The 4040 is a writers round hosted by Franklin Christian Church in Franklin, TN, established in 2022. This monthly series is built on original music presented by up-and-coming songwriters, along with established hit songwriters. The mission of the 4040 is to highlight Contemporary Christian Music in the greater Nashville area while providing opportunities for people to experience community and belonging through the offering of live music.
October 3
6:30 pm
FEATURED ARTIST
HANNAH KERR
In the three years since her debut release Overflow, singer/songwriter Hannah Kerr has walked through a formative season, navigating college and young adulthood and the challenges that coincide with figuring out who you really are. The road has not always been easy, but on the other side, Hannah seems to have found her voice.
“I feel like God really grew me so much as a human being, not just as an artist,” says Hannah, reflecting on the last four years she spent at Belmont University where she received a degree in Christian Leadership in May of 2019. “I understood more about him, I understood more about myself and went deeper into my faith in a way that I hadn’t before.”
Overflow, which Hannah released when she was just 19 years old, was a strong debut, including radio hits like “Warrior” and ASCAP Christian Award-winning “Your Love Defends Me,” co-written with Matt Maher. With the successful release of her Christmas album soon after, you got the sense that Hannah Kerr was not an up and coming artist, but rather an artist who had already up and come. But Hannah had more growing to do—a process she chronicled through her songwriting on her 2019 EP, Listen More. The result is an EP that is genuine, honest and vulnerable with a new, fresh sound that’s a little more pop, a little more worship, a little more Hannah.
“I feel like I now know what I want to sound like, who I am as an artist, and I’m excited to share that with people,” says Hannah.
“Vulnerability comes with being more confident in who I am and being more confident in who God is,” says Hannah, “that God can handle the messy parts of me, and God can handle all of me. I don’t just have to show him the best parts or the pretty parts, but I can show him everything.”
Being where she is, growing into who she is, the release of more music will reintroduce Hannah as an artist who has grown and who has rooted more deeply into her sound, her voice and her purpose. It is truly a new chapter for Hannah as an artist and as a person, and now listeners will get to come on the journey where, in her words, she is “figuring out who God is, and in the process, really figuring out who I am.”
SUPPORTING ARTISTS
MARK HUHTA
Mark grew up singing on stage with his father at the age of 4 years old and was raised with music all around him. His father Max Lee was a world-class guitar player who graced the stages with Dave Dudley and Sonny James to name a few. Mark’s uncle was on Mercury Records in the late 50s during the Rock-a-billy era.
Mark became proficient playing dobro, mandolin, and rhythm guitar at an early age and started writing songs at the age of 25. Since then he has written hundreds of songs as well as become a sought-after Pedal Steel Guitar player where most of his time is consumed playing shows and recording.
Mark is a former Military Officer with the United States Air Force and serves on the Worship Team at Franklin Christian Church.
LYNN MARIE
Lynn Marie is a 25-year-old singer/songwriter and indie artist based in Nashville, TN. Music has been her craft for over a decade and has been writing songs for five years of that time. Driven by passion, faith, and a love for songwriting, Lynn lives her life in pursuit of helping people get to a deeper place of revelation, connection, and comfort with God.
Whether using music, cooking a meal, or sharing a conversation over coffee, creating a space of sanctuary and comfort are highly important to her, and Lynn hopes her songs can at least inspire the language and emotion for whoever is listening.
CHANDLER LETNER
Chandler Letner is a skillful artist, songwriter, and producer who spends his time working day and night to achieve honoring greatness to God through every melody, lyric, and production he is a part of.
In early 2021, Chandler, along with his wife Maria, took a step of faith as an artist duo called “Chandler + Maria Letner” to pursue music at a higher level. The couple quit their jobs, not knowing what the next steps looked like, and began sharing their self produced, unreleased original music with churches, festivals, and whoever else would listen. Shortly after, God gifted them as artists with multiple opportunities at churches and some of Christian music’s biggest festivals to share their first album’s worship songs across the country.
Through all of this, Chandler was able to determine that a huge goal was to get to write and produce with and for other artists in the industry as well, and has since been able to be in writing rooms with some of Christian music’s best songwriters. He continues that dream by constantly connecting with fellow writers, both inside and outside of Christian music, and wants to continue making a career for himself as a writer and artist not only for the local church but for whoever he can reach in the music that he gets to be a part of.