The Tree

Essie Country Reflections 
A review
February 24, 2026

The Tree
Cowritten & Performed 
by Hannah Dasher
Released 09/27/2019
Intro by Gene Johns 

I’m going out on a limb by highlighting “The Tree.” It’s a song that accurately describes what’s happening to country music. But I’ve had second thoughts about sharing it, so read on to find out why.
 
In recent years, several real country music artists have released songs about the sad state of today’s country music. This week’s Essie Country’s Reflection’s spotlight, “The Tree,” is one of those songs, and it’s a good one!
 
“The Tree,” performed by Hannah Dasher, is a superbly written song about how today’s country music, with its watered-down hip-hop melodies, is branching out too far from the tree of real country music, therefore killing country music.
 
Hannah’s “The Tree” is the perfect battle song for Essie Country’s fight against the invasion of fake country music into Nashville. As Hannah says in this song, “getting a little too far from the three chords and the truth bar, forgetting where the roots are, is going to kill the tree.” 
 
“The Tree” is a warning, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane warning, that the winds of pop, hip-hop are uprooting the tree of country music and leaving it to die. That is why Essie Country promotes real country songs and real country artists. We are planting saplings of real country music in the minds of new listeners. 
 
I would have preferred the musicality of this song to have a more traditional country sound. It’s a little too far from that sound. The musical interlude, with an almost heavy metal-sounding guitar, is, in my opinion, a bit hypocritical because it’s far from the tree of real country music. But Hannah’s real country vocal performance and the lyrics of this song could easily become the mission song for Essie Country and deserve to be heard.
 
With some hesitation, I invite you to give Hannah and Essie Country the privilege of sharing with you an awesome fight song against today’s fake country music, which is branching out too far from the tree of real country music. Click the link below and listen to Hannah perform “The Tree.” 
 
Please listen closely to the words of “The Tree.” The lyrics are awesome, but the music is a bit loud and messy. It can be noisy when trimming a tree. 

                            The Tree
                  by Hannah Dasher
https://youtu.be/YNQPg3I2iJA?si=--caU2_DVbRxQAPX