By Selena J. Haynes・Photos by Ford Fairchild
When Jeff Helvie’s band was asked to open for an Alan Jackson show in Florida, they were already booked with another gig so they had to pass. Helvie’s band was asked if they knew of another opening act and they said, yeah we do. She’s 12, but she’s great.
Brooke Eden started singing at the age of five down in the honky tonks of Florida. Her dad was a drummer for a country band and would take her to his gigs. That is how, by the age of 12, she was opening for Alan Jackson. Not too long after that, she was opening for other performers such as Sara Evans and Brooks and Dunn.
At nineteen, Eden was crowned Miss University of Florida. That same year she auditioned and made it to Hollywood Week of American Idol. While she did not make it past that first week, she never lost her love of performing. “I just loved how you could change people’s moods by what song you sang,” Eden told Connect during a recent interview.
She eventually earned a marketing degree from the University of Florida before moving to Nashville. She spent the first two weeks writing and meeting people and would then fly back to Florida to play shows. In 2013, she received her publishing deal with BMI.
As she grew as an artist, she was also growing personally. In January 2021, Eden publicly came out as queer in an Instagram post. It was also through Instagram posts she revealed she had been in a serious relationship since 2015.
Love on a Tour Bus
Hilary Hoover was a record representative at Eden’s label and was responsible for taking her around the U.S. and introducing her to country radio DJs and program directors who chose country songs to play on their stations. They met on a tour bus in Pennsylvania and within two weeks they were expressing their love for each other. Eden said she never expected to be married, but after meeting Hoover, that changed.
In true queer form, they moved in together after three months and now have a few homes together and a dog. They waited six years to get married because they had a lot to navigate.
“I had people on my team that are no longer on my team that told us that if we wanted to you know if I wanted to keep my career in country music, if I wanted to keep my record deal, that we had to keep our relationship a secret,” Eden said.
Eden and Hoover did keep their love a secret for five years. Eden said, “.[It] is extremely difficult when your job is to literally write about your life and sing about it and talk about it onstage.”
While they were out to close friends and family, it was hard to live two lives, and it took a toll on both of them. “Here we are living this love that is just extraordinary… the stuff you see in movies that no one thinks is real. And, here we are living it and we are not allowed to really live it out loud,” said Eden.
Eden ended up with ulcers from the stress of living a double life and had to take time off from the road. Her mental and physical health suffered.
Living with Integrity
In 2020 while reading the best-selling memoir by Glennan Doyle, “Untamed,” a paragraph about living with integrity struck a chord with Eden. She wasn’t living her life with integrity, intentionality and authenticity.
A year later, Eden came out with three songs – two of which were love songs about Hoover who also appeared in the two music videos for the songs. Whether country music was ready for it or not, Eden was going to live her life with integrity, intentionality, and authenticity.
The music video for “Sunroof” went viral on Facebook and went number one worldwide on iTunes. There was a lot of positive feedback. It was the first time lesbians had seen themselves in a music video on CMT. The video for her next release with Hoover, “Got No Choice,” was put on a billboard in the middle of Times Square.
“It was really cool to see that acceptance from a huge country conglomerate like CMT and also the fan response,” said Eden.
Eden related to how most of us come from small towns with religious backgrounds where we’re told so many lies like we’ll never be loved, we’ll never be accepted, and we’ll never have the jobs we want.
“It was really important for both Hilary and me to show our community that all those things, all those lies weren’t true,” said Eden.
Surprisingly, where Chely Wright had come out 11 years earlier to a lot of backlash, Eden and Hoover were met with immense support. “It says a lot about the way the world has progressed – the way country music has progressed,” noted Eden.
“When Hilary and I met eight and a half years ago, it was an absolute no-go. You do not talk about this. You will be shunned from the industry. This is not an option. I think that [was] because Chely Wright had come out and she wasn’t met with acceptance and love. It was always like the story of ‘Well if you come out, this is going to happen to you too.’ I totally feel like Chely walked so I could run,” explained Eden.
Of course, there are still hurdles. Eden acknowledged this saying, I think that I’m walking so hopefully other people in the LGBTQ community can run after me.”
“For the most part, people are opening up their eyes and hearts and realizing everyone deserves to live the truest life to themselves. That’s what country music is all about. It’s supposed to be three chords and the truth. Whatever your truth is doesn’t mean it has to be somebody else’s truth,” said Eden.
While there was some negativity, the response from the industry was more loving than Eden anticipated. After coming out, the Grand Ole Opry invited Eden along with Hoover. It wasn’t just about her music, the Opry was making a stance.
“To have country music institutions like the Grand Ole Opry and CMT, just the industry as a whole to give a stamp of approval. It was big.” That same year, during Pride month, Trisha Yearwood invited Eden to turn her song lyrics “She’s In Love With The boy” to “She’s In Love With The Girl” on the Grand Ole Opry stage. “It was a country music icon putting me under her wing saying hey, I’m your ally and we’re going to fight to make sure you have a place in country music as well,” said Eden.
Eden comes from a very conservative, Christian household. When she came out, they didn’t respond well immediately. They weren’t accepting for years. Slowly, things progressed. Her mother even spoke at her wedding. “It’s been incredible to watch even their transformation. My family went from this is so scary and this is not God’s plan and all these things to you know my mom spoke at our wedding.” While her parents are now divorced, her mother says that if it’s not a love like Brooke and Hilary’s, she doesn’t want it. “We have become the bar of what love looks like for my family,” Eden said. Looking at my own family and seeing this change from completely non-acceptance to this is what love looks like. It gives me hope for people in general.
“The more people hear queer love stories…queer life journeys. The more that people realize they’re just like me, they’re just like us, and they’re just as deserving of love and a life that’s, you know, just as equal as ours,” said Eden.
A Dream Lineup
After a rained-out performance at Nashville Pride in 2021, three years later the time has finally come for Eden to perform at Nashville Pride 2024.
“It feels like three years in the making. I’m so excited. I love this lineup this year. This is like a dream lineup. One of my best friends, Adam Mac, plays on the same day that I play and then G Flip who is also a good friend plays the day after on Sunday. To get to see friends play their shows, friends whom I’m fans of too is super exciting. To get to play these songs that I wrote in this city at Nashville Pride is so exciting.”
Eden is in the process of writing and recording new music with a potential Fall release. She plans to play some of that new music at Nashville Pride.
That’s not all that will be new this Fall either. Eden and Hoover are expecting their first child in November. You could hear the excitement in her voice when she spoke about it.
“We’re going to have a little November baby. [I’m] just so excited to go into this next chapter with Hil. She’s carrying and she’s just been a complete superhero. It’s just a really cool new little chapter right now,” Eden said.
You can follow Brook Eden online at https://www.brookeeden.com/.
