Kim Hill, a Grammy-nominated and multi Dove Award-winning artist with #1 hits and a CMT/VH1 chart-topping country video, built her career as a powerhouse lead vocalist and storyteller. Paulette Wooten is an award-winning film composer, songwriter, international touring musician, and multi-instrumentalist—the quiet force behind the music, shaping their sound in real time through guitar, keys, harmonica, and live looping.
Now based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Wooten Hill creates music that is acoustic, harmony-rich, and rooted in storytelling. Their sound is intimate but expansive, driven more by voice and connection than production—music that makes room for both quiet moments and powerful emotional resonance.
NewSong: What sort of music was playing in your house when you were growing up?
Kim:Lots of singer-songwriters—James Taylor, Jim Croce, John Denver. I grew up loving songs that told stories.
Paulette: We didn’t have much music playing in the house, but our car had a very exclusive rotation of two 8-tracks: Elvis Presley and Kenny Rogers. That was pretty much it. Apparently, that’s all we needed!
What was your journey to music—were you classically trained? From a family of musicians? Self-taught?
Kim: I’m self-taught. No real musicians in my family, although my mom did play the autoharp, so maybe I should give her some credit!
Paulette: My mom played piano, and I wanted to be just like her. I started taking lessons as a kid and never really stopped. I eventually went to college for piano performance. So between the two of us, we’ve got one classically trained musician and one who figured it out as she went!
What is the first song you wrote that you were proud of, and why?
Kim: A song called “Round and Round.” As a young artist in Christian music, I lived in a world where certainty and having the right answers were important. This song was my way of questioning some of that and beginning to find my own voice as a songwriter.
Paulette: I co-wrote a song called “Dance,” which was this worship-meets-EDM pop song. It ended up being recorded by several artists and became a hit in Europe. I’ll never forget standing in front of 10,000 young people singing and dancing to something I’d helped write. My heart just about exploded. There’s nothing quite like watching a song take on a life of its own.
What is your writing process like—lyrics first or music? Where and how do you write?
Wooten Hill: Most of our songs begin with a conversation—something we’re living through, wrestling with, or a story someone has shared with us.
Paulette: Usually, a musical idea comes first—a chord progression, a melody, or sometimes a little lyric that won’t leave me alone. I’ll start humming, making up words, and eventually figure out what it is I’m trying to say. Writing has always been a way for me to process life. It’s where I go to get quiet enough to hear what’s going on inside me.
I tend to write alone at first, then bring the song to Kim. She’s got an incredible ear for what works and what doesn’t, especially when it comes to singing something. She can change one word and suddenly the whole line works better.
Kim: I’m the resident tweaker! Paulette brings me these beautiful songs, and I get to come in and say, “What if we tried this?” Sometimes she even likes my suggestions!
Share a musical adventure from this summer.
Wooten Hill: This summer, we finally made our debut album, How Did We Get Here, and honestly, it felt like a pretty big moment for us.
We both had long careers in Christian music, but sixteen years ago, we fell in love, and life took a turn neither of us saw coming. We stepped away from the music world we’d always known and began building a life together. Those years have been full of love, loss, change, and a whole lot of figuring things out. Somewhere along the way, we began finding our way back to music—and to ourselves.
