Jessi Colter’s talented granddaughter Brianna Harness paid tribute to her famous family with an all new music video, “The Canyon.”
“The more I’ve gotten into music, I feel like they definitely set huge stepping stones and paved the way for me,” Harness reflected on what it felt like to be descended from a line of well-known musicians, “A lot of artists don’t really have that privilege… but it also set high standards –very high standards – with where I was supposed to go and what I am supposed to do with my music and how I’m supposed to sound.”
When releasing an album in 2020, Brianna Harness decided to honor her great ancestor Jessi Colter with a cover of one of her popular songs The Canyon. The album contains songs written by her father Struggle Jennings and grandmother, and though she once had a strained relationship with her family and it caused her to leave home at 15, she describes her father, who is also a country rapper known as Struggle Jennings, as her “best friend.”
Premiere of Brianna Harness’ Music Video for her cover of The Canyon
The music video for The Canyon, which is a cover for Jessi Colter’s song off her 2006 album Out of the Ashes, which was released following the death of her husband Waylon Jennings, exclusively premiered on PEOPLE. The track was also featured on her 2020 album, Welcome to My Nightmare.
“The Canyon was one of those songs that just grabbed me,” she said of the song first performed by her great-grandmother, now 77. “I related so much to the metaphors she used to explain love, life and the crazy journey two people travel down. There are certain lines in the song that are so in tune with what I’ve been through, so it just felt right.”
Brianna Harness’ Famous Family & Struggle Jennings
“Family is everything,” she told PEOPLE “and I am blessed to have some of the greatest songwriters ever in mine, so getting to showcase that to my generation has been so incredible. The Canyon is such a timeless masterpiece yet it might have laid deaf on the ears of younger people who have never heard it.”
She added that she just wanted to shed a “lil light” on the song by getting her listeners to hear it. She also said that the song found her in a moment when she needed it. As for genre, the singer admits that though she came from a long line of country roots, she’s doesn’t just confine her genre to country, but blurs the genres she works with because she feels more of herself when she does that.
The Canyon’s music video
The video starts with a count-off, followed by the words, “Ladies and gentlemen, Jessie Colter.” In the music video, Harness sings, whilst videos of Jessie Colter play in the background. The background alternates between running horses, a mountainside and old archives of her great-grandmother, with the colors of the background running on her face.
What did you think of Brianna Harness’ rendition of The Canyon? Let us know in the comments below and check Country Music Lane daily for more country music news and Brianna Harness updates.
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