund’s powerhouse mezzo-soprano vocals.

The opening track, “Bomb Through the Breeze,” is a fiery, villain-esque ballad with a steady driving drumbeat, provided by The Steppin Stones, and belted out by a rock and roll Rapunzel. Wicklund's lyrics paint a vivid scene - everything is slick with gasoline before she lights a singular match. Fwoosh. From the moment the needle hits the record, Wicklund’s influences are quickly discernible, but not to the extent of unoriginality. She draws on the guitar styles of Jimi Hendrix and the boot-stomping, hat-tipping sounds of the American south - her home. There is an aftertaste of Etta James’s Motown vocals and a lingering scent of the gothic notes of a Black Sabbath song - but ultimately, the most ubiquitous influence is that of Hannah Wicklund. She pulls the best musical threads out of the tapestries these incredible musicians have woven and spins them into a sound exclusive to her.

Wicklund leans further into her southern roots with the album's second track, "Ghost." "Ghost" is a much darker and heavier take on the country-rock taste that flavored records in the early 1970s. It's Linda Ronstadt with an electric guitar and an axe to grind - "I believe in voodoo, do you, do you, do you?"

One of the crowning jewels of Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones is “On The Road.” Wicklund’s infallible vocals take center stage as she wails and cries out in the most gorgeously guttural manner imaginable. Her voice rapidly flickers between gentle high notes and a thunderous chest voice before she soars into an enthralling guitar solo. Wicklund’s skill with a guitar is extraordinary, but she also harbors the ineffable and invaluable skill to pack her voice with raw emotion and send it reverberating into your bones. This quality is far more powerful than vocal or lyrical talent (not that she lacks in either), and it is a steel sword tucked into Wicklund’s musical arsenal. It is an element lacking in many of the machine-made artists behind the chart-toppers of today, further substantiating that Hannah Wicklund has always been ahead of the game.

Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones is one long crescendo of heavy rockers from "Mama Said" to "Crushing" to "Too Close to You," leading up to the concluding track: “Shadowboxes and Porcelain Faces.” Quite ingeniously, Wicklund juxtaposes the rest of the album with one final song that is distinctly different - an acoustic number, “Shadowboxes and Porcelain Faces” is the complete antithesis of every other tune on the album. Delicate guitar plucking and drum tapping on top of which Wicklund’s transcendent voice glides like a sailboat cruising on a tranquil sea. Don’t be deceived, however - her vocals are as fierce as ever, intensified by the simplicity of the instrumental. Her mezzo voice crackles like logs on a fire, popping and snapping and filling the room with palpable warmth. Once again, Wicklund's ability to inflate her vocals with such emotion cannot be understated. Her voice is a sponge, absorbing every emotion it can before she wrings it out and unleashes a wave of intense feeling on the listener. It’s breath-hitching, heart-stoppingly beautiful and it is the mark of a truly passionate musician.

With her debut album, Wicklund has made a proclamation: “Here I am.” It is magnificent and fierce, an ode to those who came before her that, no doubt, her favorite musical predecessors would be proud of. While the album itself is not necessarily earth shattering, it's the unbridled talent and potential Hannah Wicklund oozes that give it an air of magic. It is a highlight reel demonstrating her brilliance and complete originality, and it is the perfect stepping stone towards a bountiful career. Hannah Wicklund is a blooming rose in the thorny garden of rock - may she never be underestimated.

Watch Hannah's Live Performance of "Shadowboxes and Porcelain Faces" Below!