Hannah Harper’s singing career is a family business.
Her husband, Devon Mendenhall, is her new tour manager. He had quit his law enforcement job of eight years and found a job doing insurance but decided he wanted to do something more family-oriented.
“We were going to try to just do, like, a work-on-the-road kind of thing,” said Harper, the latest AMERICAN IDOL winner and mother of three young boys. “And then music just got too busy. And he was like, ‘You know what? I think I want to be tour manager.’ And I was like, ‘That’s perfect. I think you should do that.’”
Though they are together a lot, they still struggle with the work-life balance.
“You know, like, when normal people go home, they’re done working for the day, but our work is at home. So it’s hard for us to be able to turn it off,” she said.
She’s honored that Mendenhall has changed his life for her and their family.
Related: AMERICAN IDOL’s Hannah Harper Lands the Perfect ‘String Cheese Tour’ Partner
“A lot of men wouldn’t do that,” Harper said. “I think their pride would get in the way. And that man would bend over backwards for anything that I asked him to do.”
Her husband had to stop working for 15 weeks while she competed in AMERICAN IDOL, Her View From Home reported. He was her support system throughout the series.
“Just the emotional weight at the end of each night…just being able to take it off and be like, ‘Here you go,’ and he would take it every single week,” Harper shared. “That was probably the best. I was thankful I had that. Most of the other contestants were carrying it until the end of the competition, and it was like a blanket that I got to take off each night. That was the best part.”
Harper’s audition song was her original, “String Cheese,” which is about love in the midst of postpartum depression.
Some of the lyrics are “I smile because I know / Meetin’ their needs fills my soul/ And being their momma is who I’m meant to be, / When I’m overwhelmed and touched out / Here they come climbin’ up on the couch / Sayin,’ Mama, can you open my string cheese?”
Her audition song brought IDOL judge Carrie Underwood to tears, as the mom of two boys related to Harper’s words.
“You’re one I’m going to be thinking about after you leave here, wondering what you’re going to sing next. I’m rooting for you,” she said.
Harper is currently on tour through Nov. 14.
Read Next: What’s Next for AMERICAN IDOL Season 24 Winner Hannah Harper?
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