Guest Room Sessions: Lynne Hanson, ‘Higher Ground’

For February's installment of The Boot's Guest Room Sessions, Canadian singer-songwriter Lynne Hanson recorded a stripped-down version of her song "Higher Ground." Press play above to watch.

For this version of the song, Hanson took her guitar to the small shed in which she stores her gardening tools alongside Ottawa-based artist Tara Holloway, who lends her rich harmonies to this rootsy, upbeat tune. In "Higher Ground," Hanson's catchy lyrics offer a solid nugget of hard-earned wisdom right up front: "If you wanna get to Heaven, you've gotta take the higher ground."

"I really wanted to capture the idea of choosing to rise above our basic human nature to respond to challenges with anger and negative emotion," Hanson reflects. But despite its uplifting message that encourages listeners to seek positivity in even the most infuriating of situations, "Higher Ground" wasn't exactly an easy song for Hanson to write.

"This particular song took me four tries to finally finish, including attempting three separate co-writes," she tells The Boot. "The location felt perfect given the song spent so much time on the workbench."

"Higher Ground" appears on Hanson's brand-new album, Just Words. Released on Feb. 7, the record is Hanson's seventh full-length record and comes on the heels of her 2018 win for English Songwriter of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Fans can order Just Words and find out more about Hanson via her official website.