HW: As a teenager I had a horrible crush on Steven Tyler. I met him when he played in Nashville when I was 15 years old. I asked him for an autograph and didn't have any paper, so he signed my stomach. My mom was freaking out! It was a huge family ordeal. That was my big painful rock star crush...thinking he was going to call me and fly me to Boston. [Laughs]

PB: Obviously you have an incredible music background. What specifically drew you to singing and finding your own musical direction?

HW: It started when I picked up a guitar at age 17 and started practicing around the house. The songwriting thing came really naturally -- I wanted to be a songwriter and write stuff for other people, since I didn't think I could sing. But the more I wrote songs, the more personal they became, so I started attending writers nights in Nashville and playing my own material. I felt comfortable singing, but only with an instrument. Without an instrument I'd feel naked and awkward.

PB: Was it hard playing out in the beginning?

HW: I remember playing some of these heinous Irish pubs in town where people ordering beer would drown out my singing. Sometimes I feel like I've played every bar ever in Nashville. Everyone thinks that since I'm Hank's daughter I must have started with good gigs. But I did it just the way anybody else would.

PB: What did people say when they realized you were Hank's daughter? Did they immediately have huge expectations?

HW: I've gotten nothing but support and encouragement. My dad had to deal with expectations because of the death of his father and go on and live his legacy or whatever, but my music is so different.

PB: Still, you must have some Hank fan moments.

HW: When I play, any Hank fans are usually fans of Hank Sr., the more reserved songwriter fans. But if I'm out with Dad and we're at a show and there are major rednecks that find out who I am, they freak out and will totally yell, "Hank's daughter is hot!" But I haven't had crazy fans at my shows, just nice, proper Southern people.

PB: Speaking of proper Southern guys, what type of man do you find attractive -- a good ol' country boy?

HW: I don't really have a type. I'm one of those people who can find really hot things in anybody. I do have a big weakness for foreign guys, but after trying to handle one of those in Europe, I figured it was a little far away. Now I guess it's anybody with a sense of humor and good taste in music. There is something sexy about the cowboy thing, though in Nashville, the only cowboys are the slicked back, hair-gel types. I feel like the really sexy cowboys are somewhere in Montana and I can't find them.

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