With her lifelong love of music as an inspiration as well as seeing her ex-boyfriend competing on the football field, Mallory Farmer wrote and sings on a new song called “Maize and Blue.” It’s a song with a deep country music feel to it that was written with family in mind.

Farmer, a 2022 Pinckney High School graduate and a singer at Zion Lutheran Church in Chelsea, recorded and released the song in the fall. You can listen to it on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Pandora, iHeart radio, etc. (all platforms). The Sun Times News caught up with Farmer to ask her about the song.

“Funny enough, this song is a country song about my ex-boyfriend who ended up going to the University of Michigan to play college football,” she said. “The song is about the day I went to a U of M football game while visiting one of my girlfriends for the weekend. The song basically describes how strange it was to see this ex-boyfriend of mine out on the U of M football field because I was so used to cheering for him at our hometown high school field back when we were together.”

She said she really wrote the song for her sister and her best friend “my biggest fans,” and ended up surprising them by recording and releasing it this past October.

Farmer is a junior at Saginaw Valley State University, where she is now finishing up her second year in the nursing program. She runs for the SVSU varsity track and field team (Division Two NCAA) on a scholarship. She’s also a leader and worship coordinator for a nationwide women’s ministry on campus called Delight Ministries; over 300 women have attended the chapter at SVSU and in the summer, she works as a caregiver for Visiting Angels and sings at Zion Lutheran Church.

Her love for music and singing started when she was a kid.

“I’ve grown up loving music,” she said. “Whether it be singing Vacation Bible School songs nonstop or jamming to country music on the radio, I can’t remember a time when music wasn’t a part of my life. I’ve always loved to sing. We had a karaoke machine in my basement when I was little and I was always down there screaming into those microphones.”

She started guitar lessons in fifth grade, took a little break, and then started back up again in seventh grade.

“I took them for about a year; at that point playing guitar began to feel like a chore, so I stopped playing,” she said looking back. “I picked the guitar back up when I entered high school, and from then on it has felt more like therapy. I would sing and play alone in my room and sometimes around the campfire for my friends and family, but it wasn’t until the summer after my senior year of high school that I felt my Heavenly Father telling me to share my passion for music and writing songs.”

Looking back at what really got her going, she said she went on a week-long mission trip to Detroit that summer after high school and ended up leading a worship last minute.

“It was one of the most beautiful and impactful things I have ever been a part of, and I knew God had called me to be a part of it,” she said. “From then on, I decided to walk in obedience to this call I felt God had put on my life. I wrote and released a worship song called ‘Comforter’ back in December 2023, which has a whole story of its own (it’s also available on all platforms).”

These two songs are just the start for Farmer.

“It was so much fun to work with Sam Lyon (the producer of “Maize and Blue”) and I plan on releasing more songs, both country and Christian, with his help in the near future!” she said looking ahead.

Here’s a link to give the song a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY7pFcKeBSc

Photo: Mallory Farmer. Photo Courtesy of Mallory Farmer