Starter Stories: Music, Collaboration, Belonging with Alice Hardin

Written by Margee Stanfield

Photos contributed by Kristi Woody

There was a brief moment when Alice Hardin thought she might have to move away from Jackson. During that time, she spoke to a friend who had been bringing her kids to Alice’s classes, they were still just getting to know each other. “I was telling her we may have to move, and she said, ‘If you move, I'll be devastated because when I met you through this class, that made me want to stay in Jackson,’” she recalled. “ I felt seen because my hope is that in my classes, I want people to feel a true connection and feel like their loneliness gets to have a break just for 45 minutes.”

Teaching music came to Alice when she was at home with her two children, who were 1 and 6 at the time. “I was just looking for a way to get out of the house and meet other families with kids my age,” she said. “And I have always had a background in nannying. I have a background in singer-songwriting. I just kind of married the two as far as classes go.”

Alice started out at a different company, teaching kids music classes. She’s been teaching music classes and building rapport in the Jackson area in that format since 2021.

“In 2023, I just was like, ‘I'm ready to start my own thing. I love what I'm doing. I love the community I'm building here, and I feel like I'm doing all of the legwork and all of the promotion and all of the planning and everything. So I don't think I need to be paying a franchise fee for all the work I'm doing,” Alice explained.

So she decided to split off and start her own business, and Music With Alice was officially born. Music With Alice is a live acoustic folk music experience for kids and their adults to have fun together, make music, and connect.

“Music has been significantly more important to me by a more folk tradition, which is communal,” Alice said. “ I don't have a background in education, and when I've tried to pretend like I do, it's felt very out of alignment. I lean into what I do best and kind of stay in my lane, which is connecting people with each other through music. And then also providing a fun time for kids.”

After doing Music With Alice for a couple of years, Alice started the CO.STARTERS program to reinforce what she had already been building and doing. While Alice already had a business background, CO.STARTERS helped her organize what she already had going on. 

“My friend Lisa Garner kept telling me about the CO.STARTERS program, and I just felt like I could really use it because it's not a strong point,” Alice said. “It's something I've had to fight to make myself do or discipline myself to do, but coming to theCO was really helpful for me to get some systems in place.”

CO.STARTERS helped Alice stabilize her thoughts about how she wanted to explain her business, gave her confidence in narrowing down who her target audience is, examine how she was approaching her business, and made her more aware of the resources available at theCO and in Jackson. 

“I hate looking at numbers, and it forced me to do that. I probably should go through it again every year, so that they force me to do that,” Alice laughed. 

Alice has collaborated with several other businesses over the years. She doesn’t have her own space that she operates out of. During the time we spoke, she was currently operating out of The Yellow Canary. 

“One of the win-win situations I've found is finding other small businesses that do have space and asking them if they would like to collaborate by bringing people into their store in exchange for some space to do a class,” Alice said. 

Not having her own space has its ups and downs. While Alice would love to have her own spot where everything is right where she wants it to be, getting to collaborate with other small businesses has been extremely rewarding. 

“Like at The Yellow Canary, just today someone told me, ‘You know, I never go into The Yellow Canary, but when I came to your class I did, and then I bought something, I would've never bought anything there,’” she said. “I love that so many of these small businesses are popping up downtown, so to even think that I'm a part of their success is really cool.”

Alice says it has been an excellent way to build community, hopefully benefit other businesses, and even give her some avenues to workshop ideas for things she wants to do. 

Alice has felt very seen and inspired by the response she gets from the people of Jackson. She was asked to play on the first ever Kids’ Stage this year at Our Jackson Home’s Porchfest.

“Getting asked to do Porchfest for these kids is a huge deal for me, getting to be on the first-ever kids stage,” Alice said. “ I've done it three times before this.  I can't wait to do it with the kids, though, because it's just special. It feels like the most communal day of the year in Jackson for me.”

In addition to playing Porchfest, Alice has some other exciting things going on this year. 

“I got a grant through the Jackson Arts Council so I could record some of my kids' music. So I finally have the masters. They're recorded. I'm getting artwork made, and it'll probably be released in October. So I'll have a seven-song, little children's album. That's coming,” Alice said.
If you want to support Alice, you can do so by signing up for a class, telling others about her classes, telling local businesses they can sponsor classes, following Alice on Instagram at @alicethemusician, and visiting her website.