Inside Bethany Joy Lenz’s Original ‘Hope Valley: 1874’ Theme Song (VIDEO)

When it came to creating the perfect vibe for the Hope Valley: 1874 open credits, Bethany Joy Lenz felt inspired to take matters into her own hands. Now, TV Insider spoke exclusively with Lenz, who leads the series as Rebecca Clarke, about writing and performing the opening credits song.

During the series premiere of Hallmark+’s When Calls the Heart prequel, viewers get their first listen of Lenz’s original theme song, “Hope in the Valley,” which she wrote and performed for the series. If you ask Lenz’s costar Benjamin Ayres about the acoustic and soulful bluegrass number, which we most certainly did, he’d tell you that she “nailed it right out of the gates.”

According to Lenz, it was her idea to write the song, not knowing whether it would actually be included in the series. “I just had the idea,” she told TV Insider. “I thought when I signed on for the show, I want to write the theme song. I just felt it.” However, knowing she wanted to write a Hope Valley-inspired song and doing so are two different beasts. She confessed, “[At first] nothing was coming to mind.”

Jeff Weddell / Hallmark Media

Ultimately, after getting to know Rebecca Clarke, Lenz’s character in the series, an idea pulled through. “I don’t know, one day I was sitting around, and just the idea came up. I wrote it pretty fast. I put together a little track and sent it off to the executives and the powers that be, and said, ‘Hey, here’s an idea if you want to go in this direction.'”

While the “powers that be” responded positively, Lenz explained, “I actually didn’t hear anything back for a couple of months, and then kind of in the eleventh hour, they said, ‘Oh, hey, by the way, we want to use that track.'” Of course, what Lenz had originally sent was just a rough draft. She joked, “I was like, ‘Wait, that was a demo! Let me actually like, do it.’ So I got into the studio with my friend John Dempsey, and we recorded vocals in Jill [Hennessy’s] trailer and just knocked it out.”

Sitting next to Lenz, Ayres, who plays Tom Moore, explained, “I knew you sang, but I hadn’t heard any of your songs or things, so like on Day 1, I remember you were singing to something, and I was like, ‘Whoa, you’ve got an incredible voice.’ And then you were singing a different song, and then a different song, and then you were like, ‘No, sorry, I’m like a radio.'”

Looking back to when he first heard “Hope in the Valley,” Ayres told TV Insider, “I remember in transport, you were like, ‘I wrote this song that I think would be great for the opening credits.’ The second I heard it, I was like, ‘If it’s not this song, I quit the show.'” He added, “It really helps set the tone for the show that we want to make and that we thought we were making.”

But it wasn’t only Ayres who put his full support behind Lenz’s stunning theme song. Roan Curtis, who plays Olivia, explained, “I just heard it for the first time yesterday. I knew that [Lenz] was doing it, but it was so beautiful. I was just blown away by kind of how well it fits… the tone of the show and the era.”

Fellow musician Jill Hennessy, who plays Olivia’s mother, Hattie, in the series, added, “I know, it’s beautifully done. I just heard it in the car ride here with everybody in the car, and [Curtis is] right. The tone is brilliant, and it’s got a nice little edge to it, like a heartbeat rhythm, too, that makes it contemporary and yet really retro and just beautiful. It’s perfect for the show. I was so happy to hear they went with something that wonderful.”

 

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According to Lenz, a full version of “Hope in the Valley” is coming soon, and no one is more excited than Ayres, who told her, “We want more. We want it on Instagram. I need to make my reels with it.”

When asked if she had plans to write more songs for Hope Valley: 1874, Lenz responded, ” If I have time, I would love to do that. Just a whole album full of kind of bluegrassy, Americana [music].” While a Hope Valley music festival, with Lenz, Hennessy, and “other artists that are like country, bluegrass,” may not be in the works yet, Ayres joyfully told TV Insider, “You heard it here first. Let’s make it happen!”

Hope Valley: 1874, Season 1 Premiere, March 21, Hallmark+